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an old book with a bunch of writing on itan open book with a black and white image on itan open book with a magnifying glass on top of ita magnifying glass sitting on top of an open bookan open book with a magnifying glass on top of itan old book sitting on top of a white surfacean old book sitting on top of a white surface
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66 - [America] [Caribbean] [West Indies] MAURILE DE SAINT-MICHEL …
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Estimate €400 - €600
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Description
[America] [Caribbean] [West Indies] MAURILE DE SAINT-MICHEL (also known as Maurile Michel Courtin). A Journey to the Camercanes Islands in America, which form part of the West Indies, and a varied account of various pious reflections and pleasant observations concerning both the whole of America and other countries, together with the establishment of the RR. Reformed Carmelite Fathers of the Province of Touraine on the said islands, and a discourse on their Order. Le Mans, Hiérôme Olivier, 1652. One volume in-8, full contemporary brown sheepskin, decorated spine. (28) ff. [title page, epistle, table of contents, authorisation, preface, errata], 310 pp., (1) blank folio. A worn copy: binding defects with losses to the spine, water stains, protruding quires, two partially detached pages, small wormholes in the lower margin of the preface and on about ten folios at the end of the volume, without affecting the text. An extremely rare edition of the travel and missionary account written by the Carmelite Maurile de Saint-Michel (c. 1615–1669), who stayed in the West Indies from 1646 to 1647 in the company of Ambroise de Sainte-Anne in order to provide spiritual guidance to the colonists, to evangelise the indigenous peoples and Black slaves, and to convert Protestants. In it, the author describes the Caribbean islands, then known as the ‘Isles Camercanes ’ (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Kitts, Saint Eustatius…), their landscapes, their natural resources and the conditions under which the European colonists settled. The work also contains numerous observations on the Caribbean indigenous peoples, their customs and ways of life, as well as an account of the missionary activities carried out by the clergy on the various islands. This work was published in four successive editions between 1651 and 1653; its reconstruction is based on the information provided by Charles Leclerc (Bibliotheca Americana) and on the earlier observations of the bookseller Techener (Bulletin du Bibliophile et du Bibliothécaire, 1862). The first edition (1651) consisted solely of the text of the travelogue, limited to around 310 pages, typographically concluded with the word ‘FIN’ and a colophon. This first version, self-contained and coherent, constitutes the original core of the work as it was initially conceived and published. In 1652, an expanded edition was published, featuring a supplement on pages 311–434, comprising chapters XXXI to XXXIV. This second part, which is of a different nature, does not directly continue the account of the voyage, but develops a series of moral, religious and scholarly reflections, drawing on ancient authorities and a providentialist interpretation of the New World. This extremely rare text by a Carmelite monk in the French West Indies constitutes one of the earliest accounts of the initial phase of the French presence in the islands.
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About the sale Catalogue sale of antique and modern books, engravings and documents
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Auction time 09/29/2026 at 10:30 AM
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