Berquin-Duvallon, Pierre-Louis | Berquin-Duvallon's Louisiana and Florida

Berquin-Duvallon, Pierre-Louis

Vue de la colonie espagnole du Mississipi, ou des provinces de Louisiane et Floride occidentale, en l’année 1802. Paris: A l’Imprimerie Expéditive, 1803

8vo (179 x 121 mm) Half title, 2 handcolored engraved folding maps of upper and lower Louisiana by Blondeau; short tear to bottom of half-title and inside margin of map of lower Louisiana, text offset to map of upper Louisiana, faint marginal dampstaining to quires Ff, Qq and terminal leaf. Contemporary speckled calf, marbled endpapers, smooth spine decorated with gilt vases of flowers, black lettering piece; headband of spine head torn, upper joint abraded.

First edition. "This gives an entertaining and gossipy first-hand picture of life in New Orleans at the turn of the century, its theatrical companies, dances, the high status of medical doctors, gaucheries of the Creoles, and so on. …" (Streeter). The work was translated into English in 1806 under the title Travels in Louisiana and the Floridas.

REFERENCE

Best of the West 23; Federal Hundred 94; Howes B389; Sabin 4962; Streeter sale 3:1530