Jean-Bernard Bossu - Nouveaux voyages aux Indes Occidentales [Sain-Louis, Mississipi, Louisiane, Alabama & Illinois] - 1768

Edition at the date of the original with mention of a second, with the same number of pages and the same typographical ornaments, but without the two frontispieces and the 2 plates.

Relation of great importance for the knowledge of Louisiana, Alabama and Illinois in the 18th century.

Book divided into two parts corresponding to the two voyages in North America of the author the Captain of Marine BOSSU, respectively in 1751-1757 & 1757-1762.

"the first who gave a description based on his own observations and with such care for accuracy and detail".

Philippe Jacquin BOSSU was sent to this country in 1750. Having made several trips inland, he was able to learn about the customs and habits of the Illinois, the Akansas, the Allimabous, and other indigenous peoples who inhabit the edges. of the Mississippi and the rivers that flow into it.

The work is made up of 22 letters in which the author narrates the different stages of his journey, but also touches on more general subjects. He arrived in New Orleans soon after its founding, and only eight years after La Salle. The letters, written in a clear and precise style, addressed "quite simply to an Officer of Distinction with whom he was in correspondence", contain tasty anecdotes first and second hand, and paint an astonishing picture of life and travel. French people in the region.

(Chadenat 23; Leclerc 186; Sabin 6465)


AUTHOR: Jean-Bernard Bossu

TITLE: New voyages to the West Indies containing a report of the different peoples who inhabit the vicinity of the great St. Louis River, commonly called the Mississippi; their Religion, their government, their walls, their wars & their commerce. By M. Bossu, Captain in the Navy troops.

PUBLISHER: In Paris, at Le Jay, Libraire, Quay des Gêvres, at Grand Corneille. Mr. DCC. LXVIII. 1768. 2 volumes in a volume in - 12 of 17 x 10.5 cm of XX 244, 264 pp.

Beautiful contemporary binding in full marbled calfskin, ribbed spine, title on coral leather piece, flowered boxes with small golden irons, roulette on the cuts, red edges.

Decorative copy, luminous gilding, traces of wetness on the hairstyles and the headdress without gravity. Brown marks of marginal wetness at the head and in the vertical margin of practically all the pages, without ever spilling over the text. Neat print on laid paper.
Provenance: ex-libris on the title of the library of the "Château de Réquista".