[L'Héritier, Louis François]:

$7,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

LE CHAMP-D'ASILE, TABLEAU TOPOGRAPHIQUE ET HISTORIQUE DU TEXAS.... First edition, first issue of an important early Texas work recording the abortive colony of exiled Napoleonic loyalists established on the Trinity River in 1818, here in original, unsophisticated condition. Along with accounts by Hartmann & Millard and the anonymous "C.D.," this work comprises one of the three chief publications on the colony. The French group, under Gen. C.F.A. Lallemand and his brother, left New Orleans and landed at Galveston in January 1818 and attempted to establish a colony about fifteen miles from the mouth of the Trinity River, where the French loyalists claimed they were attempting to cultivate grapes and olives. The Spanish under Mexico's final colonial governor Antonio Maria Martinez feared (apparently with good reason) that the French had more military than agricultural designs for the colony, and began to mobilize troops towards Champ-d'Asile. There was no clash of arms, however; when food became scarce and news of the nearby Spanish troops came to Lallemand, the remainder of the starving colonists retreated to New Orleans. Despite its short life, the colony was the center of an important episode in Texas history, as Spain, the United States, and the not-yet-independent state of Mexico jockeyed for control.L'Héritier's work contains important contemporary details on the soil and climate of southern Texas, as well as extracts from official documents, proclamations, and acts. The c

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