Galard, Tableau de Cayenne ou de la Guiane, 1799.

Empirical description of the Guyanas

[Louis Antoine Marie Victor de Galard-Terraube (1765-1840)]. 

Tableau de Cayenne ou de la Guiane française, contenant des renseignements exacts sur son climat, ses productions, les naturels du pays, les différentes ressources que l’on y trouve, et le degré de prospérité dont cette Colonie est susceptible.

Paris, Veuve Tilliard, An VII [1799].

8°. 230 pp.

Contemporary blue boards with a paper title label on the spine.

First edition in the original French of a detailed description of French Guiana and the greater colonial north of South America, including Surinam. The typically empirical work covers the area’s specific, climate, agriculture, indigenous and Black population, resources, flora & fauna, sea routes and more. One chapter is dedicated to the Black population and slavery, which is described as “less harsh in Guiana than anywhere else.” The work was published anonymously, but is attributed by the BnF and others to Louis Antoine Marie Victor de Galard, Marquis of Terraube. He spent a year traveling in the Guyana’s and undertook three voyages to correct marine charts.

Condition: binding slightly rubbed, faded stain on the upper margin of the first few pages. Otherwise a very good copy.

Reference: Sabin 26340.