MÉMOIRES HISTORIQUES SUR LA LOUISIANE, CONTENANT CE QUI Y EST ARRIVÉ DE PLUS MÉMORABLE DEPUIS L'ANNÉE 1687...

Paris: Cl. J.B. Bauche, 1753.. Two volumes bound in one. [4],x,261; [4],338pp., plus six plates (three with two images) and folding engraved map of Louisiana. Half title. Later full morocco, spine and boards elaborately tooled in gilt, a.e.g. Light tanning, some offsetting to map. A near fine copy. A rare and important early history of French Louisiana. "One of the best contemporary histories of French Louisiana, based on the author's twenty-five-year residence in the colony as an army officer, engineer, and planter. The first volume describes the natural history and life of the inhabitants, Europeans and Indians; and the second volume is devoted to the (truncated) military and political history of the colony from about 1717 to 1740, especially the Indian wars. Dumont's work is the first reliable account of much of Louisiana" - Streeter. The engraved plates depict four different tree specimens, while the wonderful plans show New Orleans and Fort Rozalie des Natchez, as well as a typical Louisiana house plan. The handsome folding map of Louisiana notes the different Indian tribes and villages in the region.

This is one of the few reliable firsthand accounts of French Louisiana in the mid-18th century, and far rarer than the works of Bossu or Le Page du Pratz, the other cornerstones of the time and place. HOWES L250, "b." FIELD 463. SABIN 9605. STREETER SALE 125. GRAFF 1173. RADER 1233. JCB III:996. (Inventory #: WRCAM57871)