Jean-Francois de Galoup, Comte de La Perouse commanded a French scientific expedition to the Pacific in 1785-88. Recognized as one the foremost naval commanders and navigators in France, he was selected by King Louis XVI to complete Captain James Cook's exploration of the western Pacific. The British Admiralty provided scientific equipment to measure variations in magnetic compass readings and with the latest instruments for determining longitude. La Perouse explored the coasts of the Gulf of Alaska and northwestern North America in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. After leaving America his expedition continued on to Asia where he explored from Macao to Kamchatka and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. La Perouse was meticulous in sending copies of his extensive logs, maps and surveying information via other ships as well as overland. La Perouse's last contact was in the spring of 1788 with a British ship in Botany Bay, Australia. The expedition was never heard from again. Considered one of the greatest French voyages, the French Government decided to publish the story of the expedition when it became clear they had been lost. An English edition was published in London.

This large-scale chart covers a portion of today's Prince of Wales, San Fernando, Lulu, Noyes, Baker, and Suemez islands in the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle. There is excellent detail along coastlines plus scores of soundings in bays and harbors. Adorned with a simple compass rose with an arrow indicating north. Engraved by Bouclet.

References: Wagner #843; Falk #1797-12; Shirley (BL Atlases) G.LPR-1a #26.

Condition: A

A crisp impression on a sheet with a large tower watermark. There is some minor soiling that is mostly confined to the blank margins, faint creasing along the centerfold, and a small paper flaw in a blank area of the map at left has been archivally repaired.