Lot 51: BEAGLE VOYAGE.- [FITZROY, ROBERT. 1805-1865.]- Tomada de una Carta incompleta de la Costa de Chile a bordo del buque de S.M.B. Beagle. Santiago: Ministerio de Marina, January 1, 1843.

[FITZROY, ROBERT. 1805-1865.] Tomada de una Carta incompleta de la Costa de Chile a bordo del buque de S.M.B. Beagle. Santiago: Ministerio de Marina, January 1, 1843. Map on 5 sheets (only, of 8?), lithographed by José Desplanques, 625 x 453 mm each (sheet size, one in landscape orientation), with period small labels and numbering "B-E" plus "H." Some pale foxing, few closed edge tears to sheets "C" and "H." EXTREMELY RARE MAPS OF THE CHILEAN COASTLINE AS SURVEYED ON THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE being extremely interesting mementos of Charles Darwin's famous expedition. Very little is known about these maps and the only other copies we find are in the Chilean National Library. However, there is a near contemporary reference by the Chilean historian, Vicente Pérez Rosales (1807-1886) that Captain FitzRoy gave these—presumably manuscript—maps to the Chilean government in 1842 and they were published shortly thereafter; which accords with the imprint. See the online edition of Rosales's Ensayo sobre Chile (1859) at www.historia.uchile.cl/ The Beagle survey maps published in London in 1839 necessarily cover some of Chile but do not directly relate to the present maps and do not include the same detail. The Beagle was off the coast of Chile in 1834 and 1835 before heading north to the Galapagos. Darwin planned his expedition to the Andes from the Chilean towns of Santiago and Valparaiso.