The French Collector Journal and Letters of Theodore Leschenault Botanist of the Baudin Expedition

The French botanist Thodore Leschenault (17731826) travelled with Nicolas Baudins voyage of discovery to Australia in the years 1800 to 1803: his journal and letters vividly record his impressions of the plant life and animals he encountered, along with dramatic and unsettling meetings with Indigenous peoples. Shaped as much by Enlightenment ideas as by his painful experience of the French Revolution, Leschenault weaves through his travelogue reflections on topics ranging from slavery and colonialism to plant systematics and environmental damage.

Long thought lost, Leschenaults original manuscript journal was rediscovered only in 2016. The French Collector offers the first complete English translation of this journal and various letters relating to the expedition.