(BILLINGS Commodore) - SAUER (Martin). Voyage fait par ordre de l'Impératrice de Russie Catherine II, dans le nord de la Russie asiatique, dans la mer glaciale, dans la mer d'Anadyr, et sur les côtes de l'Amérique, depuis 1785 jusqu'en 1794, par le commodore Billings. Paris, Buisson, an X-1802; 2 vol. in-8 (197 x 121 mm), glazed brown half calf, smooth spines decorated with gilt lyres and ship irons and one atlas in-4 (360 x 217 mm), blue paper boards (Bindings and boards of the period). Map and 14 plates (views of ports, islands, masks and strange costumes of the islanders...) First edition of the French translation. Billings had taken part in Cook's 3rd expedition. In 1785, at Catherine II's request, he set off to explore Siberia and Alaska, where she intended to lay claim to all the lands that had not yet been conquered by other powers - and to draw up a report on the fur trade that would prove particularly useful. His exploration of the North Pacific coast provided important information that complemented that of Cook and Vancouver. At the end, there is a vocabulary of the Yukagir, Yakut, Tongouth or Lamut, Kamchadale, Aleut and Kadiak languages. The work was written by Sauer, the voyage's secretary-interpreter. Volume 2 lacks 2 pages of text. Very handsome bindings decorated with ship's irons.