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two old books sitting on top of each other on a white surfacean open book with a picture of a group of people holding a flag
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15 - GRANDPRÉ (Louis-Marie-Joseph O’Hier de).
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Estimate €600 - €800
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Description
GRANDPRÉ (Louis-Marie-Joseph O’Hier de). A Journey to the West Coast of Africa, Undertaken in the years 1786 and 1787… Paris: Dentu, Year IX–1801. — 2 volumes in-8, 193 x 123: (2 ff.), 32, XXVIII, 226 pp., 1 map, 7 plates; (2 ff.), 300 pp., pp. 3–16 of catalogue, 1 plate, 2 maps. Light tan speckled sheepskin, plain spine with decoration, yellow edges (contemporary binding). First edition of the account of the Voyage along the West African Coast, recounting the pioneering expedition undertaken in 1786–1787 by Louis-Marie-Joseph O’Hier de Grandpré (1761–1846), a shipowner and naval officer, along the western coasts of Africa. This account, which is at once ethnographic, political and economic, offers a striking snapshot of African and colonial realities at a pivotal moment, just before the upheavals of the French Revolution. The work contains an in-depth description of the States of the Congo frequented by Europeans. In it, Grandpré provides a precise analysis of local customs, traditions, laws, structures of government and commercial practices. But it is above all his account of the slave trade that leaves a lasting impression: in it, he describes, without embellishment, the organisation, mechanisms and stakes of this trade in human beings as it was practised before 1789, thereby providing a first-hand account of one of the darkest chapters in colonial history. The account concludes with a second section devoted to the Cape of Good Hope, where the author provides a military and strategic description of this colony, then a vital crossroads for trade routes between Europe, Asia and Africa. The illustrations consist of a ‘flat map of the Angolan Coast’, two plans (the Cape of Good Hope and its surroundings, and the Cape Citadel), and eight plates depicting scenes of daily life and portraits of indigenous people, engraved from the author’s drawings. The first volume also includes a Congolese glossary (pp. 156–162). A fine copy in a contemporary binding, lacking the word ‘Fin’ on the final leaf; a condition not recorded by bibliographers. This copy comes from the library of the cartographer Jean-André Dezauche, who added the publisher’s 16-page catalogue from the period, which describes the work. This catalogue is here incomplete, missing the first leaf. A small tear to the top cap of the first volume. Provenance: Jean-André Dezauche, with bookplate.
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About the sale Claude Mozis Library – Black Africa and the African diaspora
Auction location
Auction time 10/21/2026 at 2:00 PM
Lot description modified on 10/02/2026 at 9:46 AM
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