From ze
The rare first French edition, translated by Jean-Baptiste Robinet, after the first English edition published in 1769. Four attractive separate engraved title pages. Changuion catalogue at the end of the third part. The edition shared in Paris with Le Jay appeared a few months later and does not have engraved titles.
Contemporary binding in full marbled brown sheep. Decorated raised-band spine. Beige morocco title label, tobacco morocco volume label. Triple fillet frame on boards. Loss to lower joint at foot of volume I. 3 corners bumped. Handsome copy, fresh overall.
Epistolary novel set in Canada. "The romantic customs of Canada and the manners of its inhabitants are described in this novel with great truth," Revue des Romans (1839). Frances Brooke (1724-1789), English woman of letters, lived in Canada where she had married an Anglican minister. A lieutenant goes to French Canada with the aim of establishing a settlement, and resides in Quebec, Montreal (of which he gives extensive descriptions). The lieutenant undertakes certain journeys in Canada, to New York, and shares his political reflections on the necessity of uniting the French and English, on the customs of the Hurons, etc. Very interesting novel about Canada around 1765 and the different colonies (definitive cession of French Canada to England in 1763).
First edition, illustrated with a title vignette, 6 folding maps and 2 folding plates (sun and moon positions, diagrams); a map of the coasts of Acadia and Isle Royale, one of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, plan of Canseau harbor, the southeastern coasts of Isle Royale, plan of Chibouctou harbor, southeastern point of Acadia,
Presentation copy with the cipher and arms of Louis XV.
Contemporary binding in full marbled and glazed brown sheep. Spine with raised bands decorated with the repeated cipher of Louis XV. Red morocco title label. Boards stamped with the gilt arms of Louis XV. Triple gilt fillet frame on boards. 2 compartments restored partially effacing the cipher. One restoration at foot. Restorations to joints and corners.
The work is the most precise hydrographic survey of the eastern coasts of North America that had ever been accomplished. Chabert was appointed to carry out a precise survey of the coasts of Acadia whose contemporary maps were erroneous.
The first part is an account of the voyage from Brest to Louisbourg and of Chabert's 4 expeditions to coasts foreign to France, to Newfoundland and neighboring islands. The second part contains the observations and astronomical surveys for which the work was highly esteemed and recommended to navigators by the Academy of Sciences. Following the success of the voyage, Chabert was promoted to knight of the Order of Saint-Louis
First edition, second issue. The first of 1784 contains only 212pp. against 403 for this one, which has been expanded with the translation of Price's work: "Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution". Turgot's letter and Price's book benefit from a half-title.
Later, modern binding. Pastiche blonde cardboard Bradel binding. Smooth spine with pink sheep title and volume labels. Spine lightly darkened. Rubbing. Uncut copy, bound directly from the original wrappers. The first 2 leaves browned. Scattered browning. Last leaf with lack to lower right corner.
First edition of these two works.
Full marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title label. One lack at head, same at foot. Upper joint open at head and foot. 3 corners slightly bumped. Lacking the lower margin of pages 97 to 128.
[Journeys to the interior of Central America: including those from Buenos Aires to Assumption by way of the Plata river and back, from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso by way of the Mendoza plain and the town of Santiago de Chile, into the valleys and peaks of the Cordillera over a distance of almost 450 leagues, containing some of the richest mines in Chile, the return from Valparaiso and Santiago, the navigation of the Coquimbo to Lima, the capital of all Central America, the tortuous route from Lima to Guayaquil, and around Quito province, including to an ancient Inca city. Also including the voyage from the aforementioned capital to Santa Fe de Bogota by way of Cuença, Calil, and Popayan, an extraordinary and interesting region in terms of its trade, a description of the environs of Santa Fe, the centre of the Colombian Republic, as well as of the nature and liveliness of its trade, likewise for all the territory on the way to the port of Cartagena, where the author embarked for Cuba and Jamaica, whose most remarkable features he also records. With detailed accounts of the mores, customs and character of the inhabitants, local products and the riches of the vast expanse of this new continent, the best way of travelling there, the best places to stop and pause, the merchandise to take for exchange, as well as worthwhile precautions against being cheated by the inhabitants and against the innumerable reptiles to be found there; a useful work for sailors and for any commercial traveler]
Marked the second edition, the first apparently being that of 1823 published in Agen, with a slightly different title. Rare. This second edition appears to be even scarcer than the first. Held only in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève in Paris. The French Bibliothèque Nationale and the British Library, as well as UK libraries hold no copies. The Bibliothèque Nationale and the British Library each have only one copy of the first edition.
Contemporary light brown sheep. Spine with 2 compartments with grotesques, 2 fleurons and roulettes. Red morocco title-piece. A one centimeter-long split to head and foot.
The author spent 12 years in South America. He left in 1808 on the brig Le Consolateur. “Obliged to move endlessly through the various provinces of this vast tract of the New World, I began to study the mores, characters, and habits of its inhabitants. I was particularly keen on learning how to travel in these climates...and lastly the various branches of commerce undertaken there.”
