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.
French first edition, following the English first edition of 1763.
Copy with the arms of Anne-louis-Alexandre de Montmorency, (D'or à la croix de gueules cantonnée de seize alérions d'azur ordonnés 4 et 4) lieutenant-general of the king's armies, captain of the king's guards.
Contemporary full speckled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 alérions of the Montmorency family. Arms stamped on covers. Red morocco title label. Rubbing. Spine browned. 2 corners slightly bumped. Browning to margins of half-title and title page, small worming in margins. Handsome copy.
Lady Montagu was the wife of the English ambassador to Constantinople. The principal interest of these letters lies in bearing direct witness to the customs of contemporary Turkey. The accounts contained in the correspondence are fascinating; they are undoubtedly the only feminine testimony about Turkey of that time and about the countries she crossed to reach it, notably Greece and Hungary. She addresses Turkish customs but also life in harems, which she was the first European woman to enter and visit, as well as Moorish baths. Her corset was then so tightly laced that the oriental bathers were convinced it was a sort of torture instrument in which her husband had locked her. Lady Montagu not only envied the nudity of these women, a symbol of emancipation and luxury, but was also seduced by the apparent freedom of certain aspects of their lives. She also seems to have been seduced by love and amorous poetry, and she quotes verses from the sultan to his beloved. The success of these letters was such that the author was nicknamed "the Sévigné of England." Voltaire wrote a relatively favorable review of this work in the literary gazette of 1764, praising the author's erudition and culture: "There reigns above all in Lady Montagu's work a spirit of philosophy and liberty that characterizes her nation."
