HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI BY THE THREE GREAT EUROPEAN POWERS, SPAIN, FRANCE, AND GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE SUBSEQUENT OCCUPATION, SETTLEMENT, AND EXTENSION OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT BY THE UNITED STATES . . . VOL. I and VOL. II. [Volume 1-One & Volume 2-Two.]

Complete two volume set. Both first editions (per matching dates upon title and copyright pages). Full title: HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, BY THE THREE GREAT EUROPEAN POWERS, SPAIN, FRANCE, AND GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE SUBSEQUENT OCCUPATION, SETTLEMENT, AND EXTENSION OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT BY THE UNITED STATES UNTIL THE YEAR 1846. BY JOHN W. MONETTE, M.D. . . IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I and VOL. II. (Spine titles: "Monette's Valley of the Mississippi.") Both hardcovers, H 23.25cm x L 15.25cm, in matching contemporary full leather bindings. Boards with thin-ruled gilt stamped borders; spines decorated with four gilt bands highlighting respective bright gilt lettered black title and volume labels; boards feature slender gilt decorated edges. All edges gilt. Colorfully patterned yellow endpapers. Antiquarian ink signature "E.S. Drake" upon each volume's front flyleaf recto; varied foxing/toning throughout. Bindings are firm. ***** VOLUME I. [color frontis "Map of the French, English & Spanish Possessions in North America in 1745"], [title|copyright], iii-xxiii, [1], [b/w map "Early French Missions in the remote Western regions of Canada or New France"], 1-567 pages. Slight scuffing to spine head and board corners; negligible slender loss to top of title label. ***** VOLUME II. [color frontis map "Texas. In 1836"], [title|copyright], v-xv, [1], 1-595, [1], [1] pages. Spine ends and board corners scuffed with small chip to spine head. B/w plates on paged leaves: "Ground Plan of 'Fort Pitt' and 'Fort Duquesne'" on page 198; "Fort Harmar" on page 223; "Campus Martius" on page 245; "General Wayne's Daily Encampment" on page 301; "Ground-Plan of Fort Defiance" on page 309. Single page publisher's promotional blurb/advertisement (dated Sept. 1846) at rear. ***** A handsome set. Acquired from a Copiah County, Mississippi estate of a collector who primarily purchased his books in the state's southwest region which allows for the aforementioned Drake signatures to be that of Port Gibson, Claiborne County attorney Elijah Steele Drake (1841-1914) who, during the Civil War, was assigned to Darden's Company, Mississippi Light Artillery (aka Jefferson Artillery) and served one term (1876-1877) in the Mississippi legislature. Drake family papers are owned by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Bibliographical references: Eberstadt No. III-1162; Wright Howes U.S.IANA #M-722. Please note that this set has an approximate shipping weight of 4.75 pounds (2.15 kg) and will require additional postage/insurance for any postal class other than domestic Media Mail.…