Large 4to (203 x 260 mm). (6), LVIII, 254, (2) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With an engraved headpiece. Contemporary full calf, spine rebacked and gilt to style. Leading edges gilt, all edges sprinkled in red. Marbled endpapers. Extremely rare pilot guide to the East Indies, reduced to a single quarto volume from the author's great "Neptune Oriental", published simultaneously. One of the greatest maritime atlases in the history of French cartography, the "Neptune" was devoted to exotic regions (the Middle East including the Gulf, the African coasts, the Indian Ocean and East Indies, Southeast Asia, parts of the Chinese coast, and the Pacific islands). It was compiled by Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Denis d'Après de Mannevillette (1707-80), hydrographer to the French Navy, supported by the French East India Company and the Académie des Sciences. "It was at once hailed as a major achievement and welcomed by navigators throughout the world" (Cat. Nat. Mar. Mus.). Of the present text-only reduction, OCLC lists no more than nine copies worldwide, only one of which in the the U.S. (University of Chicago). - Corners bumped; modern spine gilt in 18th-century style. A good, wide-margined copy. Provenance: 1) From the library of Sir Francis Lindley Wood, 2nd Baronet, of Barnsley (1771-1846), with his bookplate on the pastedown. 2) By descent to his son Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax (1800-85), sometime Chancellor of the Exchequer, with handwritten ownership on the flyleaf. As President of the Board of Control of the English East India Company, Sir Charles Wood was instrumental in spreading education in India. 3) Acquired from the Portuguese trade. Jöcher/Adelung II, 622. OCLC 41102601. Not in Cordier (Sinica), Brunet, Graesse, etc.
