French Botany in the Enlightenment: The Ill-fated Voyages of La P�rouse and His Rescuers / Edition 1

by R.L. Williams

Overview

This volume completes a trilogy meant to be a commentary on the botanophilia that captured the literate public in 18th-century France. Enthusiastic public support for any governmental initiative likely to expand botanical knowledge was an expression of immense curiosity about the natural world beyond Europe. It amounted to a quest for universal knowledge that could benefit all mankind: useful knowledge that could improve the human condition in this life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402011092
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	03/31/2003
Series:	International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des id�es , #182
Edition description:	2003
Pages:	249
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.17(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction. Royal Instructions for Scientific Exploration. The French Gardener Overseas. The Voyage of La Pérouse: Part 1: From Brest to Monterey Bay. Part 2: From Monterey to Botany Bay. Adventures and Misadventures: The Bizarre Story of the Dupetit Thouars Brothers. The Voyage of Entrecasteaux: Part 1: Genesis and Preparation. Part 2: From Brest to Tasmania. Part 3: New Calidonia to Ambon. Part 4: Esperance Bay. Part 5: Tasmania Revisited. Part 6: On to New Calidonia. Part 7: Its Woeful End. Internment. From Explorer to Closet Botanist. Epilogue. Bibliography. General Index. Plant Index.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"William’s book is the third in a trilogy devoted to the love of botany in eighteenth-century France … . Of value are his translations of original printed documents connected with the voyage, and his detailed chronological record of events … . The story of La Pérouse’s lost expedition and the trials and tribulations of those who went in search of it is inevitably a moving and exciting one, well recounted here." (Emma Spary, British Society for the History of Science, 2005)

From the Publisher