Current Events & Trends | February 3, 2026 | Alex Johnson

Pacific Voyages: Five Rare Books for Collectors

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Dupetit-Thouars' complete voyages with atlases

Highlights of PBA Galleries' February 5 auction from the Klaus Werner Collection with an emphasis on 18th and 19th century voyages across the Pacific Ocean include:

* Voyage Autour du Monde sur la Frégate La Vénus, Pendant les Années 1836-1839 by Abel Aubert Du Petit-Thouars

13 volumes (Paris, Editeur Gide, 1840-1846) without the extremely rare volume 11 on botany often missing from sets. First edition. This voyage, ostensibly to report on the whale fishers of the Pacific, was primarily political, assisting French traders up the coast of South America through California. This set is from the library of Baron René Reille, a representative from Tarn and an Undersecretary of State in France.

* A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean by James Cook and James King

Cook's fateful third voyage, a search for the Northwest Passage, during which he was clubbed and stabbed to death by the once friendly people of Hawaii. The first two volumes were the work of Cook himself, the third being completed by Captain James King (London, Printed by H. Hughs, for G. Nicol...and T. Cadell, 1785). Copper-engravings include portraits of Pacific islanders, coastal scenes of northwest America and its native residents, charts, and coastal profiles. This second edition of the official account of Cook's third and last voyage, is generally considered superior to the first.

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A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean by James Cook and James King

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Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde by Jean Francois Galaup de La Pérouse

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Zoologischer Atlas by Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz

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Voyage round the World in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, & 1806 by Ivan Fedorovitch Krusenstern, translated from the original German by Richard Belgrave Hopner

* Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde by Jean Francois Galaup de La Pérouse

The French language edition (London, Printed by A. Hamilton for G.G. & J. Robinson, J. Edwards and T. Payne, 1799) published by Robinson, a re-issue of the first edition published by the French government in 1797. Sailing from France in 1785, La Pérouse was to examine parts of the Pacific not yet explored by James Cook, seek for an interoceanic passage, make scientific observations on the various countries, peoples, and products, and to obtain reliable information about the fur trade and the extent of Spanish settlement in California.

* Zoologischer Atlas by Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz

With five parts, an author's preface, and a brief description of Kotzebue's second voyage around the world, with hand-colored lithographs of flora and fauna (Berlin, G. Reimer, 1829-1833).

* Voyage round the World in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, & 1806 by Ivan Fedorovitch Krusenstern, translated from the original German by Richard Belgrave Hopner

The first English account of the first Russian expedition to circumnavigate the globe (London, Printed by C. Roworth for John Murray, 1813). The voyage was one of the most important post-Cook Pacific voyages, specifically aimed at obtaining more knowledge of the northern Pacific region.