COCHELET (Charles). - Lot 41

COCHELET (Charles). The Shipwreck of the French Brig *La Sophie*, Lost on May 30, 1819, off the West Coast of Africa, and the Captivity of Some of the Shipwrecked in the Sahara Desert; with New Information on the City of Timbuktu. Paris: Librairie universelle de P. Mongie aîné, 1821. — 2 volumes in-8, 197 x 121: frontispiece, xvj, 348 pp., 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), 368 pp., (2 ff.), 1 map. Dark blue half-basane, smooth spine with decoration, speckled edges (contemporary binding). First edition of this autobiographical account, blending personal adventure, ethnography, and geography. In it, Charles Cochelet (1786–1860) recounts his shipwreck off the African coast (near Cape Juby, in present-day Morocco) on May 30, 1819, while en route to Brazil aboard La Sophie. The survivors, including himself, were captured by Bedouins, sold into slavery, and then led across the Sahara. Cochelet is said to have visited the Ouled Delim (a Saharan tribe) and Timbuktu (referred to as Timectou in the text), a city off-limits to foreigners at the time. He was ransomed by the Sultan of Morocco in Mogador (Essaouira), then returned to Marseille in February 1820, thanks to the intervention of Gabriel Delessert and his brother Adrien Delessert, the French Consul General in Egypt. This copy features a large fold-out map of part of Africa, as well as 3 of the 11 plates intended to illustrate the work, lithographed by Horace Vernet. Normal wear on the spines. Scattered foxing. Tears along the inner edge of the half-title page of the second volume. Provenance: Ex-libris “C.D.” and signature on the half-title pages.