Essai sur la Construction Navale des Peuples Extra-Européens

with sketches from the french grands voyages including oman and muscat

Paris' comprehensive survey of sailing vessels including 8 important plates of Muscat and Oman and 32 plates of India and Ceylon.

François-Edmond Pâris (1806–1893) was a French admiral who accompanied some of the great French voyages of the nineteenth century. He made important contributions to naval engineering during the rise of the steam, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Musée national de la Marine. The attractive plates include tinted lithographed plates of ships at sea, against local backgrounds, many in full sail.

In the 1830s Oman was economically prospering with its consolidation of control over Zanzibar and coastline of Eastern Africa from Somalia to Mozambique, and having made the first trade agreement of any Arab nation with the USA in 1833. The 8 plates showing Dungiyahs, Gareokuh, Bedens, and Baggalas of Muscat and Oman capture Oman at the peak of its naval powers: after the death of Said bin Sultan in 1856 the Sultanates of Oman and Zanzibar were split and their naval technology was outstripped by Western nations just as the abolition of slavery took a hit to the Omani economy.

The India plates are similarly important in the coastlines and ships they depict. There are 20 plates which cover the Malabar coast, 9 covering the Coromandel coastline and Ceylon, and 13 covering the coastline of Bengal. The vessels of specific cities and regions are also depicted including Bombay, Goa, Calicut, the Ganges and the Hooghly. There are also many plates on the Far East, South-East Asia, and the Pacific islands, including the Philippines (7 plates), China (17), and Malaysia and Java (40).

The present illustrations are the result of sketches made by Paris on three expeditions: the famous circumnavigation of the Astrolabe under Jules d'Urville Durmont (1790-1842) from 1826 to 1829; the scientific expedition around the world, aboard the Favorite under Captain Laplace (1793-1875) from 1829 to 1832; and again, under Laplace on board the Artémise for a third exploration cruise, from 1837 until 1840 when he was appointed commander.

First edition; 2 vols, large folio (57 x 38 cm); 133 (1-132 & 25bis) engraved or tinted lithographed plates, light toning to text, creases to blank margins pp. 49-54, short marginal repair p. 5, light toning to approx. 54 plates, occasional light foxing elsewhere; contemporary green morocco gilt, rebacked preserving spine, a good copy.

Brunet IV 371; Sabin 58593.