Exclusive: A newly discovered 330-year-old journal contains an eyewitness account of the first verified French sighting of the Australian coastline in 1687
A newly discovered 330-year-old journal that contains an eyewitness account of the first verified French sighting of the Australian coastline is expected to fetch more than half a million dollars when it goes up for auction in London this month.
The journal, which will go on sale in the region of £350,000 through Christie’s Private Sales, is thought to be the only 17th-century manuscript description of Australia to have come to the market – by some way the earliest mention of Australia ever offered for sale. Thomas Venning, head of books and manuscripts at Christie’s in London, said such a find was “extremely rare”.Venning said when his research showed up that the ship had made an unexpected landfall on the Australian coast he started frantically turning the journal’s pages to see what Bremond had said about it.Christie’s Images Limited 2023
Bremond, who wrote that the fleet had been blown off course days earlier due to a storm, said that they did not precisely know by what people inhabited the land. In diplomatic terms, the French embassy achieved little beyond the confirmation of the commercial treaty negotiated in 1685 and the establishment of French troops at Bangkok and Mergui. The resentment of this foreign military presence is thought to have been a significant factor in the 1688 revolution in Siam, which ultimately led to the interruption of relations between Siam and France until the 19th century.
The journal includes a detailed list of the presents sent by Louis XIV and drawings illustrate the topography, local inhabitants, flora and fauna of the Cape, Batavia, Siam, the Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Ascension Island. The 12 illustrations devoted to Siam also depict King Narai’s palace, ships and elephant.
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