Memoires de Monsieur Du Guay-Trouin, lieutenant general des armées navales de France, et commandeur de l'Ordre Royal & Militaire de Saint Louis.

(Paris?), [colophon:] C.F.S. ... [sic], 1740.. First authorized edition. Large 4°, recent navy full Oasis morocco, spine with raised bands in 7 compartments, title gilt in second compartment from head, text-block edges rouged (for an older binding). Title page printed in red and black, with large engraved allegorical vignette. Engraved headpiece and initial. Printed on thick paper of high quality. Occasional very slight browning, small piece clipped from front free endpaper. Crisp, with ample margins. Fine condition. Engraved frontispiece, (2 ll.), xl, 284 pp., 6 engraved plates [5 of them folding]. *** First authorized edition of the memoirs of one of the most illustrious French seamen and corsairs. Although Duguay-Trouin did not wish them published until after his death (in 1736), the Memoires appeared in an unauthorized edition of Amsterdam, 1730. While this authorized quarto edition of 1740 lacks many details of the author's youthful adventures, which he suppressed at the request of Cardinal Fleury, it was edited from the author's corrected manuscript by P.F. Godart de Beauchamps-Barbier, with additions by the author's nephew, Luc de La Garde-Jazier. Borba terms this edition "the most sought after one, not only because of its especial beauty, but also because it contains the definitive text."In 1710, DuClerc led a French expedition against Rio de Janeiro, but he and the greater part of his force were captured. Duguay-Trouin assembled a larger fleet in the following year and again attacked Rio, occupying the city for some two months. It is interesting to compare Duguay-Trouin's Relation, 1712, with his Memoires, regarding the attack on the port and city of Rio de Janeiro and the ransacking of the churches' treasures: in the later work he explains at great length how he returned those treasures to the Jesuits. On the expedition against Brazil and the attack on Rio de Janeiro in 1711, see pp. 157-200; pp. 273-84 contain a list of all officers and men participating in the Brazil expedition.The Memoires is a splendid example of French book making, finely printed on thick paper. The highly accomplished engravings, by J.P. Le Bas and A. Coquart, include a portrait of the author, a view of a French man-of-war with parts labeled, four large folding views of naval engagements, and a folding plan of Rio de Janeiro and vicinity in 1711, with Duguay-Trouin's ships attacking. The vignette on the title page shows a putto with a trident perched on a globe that rests on a galley; beneath the galley are two sea monsters. Page 1 has a vignette of Neptune holding his trident, surrounded by minions with naval accoutrements. This 1740 edition was followed in the same year by quarto and octavo editions published in Amsterdam by Pierre Mortier, who had earlier published the unauthorized 1730 edition. Borba de Moraes had seen later editions of 1741, 1746, 1748, 1756, 1769, and 1773, each with the author's portrait, five plates and a map.*** Borba de Moraes (1983) I, 272-3: "magnificently printed." Alden & Landis 740/92. Berger, Bibliografia do Rio de Janeiro (1980) pp. 150-1. Brunet II, 1780. Polak 2855. Garraux p. 91. Raeders 150. Cohen-De Ricci I, 334-5. Oliveira Lima Catalogue I, 465. Bosch 186. Not in Rodrigues, which lists only the 1756 edition, or in Sabin, which lists (as nº 29098) only the 8° edition of 1740. See also Mindlin, Highlights 171 (describing the 1730 edition): "The number of editions is suprising …. The most important is the edition in quarto, from 1740 …." Not in JCB. Not in JFB (1994); cf. D309, the Amsterdam, 1740 edition. Not in Welsh or Greenlee Catalogue. Cf. Le Neprou de Carfort, Duguay-Trouin: Sa maison natale, sa sepulture, les manuscrits de ses Memoires: Documents inédits (St. Brieuc & Paris, 1912). Jisc locates three copies of the edition published in 1740 chez Pierre Mortier. NUC: InU, DCU-IA, NN, CtY, MB.