Description
LABARTHE (Pierre).
A Journey to the Coast of Guinea, or A Description of the Coasts of Africa, from Cape Tagrin to Cape Lopez-Gonzalves.
Paris: Debray, the author, Bossange, Masson and Besson, Year XI–1803. — 8vo, 200 x 121: 310 pp., (1 f.), 1 map. Light-coloured half-calf, plain spine with decoration (modern binding).
First edition of the work by the geographer Pierre Labarthe (1760–1824), then head of the Office for the Eastern Colonies and the Coasts of Africa at the Ministry of the Navy.
Drawing on late 18th-century navigation logs – held at the Ministry – the author constructs a fictional epistolary narrative: a voyage to Guinea presented in the form of letters. Through this medium, he offers ‘a description of the various European settlements in the area between Cape Tagrin and Cape Lopez Gonzalves’, compares ‘their strengths and their systems’, and discusses ‘the trade of each nation, the growth they may achieve, and, above all, the benefits that French trade may derive from engaging with this part of Africa’ (pp. ix–x).
The work also includes instructions on the slave trade, compiled from various official reports.
The edition is illustrated with a colour fold-out map depicting the coast of Upper Guinea.
A copy in a modern imitation binding, with the original covers reused.
Spine worn. Foxing.
Provenance:
Stamp of the G. Cazeaux bookshop and stationery shop in Pau on the title page.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
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 4:36 PM
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