PHIPPS (Constantine John). Voyage au Pôle Boréal, fait en 1773, par ordre du roi d'Angleterre. Paris : Saillant & Nyon, Pissot, 1775. - In-4, marbled calf, double cold fillet framing the boards, spine ribbed and decorated, marbled edges (period binding). First edition of the French translation of this relation of the voyage to the North Pole of the British explorer and naturalist Constantin John Phipps (1744-1792). The translation is by Jean Nicolas Demeunier, revised by the Chevalier de Fleurieu. Phipps undertook this voyage in 1773 with the aim of getting as close as possible to the Boreal Pole by passing through Spitsbergen. He was accompanied by the naturalist Dr. Irving and the astronomer Israel Lyons. If the expedition was a failure, it allowed however several scientific advances on the knowledge of the coasts, the natural history, the use of marine watches, etc. It is in this work that the polar bear (Ursus Maritimus) is described for the first time as a separate species and not, as was then customary, as a variety of the brown bear. The edition is illustrated with 3 folding maps and 9 plates engraved by Pierre-Claude Delagardette (1745-1792?). There are also several tables, 11 of which are folded and included in the pagination. A very well preserved copy. Minor bumps on the headbands. Ink stain on the top of the first and last leaves. Missing as almost always the last leaf containing the notice to the binder. Provenance: Georges Demilliac, with handwritten bookplate on the verso of the first endpaper, dated 1849 in Geneva Rue des Corps Saints.