Lot 3144: DU TERTRE, JEAN BAPTISTE (1610-1687).

HISTOIRE GÉNÉRALE DES ANTILLES HABITÉES PAR LES FRANÇOIS. PARIS: THOMAS JOLLY, 1667-1671

4 volumes in 3, 4to (222 x 176mm.), [20], 935, [3]; [16], 539, [1 (blank)]; [16 (including half-title)], 317, [9]; [6], 362, [14]pp., illustration: engraved frontispiece, 4 engraved plates of coats-of-arms, 5 folding engraved maps, 18 engraved plates (some folding), 3 engraved head-pieces and initials, woodcut head-, tail-pieces and initials, binding: contemporary vellum, frontispiece and some other plates very slightly trimmed, 2 small holes (paper flaws) in Q1 (volume 3), bindings slightly soiled

LITERATURE

Sabin 21458; JCB iii 154

NOTE

first edition. Du Tertre was sent by the Dominicans as a missionary to the Antilles, where he stayed from 1640 until 1658. "One of the most valuable [works] we possess on the West Indies" (Sabin, citing Rich). Volumes 3 and 4 were published in 1671 and are hard to find.