BOSSU Jean Bernard Nouveaux voyages aux Indes Occidentales; contenant une relation de différens peuples qui habitent les environs du grand fleuve Saint-Louis, appellé vulgairement le Mississipi…

Howes, B 626, b; Clark, II, 5; Streeter sale, 1518; Sabin, 6465 (second edition).

First edition.

Bossu went to Louisiana in 1750 as a captain of the Marines. This narrative is comprised of a series of twenty- one letters to the Marquis de L’Estrade, describing his life and travels in the vast Louisiana country from 1751 to 1762. His ventures ranged from Fort Chartres, in present-day Illinois, to Mobile, and along the Mississippi River. His visit to New Orleans took place only thirty years after its founding, and he was able to gather considerable information from the recollections of locals.

“Bossu wrote well and his letters not only give an interesting picture of life in the Mississippi Valley and the Mobile Country to the east at the beginning of the second half of the eighteenth century, but incorporated also are many sketches of events in preceding years” Streeter. “For comments, too critical of the ministry, Bossu was imprisoned and his book banned for a while in France; this probably accounts for the scarcity of the first edition, of which Sabin found no record” (Howes).

Illustrated with four plates including the frontispieces by Gabriel de Saint Aubin.

A good copy.