Eighteen items relating to the French exploration and charting of the Western Australian coastline in the early nineteenth century were purchased from Christie's Auction House, London, by the WA State Library Custodians in September 2002, and received
by the Battye Library on 6 December 2002. The collection comprises three maps from the voyage of Nicolas Baudin, 1800-1804 (including the first detailed chart of the Swan River created by Heirrisson in June 1801), and fifteen drawings from the voyage of Louis de Freycinet on the Uranie, 1817-1820 (including one showing Rose Freycinet seated outside her tent at Shark Bay in 1818). Accompanying the collection are the text and images from the exhibition "Freycinet - our French collection" (held in the State Library of Western Australia, 21 February-31 March 2003), proof sheets of images used in the exhibition, and a set of six greeting cards using images from the collection.
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