Voyage a la Martinique: contenant diverses observations sur la physique, l'histoire naturelle, l'agriculture, les moeurs, & les usages de cette isle, faites en 1751 & dans les années suivantes: lu à l'Académie royale des sciences de Paris en 1761

Author: Jean-Baptiste Thibault de Chanvalon (c1725-1785)Year: 1763Publisher: J.B. Bauche Place: ParisDescription:  [8]+viii+135+[46]+[1]+136-192+[80]  pagination of this work is erratic, but this copy complete: with folding map. Quarto (10 1/4" x 8") bound in contemporary calf, edges stained red, marbled endpapers with five raised spine bands. (Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection 247. Sabin 11936. JCB (1)III:1346.) First edition. Jean-Baptiste Thibault de Chanvalon father having died shortly after his birth, he was sent to live with his grandparents in France, studied there and became a lawyer in 1742. He left for Paris to study science with Réaumur and Antoine de Jussieu. He became an ordinary member of the Academy of Bordeaux in 1748. He left Paris for Martinique in 1751, where he took over the management of his father's house in Rivière-Pilote. He was a member of the Superior Council of the island of Martinique and responsible for drawing up statistics. He published Voyage à la Mart