HISTOIRE DE LA VIRGINIE : contenant, I. l'histoire du premier etablissement dans la Virginie, & de son gouvernement jusques à présent, II. les productions naturelles & les commoditez du païs, avant que es Anglois y negociassent, & l'améliorassent, III. la religion, les loix, & les coutumes des Indiens naturels, tant dans la guerre, que dans la paix, IV. l'etat présent du païs, tant à l'égard de la police, que de l'amelioration du païs.; Histoire de la Virginie. Translated from the English.
Amsterdam, Holland: Chez Lombrail, Marchand Libraire dans le Beurs-straat, [1705] 1707. Leather-bound. IN FRENCH. 12mo. Contemporary full calf, designed "windowpane" leather binding. (15.08 cm. x 9.50 cm.) Morocco title label. Engraved armorial frontis. Engraved title in black and red. Corner of front free endpaper clipped. 433, [16] pages. Paper lightly browned. 14 plates, including frontis, depicting Native Americans by John White. Folding census of cities (paginated "433"). Index. Sabin 5116
Tooled spine and top headband (worn). Four raised bands/five compartments.Crossed out original owner's name with 1707 date still present, and several other penciled initials to front pastedown, and a small, cut-out piece of laid bond tipped in atop front free endpaper, bearing the name of Daniel Grinnan, Richmond, Virginia, with a penciled-in printed date of June 10, 1909.
The first (or second - see notes) translation into French of the 1705 English edition. Previous owner's manuscript signature, "Hannov.", and 1717 date to title page adjacent to large decorative vignette. Upside down stamp within oval of "Hannov. Societ. Bibliothek" to verso of title page. Light toning to pages throughout, but not too obscure. 432 pp., followed by a fold-out chart, and a complete "Table des Matieres" (Index). Good. Item #80378
Beverley's book in English is very scarce.
Robert Beverley was "the only native Virginia author before the Nineteenth-century to offer illustrations of the native inhabitants of Virginia to European, and later American audiences. John White served as artist on Sir Walter Raleigh's first expedition to the area in 1585, and created a series of paintings on Native Virginian life; these were European-created images, and not based on any actual observations amongst Virginia Indians. (paraphrased from Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, 2003, Vol. III, No. 1 [ed. Ruggles[)
There exists bibliographic controversy as to which of the two French editions (this one, published in Amsterdam, or the other, published in Orleans) is the first French appearance. Chicken or egg, some scholars consider them interchangeable. (Pilpul)
"...A work of considerable merit, particularly relative to the numerous Indian tribes, then resident in the State, but nor extirpated or greatly diminished." (Pinkerton). Beverley is the best authority concerning the particular subjects delineated in his quaint and agreeable pages; and his owrk affords the most vivid, comprehensive, instructive, and entertaining picture of Virginia at the date of his writing that is to be found. (Sabin 5116 & 5117)
The third part (of four parts) "contains a remarkable study of the domestic and institutional life of the Indians." This is the first account of this colony penned by a native, and the best contemporary record of its aboriginal tribes and of the life of its early settlers. [Howes B-410].
Price: $600.00