[ANSON] Voyage autour du monde, fait dans les années MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

tiré des journaux & autres papiers de ce seigneur, & publié par Richard Walter … ; orné de cartes & de figures en taille douce ; traduit de l’anglois. A Geneve : Chez Barrillot et fils, 1750. Second French translation. Quarto, full vellum, spine lettered in black with sepia wash, all edges stained red, title page in red and black with vignette engraving, pp xxiv (preface and table of contents); 363, [1] (directions to the binder), 34 folding engraved plates, many of them maps (a couple with old tape repairs), a very good, crisp copy in a continental vellum binding.

Translation by Élie de Joncourt of Anson and Walter’s A voyage around the world (1748). Anson’s circumnavigation was significant in that it provided much valuable navigational information crucial to the success of Cook’s voyages in the South Seas. After a series of disasters, Anson’s initial squadron of six warships and two supply ships was reduced to just three by the time he entered the Pacific from Cape Horn. After sacking the Spanish port of Paita in Peru, he sailed across the Pacific to Macau with all remaining crew on his own ship, the Centurion. He then successfully followed the orders given to him by the Admiralty to seek out Spanish galleons laden with gold en route from Mexico to the Philippines, when he captured Nuestra Senora de Covadonga, carrying 1.3 million pieces of eight. Anson sold the gold in Macau and returned to England, arriving there in mid 1744. One of the important legacies of Anson and Walter’s narrative was the description of the breadfruit tree, the benefits of which Anson’s crew enjoyed whilst sojourning in the Ladrone Islands (Marianas). Along with Dampier’s earlier account of this fruit, Anson’s information was the main stimulus behind the Admiralty’s brief for Bligh’s expedition in the Bounty in 1787, the purpose of which was to transport breadfruit to the West Indies for propagation.