 Author Name: [Piccolo, Francisco Maria]
Title: Lettres Édifantes et Curieuses, Ecrites des Missions Etrangeres, par quelque Missionnaires de la Compagnie de Jesus
Publisher: Nicolas le Clerc 1724
Illustrator: Kino
Seller ID: 601
Vol. V only. [32], 287, [5] pp. With folding hand-coloured copper-engraved map. (12mo) 6½x3¾, period calf, spine tooled in gilt, raised bands. Second Edition. Some rubbing and extremity wear to covers; some soiling to title-page, which is on a stub, map with 2" repaired tear from stub, else very good. The important fifth volume in the celebrated 34-volume collection of Jesuit "Relations", a tremendous collection of Jesuit missionary letters, first published between 1702 and 1776. This volume, first published in 1705, concerns America and contains what is considered the first printed account of California, Father Piccolo's "Memoire touchant l'estat des Missions, nouvellement establies dans la Californie," comprising pp. [248]-287. It is illustrated by Kino's landmark map of the Southwest, the first appearance of which was in the 1705 first edition of Volume V. Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, was one of the early Spanish explorers of the deserts of the American Southwest. The map, "Passage par Terre a la Californie Decouvert par le Rev. Pere Eusebe-François Kino Jesuite depuis 1698 jusq'a 1701 ou l'on voit encore les Nouvelles Missions des PP. de la Compage. de Jesus," centered in the Gulf of California with Baja California on the left and Mexico on the right, based on Kino's explorations of 1698 and 1701. The map effectively disproved the "California as an island" myth that originated in the early years of the 17th century. "California is undoubtedly an island. Why, I have had in my office mariners who have sailed round it" -Herman Moll, 1711. One of the greatest myths in history claimed California is an island floating off the western coast of North America. This misconception originated with Father Antonio Ascension who drew a map of California based upon the Spanish navigators Juan De La Fuca (1592) and Martin d'Aguilar (1602). This map is remarkably accurate and remained the best map of much of the area until the twentieth century. Cowan p.390; Howes L299; Sabin 40697; Streeter Sale 2424; Wagner, Northwest Coast, 483; Wagner, Spanish Southwest 74a; Wheat, Transmississippi, 89.
American History, California as an island, Kino
Price =
3985.91 USD |
