MAWE (John). VOYAGES dans l' Intérieur du Brésil. Paris. 1816.

MAWE (John). VOYAGES dans l' Intérieur du Brésil. Paris. 1816.
MAWE (John)
VOYAGES dans l' Intérieur du Brésil. Particulièrement dans les Districts de l' Or et du Diamant, Faits avec l' autorisation du Prince Régent de Portugal, en 1809 et 1810. Contenant aussi un Voyage au Rio-de-la-Plata, et un essai historique sur la révolution de Buenos-Ayres. Traduits de l' Anglais par J.B.B. Euriès. Paris: Gide Fils, 1816.

2 v.; xlii, 358 pp., 3 grav.; 382, [2] pp., 3 gravs.: il.; 200 mm. Full contemporary calf.

First French edition, based on the original English edition printed in 1812. John Mawe, an important mineralogist, began a commercial trip to the River Plate financed by the Prince Regent of Portugal with the aim of evaluating the value of the gold and diamond industries. Arriving in Cádiz when hostilities between Spain and England began, he was detained in that city and in March 1805 arrested in Montevideo as an English spy, having been released after William Beresford's successful military operation in 1806. From there, he accompanied the expedition to Buenos Aires commanded by John Whitelocke, having, on return, sailed to Brazil. There he obtained permission from the Prince Regent to visit the diamond mines in Minas Gerais and other parts of the interior. It is about these trips that John Mawe reports in his book, and the work was very well received, given the little information that was known about that region. Translated into several languages, the work is considered the first testimonial description of Brazil's gold and diamond mines. According to Borba de Moraes, 'the description of the Jaraguá mine is the first known testimony from the interior of São Paulo'. This edition also has a Description of the Azores islands.

¶ Sabin , 46993. Borba de Moraes II, 542