[SAINT-VALLIER (Jean Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de)]. Estat present de l’Eglise et de la colonie françoise dans la Nouvelle France, par m. l’Evêque de Québec. Paris, chez Robert Pepie, 1688.
8vo [185 x 117 mm], (1) l., title, 267 pp., (1) l. Bound in contemporary granite-like calf, spine ribbed and decorated, with the letter “P” stamped in the lower compartment, mottled edges. Two old manuscript ex libris on title-page.
Rare first edition of this great description of the Indian tribes from Canada and their relationships with French colonists. Brunet, supp., II, 567; Church 707 ; Harrisse, 159 ; Leclerc, p. 331, 1358 ; Chadenat, 4947.
Jean de Saint-Vallier was appointed bishop of Quebec and decided to visit his diocese from May 1685 to January 1687. The following year, on his return to France, he published the account of his impressions in the form of a long letter addressed to one of his friends.
The trip to Acadia occupies a large part of the work, and then the author describes the Hurons and other people.
This very rare first edition was also published the same year under a different title (Relation des missions de la Nouvelle France), and it was reissued in 1856.
