Voyage pittoresque autour de monde : avec des portraits de sauvages d'Amerique, d'Asie, d'Afrique, et des iles du Grand ocean; des paysages, des vues maritimes, et plusieurs objets d'histoire naturelle; accompagne de descriptions par le Baron Cuvier, et A. de Chamisso, et d'observations sur les cranes humains, par m. le docteur Gall
Creator(s):
von Kotzebue, Otto (1787-1846)
Date: 1822
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Louis Choris was appointed the official painter on a three-year scientific expedition led by Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue in 1815. Choris was among the first trained artists to depict what would later become the west coast of the United States. This work, published in 1822 represents an important collaboration among his French contemporaries.
The volume is primarily composed of a number of highly detailed lithographs based on Choris's original watercolor paintings along with text written by J.B. Eyries. The work was expertly executed in France by important printer of the day, Firmin Didot.
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Full Title (English): Picturesque travel around the world: with portraits of savages from America, Asia, Africa, and the islands of the Big Ocean; landscapes, sea views, and several objects of natural history; accompanied by descriptions by Baron Cuvier, and A. de Chamisso, and observations on human skulls, by m. Dr. Gall
A very rare and splendid fully colored copy of the first edition, the plates drawn by the expedition artist on Kotzebue's world voyage of 1815-1818. Essentially, this is an illustrated album recording only the most memorable facts of the voyage but with full explanations of the plates more of which relate to California, Hawaii, Kamchatka and Alaska than any other work of the period and the Philippines, Chile and Easter Island.
It is arranged in 8 sections which were first sold in 22 livraisons, 1820-1822 (although both Brunet and Howes state that publication ended in 1823). Two title-pages were printed, dated 1820 to accompany the first livraison, and 1822 for the successive parts. There was only one issue of the text and plates, according to Forbes, and although a lithographic portrait of the artist is found in a few copies, its presence does not constitute an issue point. Indeed, it may have been produced only after the work was completed.
The publisher's rolls suggest a possible 188 copies and the Kings of France and Prussia were listed as subscribers. Extant copies are held at about 36 other institutions, the nearest at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon. Voyage Pittoresque was originally issued in 22 separate parts and consisted of 105 plates that depicted the places, people and animals from the expedition.
Subscribers would then have the parts bound into a complete volume that reflected the individual collector's taste and fashion. Representing much of the Pacific Rim including Alaska, California, and Hawaii, this volume is a beautiful and fundamental view of the early 19th century on the West Coast. Issued in uncolored, partly colored, and fully colored editions.
"One of the very valuable and fundamental works on Alaska, California, and the Hawaiian islands" (Lada-Mocarski).
The text was written and edited by J.B. Eyries and the list of subscribers (present in this copy) accounts for 188 copies. Choris supervised the execution of the plates himself and reworked several to his liking. Four variant plates are noted by Forbes as the most important and this copy has the last and presumably preferred variants of all of them: the dance at the mission in San Francisco lithographed by Langlume; King Kamehameha less wrinkled; Queen Kaahmanu with spelling of her name corrected (to "Cahoumanou"); and the dance of the Hawaiian women with the additional background and a possible self-portrait of Choris in the foreground.
This latter plate is the "much more beautiful" of the two issues in the opinion of Lada-Mocarski. The manuscript text of the voyage was never published but his album is highly prized for its beauty and its historical record. Forbes writes that it contains "a final and very beautiful pictorial examination of the Hawaiian Islands and of Hawaiian culture as it existed prior to the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, and prior to the abolition of the 'kapu' or feudal system following the king's death" and considers it "the great colorplate book of the Northern Pacific" (emphasis ours). Any copies are rare on the market; this one is in particularly attractive condition.
References:
University of Washington Libraries
Brunet I:1851 (calling for 110 plates); Forbes 541; Hill 290; Howes C-397; Lada-Mocarski 84; Peters California on Stone pp. 97-98; Sabin 12884; Streeter sale 2461; Tourville 925; Wickersham 6676.
Publisher: Paris : Impr. de Firmin Didot
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ISBN-10: N/A
Date Added: 2019-04-06
Choris, Louis, von Kotzebue, Otto, Voyage Pittoresque Autour de Monde. Paris : Impr. de Firmin Didot. 1822.
Choris, Louis, von Kotzebue, Otto, (1822) Voyage Pittoresque Autour de Monde. Paris : Impr. de Firmin Didot.
Choris, Louis, von Kotzebue, Otto, Voyage Pittoresque Autour de Monde. Paris : Impr. de Firmin Didot. 1822.
