History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina
Item #61272
LE PAGE DU PRATZ, Antoine. The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina. London: Printed for T. Tecket and P.A De Hondt, 1763. 2 Vols. [4],vii,[1],l368pp. plus two folding maps; [8],272pp. 1/2-titles. 12mo. Contemporary polished calf, gilt morocco spine labels, raised bands, edges stamped in gilt. Boards lightly shelfworn, corners worn, two bookplates on front pastedown of each volume. Worm tracks in lower portion of endpapers and half title in first volume (affecting three leaves and only blank space only). Quite clean internally. An attractive set. Housed in a custom leather-backed clamshell box. HOWES L-266, "b." CLARK I:75. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 2261. GRAFF 2463. RADER 2219. SABIN 40122. RAINES, p.73. STREETER SALE 130. FIELD 911. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 158. SOWERBY 4068. LITERATURE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 1a.2. First English language edition of one of the most useful contemporary authorities on French Louisiana, based on the author's sixteen-year residence there Jefferson owned a copy of this London edition, and instructed Lewis and Clark to take a copy on their expedition (Lewis borrowed Benjamin Smith Barton's single-volume second London edition of 1774). Le Page du Pratz offers a great deal of useful information about the Natchez and other Mississippi tribes, and his work as a whole has been the basis for many later studies of the period. "...Valuable for showing French claims to southern territory east of the Mississippi and for particulars concerning Indian nations there" - Howes. Of special interest is a short account of Louis de St. Denis' expedition to New Mexico in 1715. "...A curious mixture of history, travel narrative, tall stories, and reminiscences ...touch[ing] upon almost every phase of Louisiana in his time..." - Clark. There is a folding plan of New Orleans and a "Carte de la Louisiane," which shows a large eastward-flowing Missouri River.
Price: $6,000.00