‎GARNIER Francis‎
‎VOYAGE D'EXPLORATION EN INDO-CHINE.‎

‎Effectué par une Commission Française présidée par le Capitaine de Frégate Doudart De Lagrée. Hachette, Paris, 1885. In-8 gr. (mm. 268x177), legatura editoriale in mz. marocchino rosso, ricca decorazione e titolo oro su dorso a cordoni, tagli dorati, risguardi in seta damascata, pp. (6),XV,662, compreso il ritratto dell'A. all'antiporta. L'opera è illustrata da 211 inc. su legno eseguite sugli schizzi originali di M. Delaporte e con 2 grandi carte a colori f.t., più volte ripieg. - Carte générale de l'Indo-Chine. - . de l'Indo-Chine et de la Chine Centrale. Seconda edizione di questa relation empruntée au Journal Le Tour du Monde', revue et annotée par Leon Garnier.Francis Garnier (1839-1873) was a French naval officer, colonial administrator, and explorer. He accompanied Adm. Léonard Charner to Saigon in 1861 and took part in the Battle of Chi Hoa that marked the end of effective Vietnamese resistance to the French advance into southern Vietnam (Cochinchina). In 1863 Garnier joined the newly formed colonial administration in Cochinchina, while still retaining his naval rank, and was appointed prefect of Cho Lon, the twin city to Saigon. An enthusiastic believer in France's imperial destiny, Garnier vigorously advocated the expansion of French power in Vietnam and the commercial benefits he believed would flow from the exploration of the Mekong River. Largely as the result of his advocacy, a French expedition led by Doudart de Lagrée, with Garnier as second in command, left Saigon to explore the Mekong in June 1866. The mission was a failure in commercial terms, and the river was found to be unnavigable by boats of any size. But the explorers, despite great hardships and frequent sickness that finally took Lagrée's life, accomplished a major task in mapping unknown territory, and they were the first Europeans to enter Yunnan province by a southern route. Garnier, impetuous and headstrong, held a chauvinist vision of France's role in Asia that appealed to many of his contemporaries. He was at the same time a man of wide accomplishments in history, languages, and general science, in addition to his skills as a navigator and cartographer. The account he prepared of the Mekong River expedition, "Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine, 186668" (1873), is a most valuable record of the political and economic situation of the countries through which the explorers passed in the 1860s (così Encyclopaedia Britannica online).Alc. fioriture intercalate nel testo, ma complessivamente esemplare ben conservato..‎

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