Lettres édifiantes et curieuses

26 volumes in-12, granited calf, blind-tooled fillet around the covers, spine with raised bands adorned, morocco title and volume labels, marbled edges. Contemporary binding.

168 x 97 mm.

Edifying and Curious Letters Written from Foreign Missions. New edition. Memoirs of the Levant, Memoirs of America, Memoirs of the Indies, Memoirs of China.
Paris, 1780-1783.

“Volumes vi to ix inclusive, relate to America. J. R. Bartlett’s Catalogue of J. C. Brown’s Library gives a copious list of the contents of each volume. This edition is generally preferred to the original, because it has the advantage of being systematically arranged. “Fontenelle said ‘that he had never read a work which answered better to its title’. Of the accuracy of those ‘Letters’ and the works of Du Halde and Gaubit, the author has often heard the late Sir G. Staunton speak in the highest terms.” Charles Butler – (Sabin. 40698)

« Of the great value of these “Letters”, as illustrating the early history and settlement, not only of Canada, but of Central New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, it is unnecessary to speak. These “Letters” were collected by Fathers Le Gobien, Du Halde, Ingoult, De Neuville, and Patouillet. For the missions among the American Indians, Charlevoix refers to volumes x, xi, xii, xiii, xvii, xx and xxiii ; see his notice in “Liste des Auteurs”. See also Shea’s “Charlevoix”, Sabin’s “American Bibliopolist”, and a very full history of the “Lettres Edifiantes” in Backer’s “Bibliothek de la Comp. de Jésus, octavo edition, vol. II., appendix, and in the folio edition, 1857-60, vol. III, cols. 1737-53, Backer gives in detail the contents of the edition of 1838 ; and in cols. 1753-1860, he gives the contents of the German version and extension of the “Letters”” (Sabin 40697 on the 1702-1776 edition).

This second edition of 1780-1783 « is generally preferred to the old one, because it has the advantage of being systematically arranged: 60 to 72 fr., and much less when the maps and figures are missing » (Brunet III-1028). This copy includes all 54 engravings.

Four volumes deal exclusively with America (vi to ix): They are illustrated with a folding map of the Sea of California, a folding map of the coasts of Peru and Chile, a folding map of Tierra del Fuego and the Strait of Magellan, a large folding map of the Amazon, a large folding map of Paraguay, another of Cap Français, the Mission of the Moxes in Peru, etc.

Six volumes describe India and eleven volumes are devoted to China.

Father Le Gobien gives curious details about the missions of California, the uprising of the Taraumara pueblos.
Very curious letter containing a summary of the establishment of the French at Hudson Bay.

Contains interesting notes on the Illinois and Sioux.

Very interesting for the missions of North America, mainly among the Abenaki Indians.
On Saint-Domingue and its inhabitants.
Contains the history of the French colony of Natchez on the banks of the Mississippi.
Description of Guiana and mainly the banks of the Oyapoc.
Status of the colony and customs of the savages between the Oyapoc and the Maroni.
Customs of the Indians.

Important letter, partly about the languages of the Indians.

Remarkable, complete copy preserved in its elegant period bindings, intended for the Hauteville family.

Originally from France - from Lacaune, in the diocese of Castres -, Philippe Cannac (1672-1750), from a family of Huguenot bankers, left the country after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to take refuge in Switzerland on the Hauteville estate.
Pierre-Philippe Cannac died in 1785 and left the estate to his eldest son, M. de S^t-Légier. His granddaughter, Anne-Philippine-Victoire, married Daniel Grand de la Chaise (1761-1828) and inherited the estate in 1794. At that moment, the young couple decided to take the name Grand d’Hauteville.
At the beginning of the 19th century, under the leadership of Daniel and Victoire, the Château d’Hauteville became a place for society and fashionable gatherings.