BEHRENS, Carl Friedrich

Histoire de l'expedition de trois vaisseaux... aux Terres Australes

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la Compagnie, The Hague, 1739. Two volumes bound in one, small octavo, both titles in red and black, bound with both half-titles; a very handsome copy in contemporary blind-embossed vellum, manuscript label on spine. A handsome copy of Roggeveen's voyage into the Pacific.

Behrens' scarce narrative tells the story of one of the most significant of the Dutch voyages, ranking with those of Le Maire, Schouten and Tasman. Roggeveen set out to rediscover the part of Terra Australis which Quiros had led the exploring world to believe existed, but in fact added substantially to the Dutch record of Polynesian discoveries, with Easter Island and Samoa described here for the first time.

Roggeveen crossed the Pacific from the east at the head of a three-vessel expedition with largely commercial objectives. He specifically sought the fabled continent of Terra Australis, which the English privateer Captain Edward Davis claimed to have sighted in 1680. It did not materialise, but on 5 April 1722 Roggeveen landed at a previously uncharted island which he named Easter Island. They were the first recorded European visitors to the island and the detailed description of the inhabitants, their extraordinary idols and their way of life is of great value. The expedition later went on to discover some of the outer islands of the Samoan group. Because he had sailed for the Dutch West India Company Roggeveen was temporarily imprisoned by the powerful Dutch East India Company in Batavia, but later released to complete 'one of the last of the great Dutch circumnavigations' (Howgego).

Apart from a conspicuously rare pamphlet published in 1727, and the equally rare Dutch Tweejaarige reyze rondom de wereld of 1728, this was the first major notice of this important voyage, not only a substantial Pacific voyage in its own right, but one which provided a direct stimulus for the search for the Southern Continent. Behrens' account of the Roggeveen voyage was originally published in German in 1737, but this first French edition is generally preferred. It was likely translated and amended by Behrens himself, who travelled under Roggeveen as commander of marines, though some authorities have attributed the translation to De Brosses.

Although Roggeveen's voyage failed in its primary objective, it represented an important achievement in terms of its own discoveries. The Behrens account had some effect on subsequent voyages, including providing strong motivation for the authorities who sent Captain Cook out on his first voyage forty-six years later. 'Sunday 13th (March 1774). In stretching in for the land we discovered people and those Moniments or Idols mentioned by the Authors of Roggeweins Voyage which left us no room to doubt but it was Easter Island...' (Beaglehole, Journals of Captain James Cook, II, p. 338).
Borba de Moraes, 95; Cox, I, p. 51; Hill, 99; James Ford Bell, B149; Kroepelien, 70; Mackaness ('Art of Book-collecting'), pp. 41-2; O'Reilly-Reitman, 230; Sabin , 4379; Taylor, 77; Tiele, 933n.

• AUD 15,500.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: 707_082

• Antiquariat: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)