signed first edition Folding frontispiece plate. [10],135pp. Signed by publisher on verso of the half-title. 8vo
1819 · Paris
by (Texas) Hartmann, L., and --- Millard
Paris: Chez Beguin [et. al.], 1819. First edition. Folding frontispiece plate. [10],135pp. Signed by publisher on verso of the half-title. 8vo. Modern brown calf, burgundy clamshell box. Moderate foxing. First edition. Folding frontispiece plate. [10],135pp. Signed by publisher on verso of the half-title. 8vo. Primary History of the French Colony in Texas. This is the primary source book for the history of the ill-fated effort of a group of Napoleonic veterans to establish a colony in Texas. The French group, under Gen. C.F.A. Lallemand, landed at Galveston in January 1818 and attempted to establish a colony on the Trinity River. The effort failed that summer, and the remaining starving colonists retreated to New Orleans. Despite its short life, the colony was the center of an important episode in the maneuvering between Spain, the United States, and the not yet independent state of Mexico, for control of Texas. The French settlers dreamed of establishing a new Napoleonic empire in the New World, and with more support they might have succeeded. This is one of four contemporary French books on the Champ d'Asile colony, and Streeter calls it "an indispensable source and by far the best of the group." It consists of the diaries of Hartmann and Millard, a list of colonists, and Lallemand's proclamation, as well as a folding plate showing the layout of the colony. A rare and important piece of early Texana. Streeter 1069; Basic Texas Books 85; Graff, Fifty Texas Rarities 6; Howes H270, "b"; Monaghan 792; Raines, p.109; Sabin 30706
(Inventory #: 367046)