Loi Relative à la découverte des deux Frégates Françoises, la Boussole & l’Astrolabe, commandées par M. de La Pérouse. Donnée à Paris, le 25 Février 1791. (1791. No. 214.)
A Dijon: De l’Imprimerie de Capel, 1791. First edition. Woodcut headpiece. Contemporary manuscript certification at the end, signed by two officials of the Département de la Côte-d’Or, dated Dijon, 23 avril 1791. Unbound as issued. 3 [1 blank] p. In fine condition.
The first formal document acknowledging fears of La Pérouse’s disappearance, in a rare provincial printing issued shortly after the royal decree.
Very rare Dijon printing of the first formal decree acknowledging concern over the disappearance of La Pérouse’s expedition. This decree, issued by the Assemblée Nationale and promulgated in the name of Louis XVI on 25 February 1791, initiated the official search for La Boussole and L’Astrolabe, last heard from in 1788 following their departure from Botany Bay. It instructed France’s ambassadors, consuls, and agents abroad to solicit assistance from foreign powers and navigators—especially in the southern Pacific—“de faire toutes recherches des deux frégates Françoises, La Boussole & L’Astrolabe… de même que toute perquisition qui pourroit constater leur existence ou naufrage.”
The decree also called for the arming of one or more vessels carrying scientists, naturalists, and artists, tasked with both locating La Pérouse and conducting a broader exploratory mission “utile & avantageuse à la navigation, à la géographie, au commerce, aux arts & aux sciences.” This ultimately led to the voyage of Rear Admiral Bruni d’Entrecasteaux (1791–1794).
La Pérouse’s expedition (1785–88), commissioned by Louis XVI and modelled in part on the voyages of Cook, was the most ambitious French maritime expedition of the Enlightenment. Departing from Brest in August 1785, the two frigates visited South America (including Chile), Easter Island, Alaska, California, Macao, the Philippines, and Australia (Botany Bay), sending reports and scientific observations until their disappearance after March 1788. Their fate remained a mystery until the wreckage was found decades later on Vanikoro Island.
The Dijon edition, printed by Capel and officially certified by the departmental administration, is part of a coordinated provincial dissemination of the decree, alongside other issues printed in Pau, Orléans, Grenoble, Valenciennes, Auxerre, and Évreux.
References: cf. Ferguson 106a (Auxerre ed.); Kroepelien 710; McLaren 132 (Valenciennes ed.); Horner, Looking for La Pérouse, pp. 4–6.
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Price: €4,500.00