[LA PEROUSE] La navigation : poëme by Esménard, J. (Joseph), 1767-1811

Half-title: La navigation, poëme en six chants, avec des notes historiques et géographiques. A Paris : Chez Giguet et Michaud, 1806. Second edition. Octavo, fine contemporary full speckled calf with gilt borders, spine with gilt decoration and brown morocco label with gilt lettering, marbled endpapers, engraved frontispiece (arrival of Cleopatra at Tarsus), xiv, 412 pp, [1] engraved plate (the shipwreck of La Pérouse), internally crisp and sound with sparse foxing. A poem divided into six chants, or cantos, written in the style of a Classical epic, which eulogises the great navigators throughout history. Each canto is followed by an extensive section of notes which explain the allusions made in the poetry. The sixth canto is largely dedicated to the voyage and imagined fate of La Pérouse. Note that this edition is structured differently to the first edition of 1805, which was divided into eight cantos. Copies of the second edition are recorded in three Australian collections (National Library of Australia; State Library of New South Wales; State Library of Victoria).