LA GIRONIERE, Paul de - Lot 83

LA GIRONIERE, Paul de Aventures d'un gentilhomme breton aux îles Philippines avec un aperçu sur la géologie et la nature du sol de ces îles. Paris, Firmin Didot frères, 1857. Large in-8 (265 x 168 mm) with a woodcut portrait on frontispiece, 2 ff.n.ch., 458 pp., 6 engraved plates and 1 map. Green half-maroquin, spine decorated, spotted edges (period binding). See Chadenat, 888 (ed. 1855). Second edition of this account of the incredible adventures lived by Paul de La Gironière (1797- ca. 1860), a young marine surgeon from the Nantes region, in the Philippines where he arrived in 1820 and from which he left in 1838. As an entrepreneur, he founded an important sugar cane factory in Manila, which produced phenomenal yields. "Nevertheless, it is as a planter that La Gironière's merits are most evident. In fact, the account of his experience, although it includes lyrical descriptions of his buffalo hunts or his exploits as an administrator, lacks details on the exploitation of the estate. The only figure he gives is that of his herds: 3000 cattle, 800 buffaloes, 200 horses. Barrot writes (April 1837) that with 25 permanent workers and 70 seasonal workers he produced 350,000 to 420,000 pounds of sugar, the yield of a West Indian establishment requiring 150 to 200 people. The plantation also produced everything necessary for its subsistence. It is also known that La Gironière introduced important improvements in the harvesting of indigo and in the extraction of sugar. He brought in a young specialist, Albert Delaunay, and imported to the Philippines the techniques used in Mauritius" (france-pittoresque.com). A very good copy.