[WHALING] Pratique de la pèche de la baleine dans les mers du sud.

Paris : Lecointe et Pougin, 1833. First edition. Octavo (225 x 145 mm), original yellow wrappers lettered in black, the upper wrapper with a presentation inscription from the author to his friend: ‘offert par l’auteur a son ami Edouard Launet(?)’; title-page with vignette engraving of a a whaling scene, pp. xvi, 280; text in French; moderate foxing throughout, otherwise internally sound, a good example.

Rare first edition of this manual on whaling in the Pacific, written by Jules Lecomte, editor of the periodical Le Navigateur. It includes chapters on whaling equipment, the selection of a suitable crew, whaleboats, repairs at sea, the anatomy of the whale, the various species of whale, hunting tactics, how to secure a whale on board and dismember it, the uses of and products originating from the various parts of a whale, and the laws pertaining to whaling.

Trove locates only two copies (SLNSW; Libraries Tasmania).

Interestingly, the book was published in the same year (1833) in Le Havre by J. Morlent, but under the slightly different title Pratique de la chasse à la baleine dans les mers du sud.