Charlevoix, Pierre François-Xavier:

$5,400 · Offered by William Reese Company

HISTOIRE ET DESCRIPTION GENERALE DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE, AVEC LE JOURNAL HISTORIQUE D'UN VOYAGE FAIT PAR ORDRE DU ROI DANS L'AMÉRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE. First duodecimo edition, printed the same year as the three-volume quarto edition of this classic work of Canadian history, including important material on French settlement in the Mississippi Valley. The journal consists of thirty-six letters, six of which relate to the southern colonies. "The principal work of this great Jesuit traveller and historian and the pre-eminent authority on the French period in the West" - Howes. "This work is one of the best authorities concerning various Indian tribes, some of which no longer exist. The laborious accuracy with which the work was executed can be estimated by the fact that the maps, dated 1743, are marked with the latest discoveries, in 1742, in the extreme north of America" - Lande. Most of the maps in this work were drawn by French cartographer Nicholas Bellin, including his important rendering of North America, a frequent source for later mapmakers, as well as some of the most definitive and up-to-date maps available of Canada.Besides its great importance as a historical and cartographical work, Charlevoix's narrative is of considerable interest for the section entitled "Description des Plantes Principales de l'Amerique Septentrionale," which in the duodecimo edition occupies much of the fourth volume. Here the author describes ninety-six plants, mainly ones native to Canada, but i

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