Paris: Gide,, 1840-46. A magnificently illustrated work with rare original watercolours by a senior crewmember First edition of this superb work, "an important French voyage... noted for its magnificent panoramic views of ports and anchorages" (Forbes); "one of the most important and complete records of the Mexican period in California" (Hill). This set significantly enhanced by a pair of rare signed original watercolours by Theodore-Romuald-Georges Mesnard, one of the two artist-officers on the expedition, both on-the-spot views of Kamchatka. Mesnard (1814-1844) came from a naval family in Cherbourg and had been in the service for five years "when he embarked with the junior rank of élève [midshipman] (one of eleven of this rank) aboard the Vénus in 1836 under the command of Abel du Petit-Thouars. He is not thought to have had any official standing as an artist aboard the Vénus, but he was one of two juniors whose drawings were used as a basis for the lithographs published in 1841, in the Atlas pittoresque accompanying du Petit-Thouars' account... Lithographs were made from Mesnard's drawings of native peoples, and their dwellings and way of life, of European settlements like Kororareka [New Zealand] and of extensive coastal profiles. Du Petit-Thouars returned to France with the Vénus, presumably with Mesnard aboard, in 1839, but the artist must have come back to the Pacific again, since he was killed in a duel in Tahiti in 1844, aged only 29" (Minson, p. 19). The rarity of Mesnard's original artwork is highlighted by Minson, writing in 1994, "the Kororareka watercolour [in the National Library of New Zealand] is the only known example of Mesnard's original work in existence". By coincidence, in the mid-1990s a small number of original watercolours from the Vénus expedition appeared at auction, most notably a group of 16 that went through the rooms of Rouillac-Vendome (7 February 1993), misleadingly attributed to Francois Mesnard, making £22,230. Another single image (a view of Acapulco) made £3,000 at Christie's, London (15 July 1994), similarly attributed. Since then, no other original artwork has appeared at auction. The confusion over Mesnard's first name appears to arise from the fact that he forms his Christian names into a rather contorted monogram resembling an "F". Mesnard "appears to have had no official responsibilities on the Vénus as a draughtsman but it is clear that his enthusiasm and activity in this field were appreciated by his commanding officer" (Collins, p. 55). The two watercolours, both views of Kamchatka, were evidently made from the deck of the Vénus, which was the first French ship since that of La Perouse in 1786 to visit the area; they are tipped to stubs overlaying the relevant lithographic plates in the Atlas pittoresque: "Basse des Trois-Frères et pointe de phare, a l'entrée de la baie d'Avatscha (Kamtschatka)" and "Vue de Petropawlowski (Kamtschatka)". Both retain their vibrant colouring and although manifestly the work of an amateur draughtsman are nevertheless quite accomplished, capturing strongly the atmosphere of time and place. Each has an inked plate number and pencilled caption at head. As was often the case, for the finished plate that would appear in the book, an experienced printmaker would "tidy" the original image and smooth out any infelicities of perspective or composition; the two lithographers employed here being Léon Jean-Baptiste Sabatier and Émile Lassalle. Sabatier in particular has insured that the sky in his rendering has taken on a more brooding aspect, reflecting a Romantic view of what was, to the Western mind, an obscure region cloaked in mystery; Mesnard's original could almost be a view of a sunny day off the coast of his native Normandy. To this day the "Trois-Frères" or Three Brothers, a group of steep white islets in the Sea of Okhotsk, remains a favourite destination for photographers. Petropavlovsk, on the sheltered Avacha Bay, had been used as an anchorage by Vitus Bering in 1740, the city being named after his two ships, the St Peter and St Paul. Menard's view shows it as a still sparsely populated town huddling around the church of Saints Peter and Paul, dwarfed by the snow-clad Koryaksky volcano. "A goal of the voyage was to assert French presence in the Pacific; scientific investigations were also fully provided for and carried out. In the course of the voyage Captain du Petit-Thouars undertook to obtain accurate charts of imperfectly surveyed harbours where his ships anchored. These included Valparaiso, Chile; Callao, Peru; Honolulu; the bay of Avatcha, Kamchatka; Magdalena Bay, Baja California; Acapulco, Mexico; the Galapagos Islands; and the Bay of Islands, New Zealand... [After stopping at Kamchatka] the Vénus continued to the California coast, then to Mazatlan, Acapulco, Chile and Peru, and the Galapagos and Easter Islands. Sailing across the Pacific, they stopped at New Zealand, Sydney, and Tahiti. The Vénus returned to France via the Cape of Good Hope, anchoring June 24, 1839" (Forbes). The Atlas zoologique is described by Forbes as "a major scientific publication... with plates of outstanding quality"; and of the Atlas hydrographique he remarks, "a magnificent, and very rare, atlas of Pacific maps. All of these include profile land views at the top or bottom of each sheet". Published at a considerably later date were two text volumes, Zoologique (1855) and Botanique (1864); these are not present here and are rarely found with sets. The celebrated Hill Collection of Pacific voyages had only the four volumes of the Relation and the Atlas pittoresque, "essentially the historical narrative". This is an impressive, unusually complete set, given additional allure by the presence of Mesnard's compelling watercolours. 9 text vols, octavo (240 x 146 mm); 3 atlas folio vols of plates and maps. Atlas pittoresque: folding map of the world with route of the expedition, 68 lithographic plates, including a plan of Sydney, and 50 lithographs of costumes and customs on china paper with contemporary hand-colouring; Atlas hydrographique: engraved title and 19 maps on 16 sheets, 6 double-page; Atlas zoologique & botanique: 77 engraved plates (of 79, lacking plates 7 and 8 of fish), 70 of them hand-coloured, of mammals, birds, fish, shells, etc., 28 line-engraved botanical plates; all folding letterpress tables present in text vols. Finely and uniformly rebound to style in dark blue quarter calf by Atelier Laurenchet, decorative gilt smooth spines incorporating gilt block of a three-masted ship in full sail, Italian pattern marbled sides. Half-title to first text vol. torn and repaired, zoological and botanical plates professionally cleaned (except for the bird section which is browned and the paper a little brittle), tidemark to top right corner of most of the views in the Atlas pittoresque, touching the image on around a dozen but not affecting the costume plates. A most handsome set. Roger Collins, New Zealand Seen by the French: 1769-1846, Wellington, National Library of New Zealand, 2009; Hill 518; Forbes 1198, 1333, 1526, 1586, 1588; Howes P267; Howgego, II D38; McDonnell, The Hawaii Hundred, 56; Marion Minson, "Early French Views of the Antipodes: Two recent additions to the Alexander Turnbull Library's Drawings and Prints Collection", Stout Centre Review, June 1994; Nissen, BBI 561; Nissen, IVB 281; Sabin 21354 ("this fine work"); Zimmer, p. 490.
