One engraved coastal view. Title-page printed in red and black. Previous old ownership inscription clipped and repaired. 4to. Contemporary full calf, spine gilt in compartments. scattered staining, minor repairs to binding, joints slightly cracked. [vi], LVIII, 254, [ii]pp. Paris, Ch. J. B. Delespine, 1745.
Rare Pilot to the East Indies published simultaneously to accompany the large “Neptune Oriental” atlas. It was compiled by Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Denis d’Après de Mannevillette (1707-80), hydrographer to the French Navy, supported by the French East India Company and the Académie des Sciences. Born in Le Havre of a seafaring family Apres de Mannevillette had a long and distinguished career as a navigator and was one of the first French hydrographers. After studying mathematics in Paris, he gained early experience of the sea in a voyage to the Caribbean at the age of nineteen. During many subsequent voyages he assembled a collection of material for this East Indian hydrographic atlas which was published with the support of the Academie des Sciences.
