Le Tour de monde, ou Tableau gégraphique et historique de tous les peuples de la terre,

contenant une description succincte des pays qu’ils habitent ; un aperçu des moeurs, coutumes, religions et lois… monumens et antiquités… notices biographiques… littérature, industrie, commerce, etc. Dédié à madame la comtesse de Ségur. Paris : Alexis Eymery, 1814. Six volumes, 32mo (135 x 90 mm), contemporary uniform bindings of mottled calf, spines with gilt decoration and contrasting leather title- and volume-pieces stamped in gilt (Vol. 1 has some scuff marks to upper board and spine, otherwise the bindings are only lightly rubbed and in excellent condition); original marbled endpapers; Vol. 1 half-title leaf, frontispiece plate, title-leaf, pp. 172, with a large folding mappe-monde and 8 plates; Vol. 2 half-title leaf, title-leaf, pp. 176, with 6 plates; Vol. 3 half-title leaf, title-leaf, pp. 216, with 8 plates; Vol. 4 half-title leaf, title-leaf, pp. 208, with 8 plates; Vol. 5 half-title leaf, title-leaf, pp. 259, with 9 plates; Vol. 6 half-title leaf, title-leaf, pp. 214, with 9 plates; text in French; an attractive set in fine condition throughout. Collated and complete.

Madame Dufrénoy’s encyclopaedic work treats juvenile readers to a potted history and geography of the peoples of the world, as they were understood around the turn of the nineteenth century. The last volume has a 68-page section on Oceania, covering the Malay Archipelago, Australasia (New Guinea, New Holland, Van Diemen’s Land, New Britain, New Zealand), and Polynesia (Marianas, Carolines, Sandwich Islands, Friendly Islands, Society Islands). The three plates illustrating this section are fanciful depictions of Habitans de la Nouvelle Hollande, Habitans des Iles Sandwich, and Otahitiens.

Trove locates three sets in Australian libraries (NLA; University of Melbourne; University of Sydney)