Important Scientific Exploration of Spanish South America and the Pacific
With a Profusion of Fine Engraved Maps, Plans and Plates
Frank S. Streeter's Copy
First French edition of Ulloa and Juan y Santacilia's account of the 1735 French Geodesic Mission to South America. The beautifully printed 2-volume work is richly illustrated with engravings of scientific instruments, views and maps of South American cities, including a large 3-sheet folding map of Quito. The work includes one of earliest published scientific descriptions of the Aurora Australis, the southern hemisphere's counterpart to the northern Aurora Borealis.
King Philip V of Spain ordered Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan y Santacilia, prominent officers of the Spanish Navy, to accompany the expedition in order to undertake pioneering scientific observations. While studying the Earth's shape near the equator, Ulloa recorded observations of the southern lights, contributing to early European scientific knowledge of the phenomenon.
The 1735 French Geodesic Mission to South America, led by Charles Marie de La Condamine and organized by the French Academy of Sciences, aimed to measure a degree of latitude at the equator to resolve the debate over the Earth's shape. The expedition traveled to present-day Ecuador, then part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, conducting observations in Quito and along the Andes. Spanish naval officers Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan y Santacilia accompanied the mission, gathering valuable scientific and geopolitical intelligence. The team’s measurements confirmed Isaac Newton’s hypothesis that the Earth is an oblate spheroid, bulging at the equator. Ulloa and Juan later published their findings, contributing to advancements in astronomy, cartography, and mineralogy.
In 1735, the French Academy of Sciences requested permission from the King of Spain to send an expedition to the equinoctial regions of Spanish South America. Charles de la Condamine and several other French scientists wished to measure the arc of one degree of meridian there in order to calculate the dimension and shape of the earth... The scientists carried a series of difficult observations in various fields, as well as the knowledge that the earth was not perfectly spherical, but flattened at the poles - Hill.
The work originally appeared in Spanish, published at Madrid in 1748. This French translation by E. de Mauvillon includes both Ulloa's Relacion historica... and Jorge Juan y Santacilia's Observaciones astronomicas y phisicas hechas... en los reynos del Peru. The work also includes an extensive abridgement of Garcilaso de la Vega's work on the Incas, which is here illustrated with 8 beautifully engraved plates.
A selection of the notable maps and plans here follows:
- Plan de la Ville de Carthagene des Indes
- Plan de la Baye de Carthagene
- Plan de la Baye et Ville de Portobello
- Carte de la Meridiene Mesuree au Royaume de Quito [on 3 sheets]
- Plan de la Ville et Cite de Francois de Quito
- Vue du Palais et Citadelle que les Rois Incas avoient pres du Village de Cañar, et dont on voit encore les Murs
- Plan Senographique de la Cite des Rois ou Lima
- Le Port de Callao dans la Mer Pacifique ou Mer del Sur
- Plan de l'Isle de Juan Fernandez
- Plan de la Baye de la Conception
- Plan de l'Entrée du Golfe de Chiloe et du port de Chacao
- Plan de la Baye et Du Port de Valparayso
- Plan du Cap Francois
- Carte Nouvelle et Exacte de la Mer Pacifique autrement Mer Du Sud
- Plan du Port et Ville de Louisbourg
The plates are by Frans de Bakker, François Morellon La Cave, Jacob Folkema, Duflos
States
With the Paris imprint appearing only in some examples, as noted by Sabin, and with the pasted label above the imprint: "Imprimé a Amsterdam, & se vend."
Provenance
Frank S. Streeter, with his oval bookplate in each volume.