Memoires, historiques & geographiques du Royaume de la Moree, Negrepont, & des places maritimes jusques à Thessalonique. Recueillis & enrichis des cartes des païs & des plas des places.

First French translation and first Dutch edition of Vincenzo Maria Coronelli's (1650-1718) history of Greece, one of the basic source works on the Peloponnesus.
On both covers and gilted coats of arms and on inside engraved ex-libris of Louis-César dee Crémeaux, marquis d'Entragues (17..-1747), who was a lieutenant general in the government of Mâconnais and well-known bibliophile.
With a lovely engraved ex-libris of Pierre Claret de Fleurieu (1738-1810). He was born in Lyon on July 2nd, 1738. At the age of 17, he joined the navy and took part in several naval battles in the Mediterranean Sea, against England, during the "7 Year War", enabling him to be promoted to sub-Lieutenant in 1762.
The peace of 1763 gave him occasion to apply himself to office work and study, and he assisted the engineer Ferdinand Berthoud, in 1766, in his invention of the marine watch or chronometer.
In 1768 he was appointed to the command of the frigate "Isis" on an expedition to experiment with the new instrument, sailing from Aix in November of that year. He took observations at Martinique, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, Havana, Jamaica, Colon, and New Orleans, and after touching at New York, Boston, and Newfoundland, returned to Aix on 11 October 1769.
The results of this expedition were important to geography, as he established the exact position of all +he points visited, and published them in his later works.
In 1776 Fleurieu was appointed inspector general of ports and navy yards, and from 1778 till 1783 he elaborated all the plans for the naval war against England, to assist the struggle for the independence of the United States. In 1790'1 he was minister of the navy, and in 1793 was imprisoned under the reign of terror, but was released in 1794, and under the directory was appointed to the bureau of longitudes. He was a member of the council of 500 in 1797, and in 1800 was called by Bonaparte to the council of state. In 1805 he was minister plenipotentiary for the signature of the treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States, and on his return became intendant of the imperial house, senator, in 1806 admiral, and in 1808 governor of the Tuileries.

The original Italian edition appeared earlier that same year, and the French translation by Barbin appeared in 1687 only. The work starts with a geographical description of the mountains and rivers of Greece, then it treats the various cities and isles of Greece, each with their own history, illustrated with plates of fortifications, views of cities and harbours.
At the time, Greece was in the centre of Europe's interest for it was the battle-field where the Venetian Republic defeated the Turks, pushing the ever threatening Ottoman Empire back to their own territory. The battle between Venice and the Turks of 1685 and the victory of the Venetian army in 1686 are also described.

The present edition is richly illustrated with nice maps, plans and views of Greece.

Reference: Blackmer Coll. 407. not in Tiele.