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4 parts in 3 volumes, 4to (233 x 186 mm) engraved title-frontispiece, engraved coat of arms of Harlay, 10 nn.ll. (title, preface, tables), 593 pp. (misnumbered 935), 1 nn.l. (errata), 3 engraved double-page maps for volume I; engraved title-frontispiece, 8 nn.ll. (title, preface, table, privilege), 539 pp., 14 plates (including 5 double page, 2 botanical plates printed on one double sheet) for volume II; 9 nn.ll. (half-title, title, engraved coat of arms of Bignon, preface, approbation, privilege, intriductin to the reader), 317 pp., 4 nn.ll. (table), 2 engraved double page maps for part III; 4 nn.ll. (title, engraved coat of arms of Bignon, preface), 362 pp., 7 nn.ll. (table, privilege), 4 plates (including 2 folding and 2 double page) for part IV. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt with raised bands, red speckeld edges (some expert restorations to spines and corners).
1 in stock
Sabin, 21458 ; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 1314 ; Picot, Catalogue Rothschild, 1984 (with detailed collation); Dampierre, pp. 97-128 (with detailed collation on p. 124-125) ; Gazin, p. 51; Boucher de la Richarderie, VI, 167.
First complete edition of “one of the most valuable work we possess on the West Indies” (Sabin).
Copy complete with 2 engraved title-frontispices, 3 plates of coats of arms (1 for Harlay, and 2 for Bignon), 5 double-page maps and 18 plates (of which 7 double-page and 2 fold-outs; exceptionally the 2 botanical plates of volume 2 have remained together on a single sheet). In volume 4, the inscriptions on the plate “Combat de Cayenne” are reversed, whereas the drawing is not. This may be an early print of this plate, as the inscriptions were corrected in subsequent prints.
Du Tertre had first published a study in 1654, entitled Histoire générale des isles de Saint-Christophe et d’autre dans l’Amérique, (1 volume in-4to, Paris 1654), based on his manuscript written around 1650 which “was stolen from him and which his audacious thief had wanted to print under his own name. He does not say so, but he seems to imply that this plagiarist was none other than “le sieur de Rochefort, ministre à Rotterdam”, and that it was only the publication that he succeeded in making in 1654 that delayed and thwarted the publication that Rochefort was preparing and only brought to light in 1658” (see Dampierre).
“Cet ouvrage est très difficile à rencontrer complet. Le P. Dutertre dit dans sa préface qu’il avait fait imprimer son livre en 1654, parce qu’on lui avait dérobé sa copie. Pendant qu’il le faisait imprimer, le Père R. Breton fut prié, de la part de M. de Poincy, de donner son vocabulaire de la langue des sauvages, et quelques mémoires qu’il avait composés, à une personne inconnue, qui désirait écrire une histoire des Antilles. Il sut depuis que c’était le sieur Rochefort, ministre de Rotterdam, qui, après avoir reçu le vocabulaire du P. Breton, et informé de l’impression de son ouvrage, fit paraître le sien en 1658, sous le titre de Histoire naturelle des Antilles de l’Amérique’.” (Leclerc).
“Du Tertre naquit à Calais en 1610. Son goût pour les voyages lui fit prendre passage à bord d’un navire hollandais avec lequel il fit plusieurs voyages en Amérique ; plus tard, il servit dans l’armée du prince d’Orange, puis, abandonnant cette vie d’aventures, il entra chez les frères prêcheurs. Ses supérieurs, profitant de son expérience, l’envoyèrent aux Antilles, dont il entreprit d’écrire l’histoire. Son livre, fruit d’observations personnelles, est l’ouvrage le plus important qui ait été publié sur ces îles. Les écrivains postérieurs en ont attesté la parfaite exactitude” (Picot).
Du Tertre spent eighteen years in the West Indies, from 1640 to 1658, during which time he collected a wealth of information on the natural history of these islands, the customs of their inhabitants and the establishment of the French colonies from 1625 to 1667.
“La partie historique de la relation du P. Du Tertre est d’une grande exactitude… En traitant les différentes branches de l’histoire naturelle des Antilles avec une telle sagacité dans ses recherches, que tout ce qu’il en a écrit fait autorité” (Boucher de la Richarderie).
The illustrations consist of an engraved title-frontispiece (repeated in volumes I and II), three leaves showing the arms of the Harlay (1) and Bignon (2) families, 5 double-page maps and 18 plates (7 double-page and 2 folding). a good copy of this fundamental work on the history of the West Indies.
Provenance: Mgr Pellot, First President of the Parliament of Normandy (contemporary engraved coat of arms on verso of titles of volumes II and III). Claude Pellot (1619-1683) began his career as provost of the merchants of Lyon (1632-1634) before becoming king’s adviser and treasurer of France in Lyon. He was then appointed Intendant of the Generalitat of Bordeaux (1663-1669) before becoming First President of the Parliament of Normandy from April 1670 until his death in 1683. Married twice, his second wife was Madeleine Colbert, cousin of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, whom he married in 1669.
Occasional marginal wormholes. A very good, complete, copy uniformly bound at the time.
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