Les avantures de Jacques Sadeur dans la decouverte et le voiage de la Terre Australe

166 x 97 x 29 mm, 0.25 kg A Utopian novel by Gabriel de Foigny titled 'Les avantures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Decouverte et le Voiage de la Terre Australe' ['The Known Southern Land: That is to say, the description of that country hitherto unknown, and of his manners and customs by Mr. Sadeur, with the adventures which led him to this Continent, and of the stay he made there for thirty-five years and more and his return'] published by Claude Barbin, Sainte Chapelle, Paris. The contents as appearing on the title page are in French 'Les Coutumes & les Moeurs des Australiens, leur Religion, leurs Exercises, leurs Etudes, leurs Guerres: les Animaux particuleurs a ce pais & toutes les raretex curioses qui s'y trouvent' [The dress and customs of the Australians, their religion, their physical exercises, their studies, their wars; the animals peculiar to that country, and all the rare and curious things that are found there]. The book is presented as a manuscript written by Jacques Sadeur on his return from Terra Australis but kept secret by the French Government. The book recounts his arrival in Australia, a land occupied by a race of hermaphrodites, and life there for 35 years and his eventual expulsion.