NOUVEAUX VOYAGES DE MR. LE BARON DE LAHONTAN, DANS L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE - MEMOIRES DE L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE OU SUITE DES VOYAGES DE MR. LE BARON DE LAHONTAN, Qui contiennent une relation des differens Peuples qui y habitent, la nature de leur Gouvernement, leur Commerce, leur Co[utume, leur Religion, & leur maniere de saire la Guerre.... with MÉMOIRES DE L'AMÉRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE, OU LA SUITE DES VOYAGES DE MR LE BARON DE LAHONTAN qui contiennent la description d'une grande étendüe de païs de ce continent...
The Hague: Les Freres L'Honoré, 1703. First Edition. Hardcover. Third issue with the title pages all in black and the globe vignette, the maps re-engraved and improved from previous issues. Two volumes bound in one in contemporary calf leather with gilt lettering and decorations on the spine (4" x 6-7/8"); (xxiv), 279, (1); 220, (18) pages. Illustrated with a frontispiece, folding map, and 11 plates (3 folding) in the first volume and a folding map and 11 plates in the second volume. At the end of the second volume is "Petit Dictionaire de la Langue des sauvages," a glossary of the Algonkin and Huron languages, as well as an index for both volumes. The map--Carte de la Riviere Longue-- is one of the most influential, and fanciful, maps in American cartographic history depicting a large river that does not exist. HOWGEGO V1-L-54: "Baron de Lahontan served ten years in the French military in Canada, was involved in the Indian Wars, and commanded several posts in the west. He traveled extensively in the Wisconsin and Minnesota region and the upper Mississippi Valley. Upon his return to Europe he wrote this enormously popular travelogue. In it he embellished his knowledge of the geography of the Great Lakes region, invented Indian tribes, and created several fictions, particularly the River Longue, which he claimed extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Over twenty editions of his book were published between 1703 and 1741, including editions in French, English, Dutch and German. The immense popularity of the book resulted in his distorted cartography being accepted by several eminent cartographers who incorporated the 'Lahontan' concepts into most 18th century maps. Although much of the work has been condemned as over-imaginative, it did influence the subsequent growth of primitivism in France and England, as reflected in the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Jonathan Swift, and others. For example, he tells of a tribe which he calls Essanapes, who worshiped the sun, the moon, and the stars. Beyond the Essanapes lived the Gnascitares, who lived on the shore of a great lake, and upon this lake were canoes rowed by 200 oarsmen. They had buildings three storeys high and fought battles with the Spaniards in New Mexico. The great king of this country lived in a royal palace waited upon by hundreds of servants. To add weight to this account Lahontan actually drew a map of the region, now located within the boundaries of Nebraska and South Dakota." CLARK I:111; HOWES L-25: "Lahontan's narrative, of considerable value when confined to his actual sojourneyings in the Lake region, was unfortunately disfigured by his inserting an account of a pretended trip west of the Mississippi, about as convincing as the legends of the sea-serpent"; LANDE 497; SABIN 38635, 38636: "Much of La Hontan's matter is evidently drawn from authentic sources, but his pretended discovery of the Long River is wholly fictitious. The work has not received the amount of credit to which it is really entitled, although written by a man of more than ordinary learning and intelligence"; STREETER I: 107: "Lahontan’s work is devoted almost entirely to the description of Indian life in Canada, and is one of the best early works on the subject"; WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 86. Armorial bookplate of Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain (1643-1727) on the front pastedown. Phélypeaux served as Chancellor of France from 1699 to 1714. Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana was named after him, as well as the historic Hotel Pontchartrain in New Orleans. In Michigan his name was given to Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (the site of modern-day Detroit), and to Detroit's Hotel Pontchartrain. Small piece of the River Longue map lacking at the bottom, not really affecting the image only a few letters of text. Clean and tightly bound. Near Fine. Item #022494
Price: $6,500.00