Pierre Prault

First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).

Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.

Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.

Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.

“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective descriptions it provides of Indigenous life (…) The work is also of great value for its extensive lists of terms used by the Inuit, the Agniers, the Algonquins, the Mohegans, the Chaouanons and the Saulteaux.” Cf. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, IV, pp. 524–525.

Celebrated edition entirely engraved both images and text, richly illustrated with 6 engraved titles, a frontispiece and an engraved half-title for volume I, together with 243 figures, 473 vignettes and tail-pieces engraved by Fessard. The illustration of the first three volumes is the work of Monnet, and in the last three by Fessard after Bardin, Bidauld, Caresme, Desrais, Houel, Kobell, Le Clerc, Leprince, Loutherbourg, and Meyer. The text is entirely engraved by Montulay and Drouet within decorative borders. 
Contemporary red morocco bindings, flat spines gilt in a lattice design with floral gilttooling, beige morocco volume and title labels, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on the edges, gilt roll-tooled borders on the pastedowns, blue paper endleaves and doublures, gilt dentelle turn-ins, all edges gilt. Joints expertly restored.

A handsome copy, elegantly bound in contemporary red morocco with richly gilt-tooled spines, of this edition undertaken by Etienne Fessard, dedicated to the heirs to the kingdom or"enfants de France", the Duke of Berry, the Count of Provence, and the Count of Artois.

Stated second edition, though in fact the fourth, and the second Parisian printing issued by Prault. According to Michaud's *Biographie Universelle*, the true first edition was printed in only 24 copies in Newport for the author's friends; the second, equally rare, appeared in Cassel in 1785. However, that latter version is believed to be erroneous and pirated, published without the author’s consent and incomplete (only one volume in 12mo format). The appearance of the second volume of this edition in 1791, following the first volume in 1788, suggests it is the most complete version. Includes two folding maps with contemporary hand-coloring and three folding plates at the end.
Contemporary full tree calf bindings. Smooth spines richly gilt with star tools and grotesque compartments. Red morocco labels for titles, green morocco labels for volume numbers. Small losses at head of both volumes, not affecting the caps. A wormhole through the first compartment of volume I, and a 1 cm split at the tail of the lower joint. Signs of rubbing and a surface abrasion to the upper board of volume II.

A good copy with both maps in color.

Edition illustrated with 4 folding maps heightened in color. In the Supplement: Routes and distances from Paris to London.

Contemporary full brown marbled sheep binding. Raised spine decorated. Beige morocco title-label. Headcap largely worn. Evidence of rubbing. One corner slightly bumped.
Historical and geographical précis of the British kingdom, with some chapters on the customs and psychology of this nation.

First edition.

Half brown shagreen binding ca 1860. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Gilt title. Rubbing to corners. Good copy.
Treatise on animal magnetism by a disciple of Mesmer. Demonstrations and proofs. The work concludes with considerations on the movement by the Marquis de Chastellux.