Plan de L’Ile de L’Ascension

A finely engraved, large scale chart of Ascension Island discovered by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova in 1501 and named Conception Island, but was rediscovered in 1503 on Ascension Day by Alphonse de Albuquerque and renamed.

It has been British territory since 1815.

Louis-Isidore Duperrey led the Coquille’s global expedition (1822–1825), with Jules Dumont d’Urville as second-in-command. René-Primevère Lesson, a naval doctor and naturalist, also joined the voyage. Upon their return in March 1825, Dumont and Lesson brought an extensive collection of flora and fauna from the Falkland Islands, Chile, Peru, the Pacific archipelagos, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Australia to France. Duperrey’s was one of the major French Pacific voyages of the nineteenth century. As the leader of this expedition, he had already circumnavigated the globe under Freycinet and with Dumont-d’Urville, who would later lead his own expeditions. Duperrey was second-in-command, and Rene Lesson was the naturalist of the voyage. The Coquille called at Brazil, the Falkland Islands, Concepcion, Callao, and Payta. In the Pacific, the ship visited the Tuamotu Archipelago, Tahiti and the Society Islands, Tonga, Rotuma, the Gilbert and Caroline Islands, and the Bismarck Archipelago. Australia was visited twice, and the explorations made of New Zealand and the Maori culture were particularly significant. Vast quantities of ethnographic and scientific data were collected. Before returning to Marseilles, Java, Mauritius, and Ascension were visite. (Hill 517).

Duperrey’s charts provide a detailed and careful record of numerous islands and island groups in the South Pacific not previously charted, making the hydrographical atlas an outstanding cartographic work for the Pacific. Wantrup, ( 2023 2nd. ed. Vol. II, p.647.)

From Duperrey, Louis-Isidore, Voyage autour du Monde, execute per ordre du Roi, sur la Corvette La Coquille de sa Majeste, pendant les annies 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825. Hydrographie Atlas

References:
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 : 513.
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 1069.
Sitwell, S. Fine Bird Books 1700-1900. New York 1990 : 118.
Sabin, J. A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from its Discovery to the Present Time. New York. (1936) 1967 : 21353.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney, 2nd ed. 2023: pp. 646-658, p. 1177, 327h (Hydrographie Atlas).
Howgego, J. Encyclopedia of Exploration 1800-1850. Sydney 2004 : 1800-180, D37, pp.183-185.
Brosse, J. Great Voyages of Exploration. The Golden Age of Discovery in the Pacific. Sydney 1983 : pp. 146-151.

Collections:
Bibliotheque Nationale de France: ark:/12148/bpt6k850917m
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 2256057
State Library New South Wales: Record Identifier 74Vvrg2DKLOl
State Library Victoria: RARESEF 508.3 D92 (Histoire)