Bossu, Jean Bernard: NOUVEAUX VOYAGES AUX INDES OCCIDENTALES; CONTENANT UNE RELATION DES DIFFERENS PEUPLES QUI HABITENT LES ENVIRONS DU GRAND FLEUVE SAINT-LOUIS, APPELLÉ VULGAIREMENT LE MISSISSIPI; LEUR RELIGION; LEUR GOUVERNEMENT; LEURS MOEURS; LEURS GUERRES & LEUR COMMERCE. Paris. 1768. Two volumes bound in one. xx, 244; [4], 264pp. plus four plates including frontispieces. Period full calf with spine decorated in gilt, title label in gilt, housed in custom clamshell case. Slight loss near spine ends, hinges lightly cracked, contents quite clean overall. A Very Good example. ****************************************** Bossu went to Louisiana in 1750 as a captain of the Marines. This narrative is comprised of a series of twenty-one letters to the Marquis de L'Estrade, describing his life and travels in the vast Louisiana country from 1751 to 1762. His ventures ranged from Fort Chartres, in present-day Illinois, to Mobile, and along the Mississippi River. His visit to New Orleans took place only thirty years after its founding, and he was able to gather considerable information from the recollections of locals. "Bossu wrote well and his letters not only give an interesting picture of life in the Mississippi Valley and the Mobile Country to the east at the beginning of the second half of the eighteenth century, but incorporated also are many sketches of events in preceding years" - Streeter. "For comments, too critical of the ministry, Bossu was imprisoned and his book banned for awhile in France; this probably accounts for the scarcity of the first edition, of which Sabin found no record" - Howes. An important West Florida book. Servies for some unknown reason cites the first English edition and puts this first edition in a footnote. HOWES B626, "b." CLARK II:5. STREETER SALE 1518. MEISEL III:349. SABIN 6465 (ref). SERVIES 491 (ref).