Histoire des navigations aux terres Australes,

Valuable collection of voyages to the South Pacific which aimed to stimulate French discovery and colonisation of the South Seas.

With leaves 437 -450 bound in vol. II (containing the details of the discoveries of the Dutch in Australasia, not always present). This important work was compiled by Charles de Brosses, the noted historian and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopedie; John Callandar based much of his three-volume compendium of voyages in 1766 on de Brosses's summary of Pacific voyages to date. This thorough collection is one of the outstanding works on the early voyages of exploration to Australasia, 1502-1764, during which navigators touched on the supposed southern continent of Magellanica. In three parts (Magellanie, Australasie, and Polynesie), it covers the voyages of Vespucci, Magellan, Drake, Sarmiento, Hawkins, Quiros, Noort, Spilbergen, Nodal, Schouten, Dampier, Roggeveen, Anson and others. De Brosses's goal in publishing this history of voyages was to stimulate French discovery colonization in the South Seas, and included the proposition that France should settle Australia as a penal colony.