Frézier, a French engineer, was contracted to sail to the Spanish possessions in South America to build forts to defend against English and Dutch attacks. At the same time the French government enlisted him to map the west coast of South America. The first part of Frezier's work gives an account of the voyage from France around Cape Horn; the second part to the coasts of Chile and Peru and their towns and cities. The postscript by Halley corrects certain geographical errors made by Frézier.

With provenance for David Bosanquet (1699-1741), an English Turkey Merchant who built a family fortune in Halab in the Levant, and was later a director of the London Assurance Company, and his son Richard Bosanquet (d.1809).

First edition in English, 4to (25.5 x 19 cm); title page in red and black, 22 engraved charts and plans, 15 plates; contemporary panelled calf, old signatures to title, tiny repair to foot of spine, sprinkled edges, lightly rubbed, a fine copy.

Borba de Moraes p.329; Hill (2004), 654; Goldsmiths' 5338; Nissen (ZBI), 1433; Sabin 25926.