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| COURTANVAUX, Francois Cesar Le Tellier, Marquis de
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| Journal du Voyage de M. le Marquis de Courtanvaux, sur la fregate l'Aurore, pour essayer par ordre de l'Academie, plusieurs instruments relatifs a la longitude
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Paris, De l'Imprimerie Royale 1768
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| First editiion.
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| 4to, [2],VIII, 320 pp, 1 folding map, 5 plates.
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Contemporary sheep.
As the title says, the Marquis de Courtanvaux undertook a sea voyage in 1767 to test marine chronometers for measuring longitude at sea. One of the instruments he carried was made by the prominent French horlologist Ferdinand Berthoud , who was one of the two leading French contenders (the other being Le Roy) to solve the problem of building an effective marine chronometer.
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Courtanvaux was the descendent of a distinguished family of French aristocrats, astronomers, explorers, and statesmen. His grandfather had close connections to the astronomer Jean Richer, who presented him with a special copy of his Observations astronomiques et physiques faites en l'Isle de Caienne , which figures prominently in the early history of measuring longitude on land and at sea.
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