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John Cole asked-


Is there a biography of LaPerouse in English?  As I recall there is a
place named for him on Botany Bay right across from where Cook landed.

=================

from George-

La Perouse was, in a way, the French version of Franklin. He disappeared,
from the middle of nowhere (= Botany Bay), in 1788, which stimulated the
departure of several French and English expeditions to go in search of
"Boussole" and "Astrolabe", the best known being that of d'Entrecasteaux.
Several works mentioning La Perouse in the title are accounts of those
search expeditions, such as "Looking for La Perouse", by Frank Horner
(Melbourne University Press, 1995)

There are several works about La Perouse in French, but if John is looking
for an English version he might search for-
"Pacific Explorer, the life of Jean-Francois de La Perouse, 1741-88", by
John Dunmore (the Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, New Zealand. 1985). As a
self-publication, it may not have achieved wide distribution, but it may be
worth exploring secondhand bookshops in New Zealand.

In French, (Amiral) M R de Brossard has written "Le Voyage de La Perouse"
(Paris 1965), and another having the same title, edited by Le Brossard and
Dunmore, in 2 vols (Imprimerie Nationale, Paris, 1985).

What are presumably original accounts surviving from the first part of the
voyage are to be found in -
Milet-Mireau N L A (ed.) "Voyage autour du monde ... de la Perouse", 3 vols,
L'Imprimerie de la Republique, Paris 1797. How they found sufficient
material from an expedition that failed to return, to occupy 3 volumes,
eludes me; presumably he sent interim journals back to Paris during his
travels. There's an abridged paperback of this, published by Maspero, Paris,
1980.

I should add that I have no acquaintance with any of these works, except the
book by Horner, from which these references were gleaned. I would not know
about anything published since 1995, then.

The most famous words about La Perouse were the last words uttered by King
Louis XVI, who enquired from the scaffold whether there was any news of La
Perouise. The answer was, unfortunately, no.

George.

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.


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