Voyage autour du monde sur la Frégate La Vénus

One of the most important and complete records of the Mexican period in California. 'This voyage, ostensibly to report on the whale fisheries in the Pacific, was actually primarily political in nature... After rounding the Horn, the expedition made calls up the coast of South America, to Hawaii, Kamchatka, and to California, in order to assist French traders who had been clamouring for support for some time. In 1838, the Vénus made a run for Easter Island, further investigated the coast of South America, then sailed for the Galapagos and Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, and New Zealand... After visits to Sydney and Mauritius, the ship sailed home, arriving after a voyage of thirty months' (Hill).

Bancroft, who never saw a copy of the Atlas, characterises the work as the most important of all books relating to the history of California during the Mexican period, 1824-1846, and states that 'from no other work could be obtained so complete and accurate an account of the country, its people, and its institutions.' He states that Dupetit-Thouars was the first of visitors to collect original documents – here published with translations and yet 'for the most part unknown to other writers' (California IV, pp147-149). The magnificent plates are a credit to a country where those printing arts had already been brought to a high level. The Atlas pittoresque contains some of the finest lithographs of the nineteenth century, with views and scenes of San Francisco Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Honolulu, Mazatlan, San Blas, Sydney, Lima, and other ports. The plates showing various natives are all hand-coloured.