PERNETY, Antoine Joseph (1716-1796). The History of a Voyage to the Malouine (or Falkland) Islands. London, 1771.
4to (264 x 203 mm). 7 engraved maps, charts and plans (4 folding), 9 engraved plates (3 folding). (Very minor offsetting.) Contemporary speckled calf (rebacked). Provenance:Robert Ballard Whitebrook (1917-2012), American historian and author (bookplate).FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of an important early source of information about the Falkland islands by Bougainville's personal secretary. Bougainville financed the expedition himself, intending to found a colony on the Falkland Islands; in doing so, he ignored Spanish claims that the islands were part of Patagonia, and he was perhaps unaware of John Strong's earlier landing there in 1690. The first settlement on the islands was made by Bougainville in January of 1764, when he landed provisions and men and built Fort St. Louis. The Falkland Islands sovereignty has been in dispute ever since.
