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Catalogue
73
Voyages
& Travels
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76.
[HUC, REGIS-EVARISTE & JOSEPH GABET]. Travels in Tartary,
Thibet and China 1844-1846. London, Geo. Routledge, [1938]. Two
volumes. $100
8vo; pp. xliv, 387, 1 double-page map; pp. viii, 406, (7) (Publ.
Cat.). Original cloth; spine little faded; engraved bookplate and
neat name on front endpapers. A very good set from the Broadway
Travellers series.
Vide Yakushi H250b. The authors, who were missionaries and explorers,
were in China on a mission when, in 1844, they began an overland
trip from Peking to Tibet. After enduring great hardships in the
mountains, they reached Lhasa in 1846 but were promptly expelled
for fear that they would proselytize.
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77. JEFFERYS, THOMAS. A Description of the Spanish Islands
and Settlements On the Coast of the West Indies, Compiled from authentic
Memoirs, Revised by Gentlemen who have resided many Years in the
Spanish Settlements; and illustrated With Thirty-two Maps and Plans,
Chiefly from original Drawings taken from the Spaniards in the last
War,... London, T. Jefferys, 1762. First edition.
$7,650
4to; 4 ff, pp. xx1v, 106, [2] (Index); 32 folding engraved maps
and plans, the first coloured by hand in outline; recent half-calf
and marbled paper over boards; lacking a large part of the "Map
of the Isthmus of Panama"; light age-browning and some offsetting;
small brown stain on final three leaves; a scarce work.
Palau 123372; Sabin 35959; Cundall, West Indies, 2045; not in Beineke/Antilles;
not in Ragatz. An important work coming, as it does, just before
the end of the Seven Years' War. It was a critical time in the history
of the West Indies and in the colonial interests of the region.
The work describes the Caribbean area, augmented by Jefferys' excellent
maps, many of them done from manuscripts previously taken from captured
Spanish forces. By the end of the Seven Years' War, in 1763, Britain
held most of the French possessions in the West Indies but by the
Treaty of Paris which formally ended the War she returned to France
the major islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, as well as a few
smaller ones, much to the chagrin of the West-Indian planters. In
exchange, France gave up her hegemony to her possessions on the
North American continent.
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The Classic Account of La Salle's Last Voyage
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78. JOUTEL, HENRI. Journal Historique du Dernier Voyage que
feu M. de la Sale (sic) fit dans le Golfe de Mexique, pour trouver
l'embouchure, & le cours de la Riviere de Missicipi, nommée
à present la Riviere de Saint Loüis, qui traverse la
Louisiane. Paris, Chez Estienne Robinot, 1713. First edition.
12mo; pp. xxxiv, 386; large, folding, engraved map; contemporary
full calf, rebacked and recornered long ago; some wear to binding;
few tiny repairs to verso of map; a very good, very clean copy of
this important work.
Church 855; Howes J261; European-Americana 713/103; Harrisse NNF,
750; Sabin 36760; Raines, pp. 103-131; Clark I:14; Wagner, Spanish
Southwest, 79; TPL 6367; Gagnon II: 1095; Lande 477; Bell J145;
JCB 177. Joutel worked closely with La Salle, and this account of
La Salle's last voyage was compiled from his diary. In 1682 La Salle
had taken possession, for King Louis of France, of the region watered
by the Mississippi and all its tributaries and named it "la
Louisiane". After a few years of diplomatic wrangling, both
in the New World and in France, La Salle succeeded in having himself
made governor of all of Louisiana and having the forts in the Illinois
country, which had been removed from his influence, restored to
him. In 1684 he again left France with four ships and several hundred
men to settle the territory but, due to a mutinous naval commander
and La Salle's own illness, the expedition became completely disorganized.
When he was finally able to continue with a small complement of
men he missed the mouth of the Mississippi by proceeding too far
to the west; he retraced his steps, but the conditions on board
the ships had become so desperate that he had his colonists disembark
at the present Matagorda Bay, Texas, supposing it to be the western
outlet of the Mississippi. He was soon aware of his error, but a
land expedition to find the Mississippi was in vain. At this point,
of his three remaining ships two were wrecked and the third had
returned to France; of the four hundred men who had left France
with him, forty-five remained. Desperate, he took about half the
remaining survivors and attempted to reach Canada via the Mississippi,
but at the Trinity River one of his own party assassinated him.
A few of the men reached Fort St. Louis on the Illinois River, and
others were murdered by the Indians. Although this expedition could
be deemed a failure, in fact La Salle's explorations gave France
claim to a large, important empire. This account of the expedition
by Joutel, who was one of the survivors, is one of the best; his
splendid map, based on his own observations, is the first to show
the results of La Salle's explorations and, for the period, gives
a remarkably accurate depiction of the course of the Mississippi;
it also portrays the area of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence,
and the cartouche of the Falls of Niagara is especially lovely.
A most important work, written at the height of France's influence
in the New World, and a necessary work, together with those of Hennepin
and Tonti, for this area and this time.
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The Most Authoritative Account of Japan in its Time
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79. KAEMPFER, ENGELBERT. Histoire Naturelle, Civile, et Ecclesiastique
de l'Empire du Japon, Composée en Allemand, & traduite
en François sur la Version Angloise de Jean-Gaspar Scheuchzer.
Ouvrage enrichi de quantité de Figures dessinées d'après
le naturel par l'Auteur même. The Hague, P. Gosse & J.
Neaulme, 1729. Two volumes. First edition in French. $10,500
Folio; 4 ff, pp. lii, 217, [1]; 2 ff, pp. 76, 67-313, [1], 36, 39-73,
[1], 73-96; engraved title vignettes, engraved headpiece on first
page of dedication, extra engraved title to vol. I, and 45 engraved
plates and maps, mostly folding; titles printed in red and black;
contemporary full calf, spine gilt in compartments; new endpapers;
head of spine of vol. I neatly repaired long ago; some dampstaining
to extra title; leaves of vol. I were guarded long ago, causing
browning at gutter edge; pl. IV trimmed to neatline, pl. VII trimmed
to neatline and laid down, and pl. VIII (large folding map of Japan)
trimmed at head affecting upper portion of running title but not
the map image itself; vol. II is extremely clean.
Brunet III: 638; Cox I, p. 333; Cordier Japonica, 416. "Kaempfer
was a well-known German physician and naturalist with a passion
for travelling. Before his arrival in Japan, he had accompanied
the Swedish embassy under Louis Fabricius to Persia, then engaged
as surgeon with the Dutch fleet, visited India and Batavia, and
at length reached Japan, where he stayed three years collecting
material for his work. Here he secured the good will of the authorities
so completely that he was allowed to travel where and as he pleased."
This work has "long been recognised as the most authoritative
account of that country published at that time" -(Cox) and
was the chief source of Western knowledge of Japan for more than
a century. The manuscript for this work was purchased, after Kaempfer's
death, by Sir Hans Sloane, who had it translated from the German
and published in 1727 as The History of Japan. This edition was
based on that first English edition, and contains a biography of
Kaempfer, his account of his travels in Japan, descriptions of the
country's fauna and flora, and descriptions of several of the major
cities. The appendices contain further information on tea, Japanese
paper, methods of acupuncture, moxa, ambergris, and reasons and
methods of the country's seclusion policy. A scarce work, and most
important.
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80.
KENNEDY, DAVID Jr. Colonial Travel. A Narrative of a Four
Years' Tour through Australia, New Zealand, Canada, &c. Edinburgh,
Edinburgh Publishing Company, [1876]. $300
Small 8vo; pp. viii, 440; frontispiece included in the pagination;
vignette on title. Original cloth, worn at edges; neat bookplate;
text clean and tight; small piece cut from head of rear free endpaper.
On verso of front free endpaper is an inscription from the author
to A. A. Stevenson, (lieutenant-colonel and Montreal printer and
politician) "with the Author's Compliments and the kindest
regards of a' the Kennedys", and dated Oct. 3, 1876.
Ferguson VI:11089. The author, with his parents, four siblings,
and a business manager, toured "the Colonies" for a period
of three years on a professional tour, "singing the Songs of
Scotland". Their tour took them through Australia where they
visited Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Tasmania, and Adelaide; to
New Zealand, and through Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown, Christchurch,
Wellington, Auckland, etc.; through the Sandwich Islands to California
and thence by train through Salt Lake City to Chicago and into Canada,
where they toured Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Kingston, Ottawa,
Montreal, Quebec City, the Maritimes and Newfoundland. A great deal
of time and distance is covered in this small work, and the descriptions
of the places and people are very good.
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