Inhabitants of Baie de Castries an engraving from La Perouse's Voyage 1798

[LA PEROUSE, Jean Francois]; DUCHÉ DE VANCY, Jean Baptiste; HEATH, James. Dress of the Inhabitants of Baie de Castries.

An engraving from the atlas volume of plates of the voyage of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, published in London by G. G. & J. Robinson, Paternoster Row, 1798.

Copper-engraving, plate no. 54, after a drawing by the Duché de Vancy, engraved by Heath, with the imprint “Published as the Act directs, Nov. 1st 1798”.  330x220mm, light uniform toning, mild marginal soiling, a little show-through from the verso, but a clean, well-defined impression with good margins. Overall, very good. 

Image depicting domestic life, costume, and material culture of the Indigenous inhabitants of Baie de Castries, on the north-west coast of America, then described as the eastern coast of “Tartary” in contemporary French and British geographical usage. This plate forms part of the celebrated series of engravings prepared for the posthumous publication of La Pérouse’s voyage (1785–1788), documenting the French expedition’s survey of the North Pacific, including Alaska, the Sea of Japan, Kamchatka, and the northwest coast of America.
 
The draughtsman, Jean-Baptiste Claude Duché de Vancy, served as official artist to the expedition, while Heath was one of the principal London engravers engaged for the English edition of the atlas. The scene records the built environment, clothing, and domestic practices observed at Baie de Castries during La Pérouse’s brief but historically important visit, shortly before the expedition’s disappearance in the South Pacific.