Amsterdam, François l’Honoré, 1733.
4 parts bound in 4 volumes 12mo [169 x 97 mm] of: I/ 1 frontispiece, (1) title l., xxiv pp., 292 pp., 4 folding maps, 1 folding plate; II/ 1 frontispiece, (1) title l., xiv pp., 390 pp., 2 folding maps; III/ 1 frontispiece, 302 pp., 3 folding maps, 1 folding plate; IV/ 1 frontispiece, (1) title l., xii pp., 429 pp., (1) p., 9 folding maps, all together 18 folding maps and 2 folding plates.
Full olive-green morocco, triple gilt fillet around the covers, gilt fleurons in the corners, flat spines finely decorated with borders and fleurons, gilt inner border with lily flowers, gilt edges. 18th century binding.
First 12mo edition of this excellent history of Santo-domingo.
The first edition was published in 2 4to volumes in 1731.
Leclerc, Bibliotheca americana, 321 ; Sabin, 518 ; Chadenat, n°1807.
It is illustrated in each volume with a frontispiece engraved by Bernard Picart in 1732 representing Christopher Columbus’ arrival on Guanahani Island, 8 large folding maps, one of which (440 x 340 mm) represents central America, 10 large folding plans and 2 folding engravings displaying religious ceremonies, dances, offerings and fights in Santo Domingo.
This account is based on the handwritten memoirs of Father Jean-Baptiste Le Pers, missionary Jesuit in Santo-Domingo. It is full of relevant considerations on the customs of the natives, free of enslaved, as well as revolts and trade.
Pierre-Francois-Xavier de Charlevoix began his novitiate with the Jesuits in Paris in 1698. Professor at the Québec College (1709) he was charged in 1719 by the regent to study on site the ways to get to America through the west sea or the Pacific Ocean. From 1720 to 1722 he traveled to Canada, Louisiana and Santo Domingo.
He was Voltaire’s teacher, who called him a “very true man”.
Superb copy of this rare sought-after account of a voyage to central America, bound in full 18th century morocco, a rare condition.
The elegance of the spines makes it possible to attribute the binding to the Great Derome.
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