Series 02: Louis de Freycinet papers, mainly concerning the Uranie voyage

SAFE/MLMSS 10275/Box 1/Folders 2-4
SAFE/MLMSS 10275/Box 4/Item 1

series

between 1812 and 1849

9650178

3 folders and 1 item of textual material - manuscript, printed

The official reports of the Uranie expedition were issued under the general title 'Voyage autour du monde entrepris par ordre du Roi sur les corvettes de S. M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820'. The first report to be published was the 'Zoologie' (1824), co-authored by Paul Gaimard and Jean René Quoy. The 'Botanique' (1826) was written by the expedition’s pharmacist, Charles Gaudichaud. The majority of the reports, including the 'Historique', were written by Louis de Freycinet and he spent much of the remainder of his life working on them. Two volumes, 'Magnétisme Terrestre' and 'Météorologie', were completed posthumously by Louis' nephew Lodoïx de Freycinet and Felix Lamothe, the husband of Louis’ niece Henriette and published in 1842 and 1844. Freycinet had been writing about the imminent completion of them from the mid-1830s but they were unfinished at his death in 1842.

Reference:
Compiled from the Library's acquisition file

This series comprises 63 documents, including one printed item. Most have Laage archive stamps. The manuscripts mainly concern the researching and writing of the official narrative of the Uranie voyage. They include Louis de Freycinet’s working notes on the Mariana Islands, Hawaii, the East Indies and various scientific matters; an unpublished draft on the possibilities for the redemption of convicts in New South Wales and another manuscript regarding transportation; Louis de Freycinet’s personal archive of manuscripts relating to his correspondence with Alexander von Humboldt on the effects of barometric pressure on observations made during the Uranie voyage; another file of Louis de Freycinet's notes on magnetism and observations during the Uranie voyage; and an unpublished epilogue to the official narrative. Two lengthy manuscripts are translations into French of Barron Field’s essay on the Aboriginal people of Australia and his supressed and unpublished essay on the New Zealand Maori and the massacre of the crew of the Boyd in 1809 which relied heavily on eyewitness accounts by Samuel Marsden.

FILE 1
Papers mainly concerning the researching and writing of the official narrative of the Uranie voyage

FILE 2
Dossier concerning barometric pressure on the Uranie voyage, including correspondence with Alexander von Humboldt

FILE 3
Dossier concerning magnetism and observations during the Uranie voyage, written on board the Uranie and in France

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales