Baeu Claude (1 results)

Leather. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Two volumes bound together. 12mo. Pp. (12),370,(6); 430,(6). 1 folding engraved map and 6 folding engraved plates, title pages in red and black. Contemporary full speckled calf, raised bands into 6 compartments, gilt decoration and borders, gilt titles, marbled endpapers. Excellent copy. First edition of this account of a voyage to New France by Claude Le Beau, who was expelled from Paris in 1729 with a convoy of prisoners condemned to remain in Canada for life. Le Beau claimed to have escaped to Holland in 1731 after working as a clerk in the "Bureau du Castor" in Quebec, an early fur-trading enterprise. Written seven years after his departure from New France, Le Beau's narrative combines firsthand observation with imaginative embellishment, leading later characterizations of the work as a picaresque romance. Even if only partially factual, the account includes descriptions of encounters with the Iroquois, Hurons, Algonquins, and other First Nations peoples. Le Beau also appears to have supplemented his narrative with material drawn from authors such as Louis Hennepin and Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce. The work is illustrated with a map modeled on Hennepin's 1698 map of New France and six engraved plates, including early depictions of the Canadian beaver and scenes representing First Nations religious customs. Staton and Tremaine 168; Lande 513; Sabin 39582; Howes L-167.