South American Indigenous Archaeology and Scientific Exploration, d'Orbigny's Atlas Volume of L'Homme Américain, 1839

1839. d'Orbigny, Alcide. L'Homme Américain (de l'Amérique Méridionale) Considéré Sous Ses Rapports Physiologiques et Moraux, 1839, presenting visual documentation from one of the earliest large-scale French scientific expeditions to South America, with direct relevance to the study of Indigenous populations, archaeology, and nineteenth-century ethnographic practice. Based on d'Orbigny's travels across Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, the work assembles visual evidence used to classify human populations, material culture, and natural environments within contemporary European scientific frameworks. The atlas reflects the period's integration of anthropology, natural history, and geography, while also documenting objects, burial practices, and physical remains encountered during fieldwork, contributing to early European interpretations of Indigenous societies in South America.

d'Orbigny, Alcide. L'Homme Américain (de l'Amérique Méridionale) Considéré Sous Ses Rapports Physiologiques et Moraux. Paris: Pitois-Levrault, 1839. First edition, atlas volume only. Folio format measuring approximately 14 x 10 inches, containing 15 engraved plates, including one hand-colored plate, depicting skulls, mummies, artifacts, and other materials associated with Indigenous populations, alongside representations related to archaeology, zoology, geography, and ethnography. The plates derive from specimens and observations collected during d'Orbigny's expedition, which produced a substantial body of material for scientific study in France.

Folio volume in three-quarter leather and cloth binding with gilt spine and raised bands, marbled edges and endpapers, and bookplate of archaeologist A.D. Passmore. Light foxing and rubbing to boards; overall very good condition. A significant visual component of a major nineteenth-century scientific work documenting Indigenous material culture and natural history in South America.