Description
Important edition of this large French separately issued double hemisphere world map dated 1812 which includes the recent discoveries made in Australian waters by the voyage of exploration under the command of Nicholas Baudin in 1802-4.
Baudin died in 1803 on his return to France, so publication of the account and charts of the voyage was undertaken by Francois Peron, the expedition’s naturalist. The first publication of Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes was in 1807 and included the first printed chart of Australia with a completed coastline. This was issued prior to Matthew Flinders chart as he had been imprisoned on Mauritius and the French were able to publish their accounts prior to Flinders’s which were not published until 1814. Curiously neither Baudin’s or Flinders names or their tracks appear on the map, although the nomeculture for South Australia is derived from the Baudin expedition. The tracks of Cook’s three voyages are shown as are those of the listed voyages. Herrison reissued the chart a number of times.
