MACINTOSH (William). Voyages en Europe, en Asie et en Afriqu - Lot 96

MACINTOSH (William). Voyages en Europe, en Asie et en Afrique, contenant la description des moeurs, coutumes, loix, productions, manufactures de ces contrées, & l'état actuel des possessions angloises dans l'Inde; commencés en 1777, & finis en 1781. À Londres, et se trouve à Paris, chez Regnaut, 1786. 2 volumes in-8, xxiv-486-(2 of which the second is blank) + viii-414-(2 of which the second is blank) pp. in marbled fawn calf, ribbed spines with red and green headpieces, threaded edges, red edges, small angular spotting on the last leaves of the first volume (contemporary binding). FIRST EDITION OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATION of this work originally published in English in London in 1782. 2 fold-out copper-engraved maps, one with hand-colored highlights. A merchant and planter on the island of Grenada, where he also held official positions, William Macintosh traveled in the 1770s, then settled in Avignon in the 1780s. Keen to take part in the political, economic and social debates of his time, he was in contact with numerous personalities such as the Comte de Bougainville, George Washington, Adam Smith and the freed slave and writer Olaudah Equiano. Macintosh recalls his trip to India, to the Negapatam (Nagapattinam) and Calcutta (Kolkata) regions, devoting a chapter to the 1778 war between the English and the Marattes. He also describes his forced stay as a prisoner of the French on Île-de-France (Mauritius) and Île Bourbon (Reunion Island), as well as his time in Madagascar. Two other texts follow: James CAPPER, "Voyages aux Indes orientales, au travers de l'Égypte et du grand désert" (pp. 281-362). First French translation of this work originally published in English in London in 1783. A colonel in the service of the East India Company, James Capper recounts two voyages, one in 1778 returning from India via Suez, the other via Basra. - Anders SPARRMANN, "Extrait du Voyage [...] au Cap de Bonne-Espérance, & chez les Hottentots & les Caffres" (pp. 363-414). First partial French edition of this work, originally published in its native language in Stockholm in 1783. In it, the Swedish naturalist recounts his travels between 1772 and 1776. The complete French edition would not appear until 1787. Provenance: Count de Querhoënt (inked bookplate on the inverted titles, one crossed out).