NOUVEAU VOYAGES DANS L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE, Contenant Une collection de Lettres ecrites sue les lieux, par l'Auteur, a son ami, M. DOUIN, Chevalier Capitaine ans les troupes du Roi, ci-devant son camarade dans le nouveau Monde
Amsterdam [actually Paris]: Changuion, 1777. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo (4-3/4" x 7-3/4") bound in contemporary diced calf leather with a lovely gilt decorated spine with 5 raised bands and a gilt-lettered morocco label, marbled endpapers, and text edges stained red; xvi, 392 pages. Complete with half-title page. Illustrated with 4 engraved plates, one folding, after G. de St.Aubin. Written in epistolary form with many details about the countryside, Indian customs, slavery, etc. Bossu, a French army officer, made two trips to Louisiana which he described in his first book, NOUVEAUX VOYAGES AUX INDES OCCIDENTALES, published in 1768. This scarcer title is an account of his third trip and was published with an Amsterdam imprint as he had previously got into trouble with the authorities after criticizing the governor of New Orleans. Clark's TRAVELS IN THE OLD SOUTH II:5; HOWES B-627; SABIN 6470; STREETER Sale 1520: "This is the account of Bossu's third voyage to Louisiana country made early in 1770. He revisited his old friends, the Arkansas Indians, and on their behalf made a mission to the Caddos and Attakapas, and then returned to France in 1771. Most of the letters are dated from the Arkansas post"; WIKIPEDIA: "Bossu was a keen observer making the accounts of his travels an important source for historians and ethnologists on New Orleans, the French colony and the Indian tribes in Mississippi region during the 18th century." Contents crisp, clean, and bright. Tiny chip to leather on the front cover. Fine. Item #020361
Price: $1,000.00