Sabin 72324; Alden-Landis, III, 665\/174; John Carter Brown, III, p. 137; Leclerc, 1147; not in Chadenat ; see Boucher de La Richarderie, VI, p. 193 (for the edition 1666 under a different title).<\/i><\/p>\n
Extremely rare first edition.<\/p>\n
Very rare travel report by the Huguenot Charles de Rochefort (1605-1683).<\/p>\n
Having lived in the West Indies, Rochefort is best known as the author of Histoire Naturelle et Morale des isles Antilles de l’Am\u00e9rique<\/i>, published in Rotterdam in 1658. His work aroused a great deal of interest and was subsequently translated into Dutch (1662) and English (1666).<\/p>\n
The present book, Tableau de l’Isle de Tabago<\/i>, is much rarer and remained unknown to Chadenat, who owned several copies of Histoire Naturelle des Antilles<\/i>.<\/p>\n
In his introduction Rochefort states that \u2018ce tableau que nous pr\u00e9sentons n’est qu’une pi\u00e8ce d\u00e9tach\u00e9e de notre Histoire naturelle & morale des Antilles\u2019 but he goes on to say that he has drawn on many new details provided by \u2018Monsieur Chaillou, l’un des pasteurs de la colonie de la m\u00eame Isle de Tobago & qui en est retourn\u00e9 depuis peu avoir mis entre les mains plusieurs excellens m\u00e9moires, qui nous ont donn\u00e9 l’occasion & fourni en riche mati\u00e8re, d’amplifier ce que nous avions d\u00e9j\u00e0 dit ailleurs & d’en former cette relation toute particuli\u00e8re, en faveur d’un nombre bien consid\u00e9rable\u2019. He felt that this \u2018little treatise\u2019 therefore contained a wealth of additional information to that given in his Histoire des Antilles<\/i>, which had only touched on a superficial part of the subject.<\/p>\n
Divided into fifteen chapters, it contains a wealth of details about Tobago and the first European colonisation activities. Beginning with the geographical situation, he discusses the climate, the quality of the soil, and the plants and herbs used for food, medicine and dyeing (he mentions several types of palm trees). He continues his description with details of ornithology, quadrupeds, fish and shellfish, as well as the food that can be harvested there (manioc, potatoes, fruit, etc).<\/p>\n
He also mentions alcoholic beverages such as a local beer and a wine made from sugar cane (p. 54-55).<\/p>\n
Commercial activities are then described, including the production of tobacco, indigo, ginger and cotton. After a brief overview of the history of colonisation, Rochefort praises the island as a means of attracting new settlers in chapter XIV entitled \u2018des Avantages qu’on peut attendre de cette \u00eele & des singularitez qui s’y trouvent\u2019. According to him, this island \u2018does not support any venomous beasts\u2019. He describes the routes to be taken from Vlissingen (in the province of Zeeland) and praises Mr Lampsins’ ships as \u201clarge and strong, good under sail & perfectly well equipped with cannons and all the provisions required for such an undertaking\u201d.<\/p>\n
“Dampierre, Antiles Fran\u00e7aise, pages 139-140, describes in full this colonization tract. It contains the material of pages 7-23 of Rochefort’s Histoire Naturelle des Isles Antilles, edition of 1665, rewritten and augmented by data given the author by M. Chaillon, a missionary from Tabago. The same work was reprinted in 1666 and published under the title Relation de l’Isle de Tabago<\/i>” (JCB).<\/p>\n
A very rare edition of which we have been able to trace a single copy at auction over the past 100 years.<\/p>\n
Title and first dedication leaf slightly cut in white margin and formerly restored, small stains.<\/p>\n
Provenance: Dr\u00e9lincourt (handwritten mention on the endpaper \u2018Don de l’auteur, \u00e0 Rotterdam – 1665) – signatures of Mariette Comte, L. Caille, and Lucien Caille on the fly-leaf. Charles Drelincourt (1633-1697) was an important French physician and anatomist, who settled in Leiden as a professor from the late 1660s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Small 8vo (153 x 902 mm) 8 nn.ll., 146 pp. (erroneous pagination at end, misnumbered 143). Contemporayr limp vellum, flat spine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":78338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[552],"product_tag":[1363,1450,1264,620],"class_list":{"0":"post-78345","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-travel","7":"product_tag-caribbean","8":"product_tag-first-edition","9":"product_tag-inscription","10":"product_tag-travel","11":"pa_auteur-rochefort-charles-de-2","12":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","14":"first","15":"instock","16":"shipping-taxable","17":"purchasable","18":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":" Charles de ROCHEFORT","chapeau":"Very rare first edition\r\nEx-dono of the author","adresse_bibliographique":"Leyde, Jean Le Carpentier, 1665","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":""},"yoast_head":"\n