MEARES (John).Voyages de la Chine à la Côte nord-ouest d'Amérique, fait dans les années 1788 et 1789.Paris: Buisson, An 3e de la République [1794]. - 3 volumes in-8, 196 x 120 and an atlas in-4, 291 x 213 : xxiv, 391 pp. ; (2 ff.), 386 pp. ; (2 ff.), 371 pp. ; (2 ff.), 28 plates. First edition of the French translation by Jean Baptiste Louis Joseph Billecocq (1765-1829) of this account of the voyages to the Pacific Northwest by the British navigator John Meares (1756-1809). In 1788, Meares organised an expedition from China to the north-west Pacific to trade furs, sailing under the Portuguese flag to circumvent the monopoly of the East India Company. Arriving in Nootka Bay (now British Columbia), he claimed to have bought land from the Amerindian chief Maquinna - a claim that is disputed. He also built the first European ship in the region, the North West America. In 1789, Spain, worried about the British and Russian presence, sent Esteban José Martínez to occupy Nootka. Martínez seized Meares' ships and expelled the foreign traders. Back in England (1790), Meares exploited the incident to provoke a diplomatic crisis, exaggerating his losses and his rights over Nootka. His story, first published in English in 1790, served as a pretext for Britain to claim territory in the region, later influencing negotiations over Oregon and British Columbia. The report is supplemented by the account of another voyage made in 1786 on the vessel Nootka, which set out from Bengal, a "collection of observations on the probability of a north-west passage", and an abridged treatise on trade between the north-west coast and China. A complete copy of the atlas comprising 28 plates including a portrait of Captain John Meares and 3 fold-out maps of the North Pacific Sea, the inland part of North America, as well as the north-west coast of America and the north-east coast of Asia, recognised in 1778 and 79 by Captain Cook. The others are views, plans and portraits. Some spotting and rubbing, some corners slightly dulled. Endpapers of text volumes previously renewed.