First edition of an important work on navigation by Joseph Bernard Chabert (1724-1805). The work was highly praised by the examining commission of the French Academy of Sciences, it was recommended as a navigational model for future navigators. The first part of the work contains the author's voyage from Brest to Louisburg, and 4 expeditions, the second part describes his astronomical observations at large. It is especially Chabert's astronomical research, which was very precise even by today's standards, that give his work great scientific value. Chabert added 6 maps to the first part, all of them with astonishingly exact data, also making the book interesting with respect to Canadian geography.
Chabert joined the navy on July 14, 1741, on the ship Léopard. He navigated the American coast, where he still was in 1746 on another ship, the Émeraude. After a promotion in 1748, he was ordered by the king to visit the region which now forms the south-east part of Quebec, east Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, the voyage which he describes in the present work. A few years after Chabert's visit in 1750-51, the French Indian War broke out in 1754, and three-quarters of the remaining population of 10.000 French settlers, who were considered to be a threat to the British position, were forcibly resettled in other parts of North America. He was received in 1753 as a member of the navy academy in Brest, and later those of Bologne, Berlin and Nancy.
Very good copy. Henze I, 536; Lande 114; Leclerc 691; Sabin 11723.