America - Louisiana - Lot 519

America - Louisiana LE PAGE du PRATZ (Antoine-Simon) Histoire de la Louisiane, contenant la découverte de ce vaste pays ; sa description géographique ; un voyage dans les terres ; l'histoire naturelle ; les moeurs, coutumes & religion des naturels, avec leurs origines ; deux voyages dans le Nord du Nouveau Mexique, dont un jusqu'à la Mer du Sud. Paris, de Bure l'aîné ; Vve Delaguette ; Lambert, 1758. 3 volumes in-12 : XVI, 358pp. / 2f., 441pp. / 2f., 451pp., (4) ; illustrated with 2 folding maps and 40 plates (one folding). Minor pagination errors. Occasional spotting, light banding at foot of volume III. Contemporary marbled fawn calf, spine ribbed and decorated, one headband frayed, small bumps to 4 headbands, gilt roulette on edges, minor defects, red speckled edges. First edition of the best early work on Louisiana, an essential source on the Natchez tribe. He left for America in 1718, where he made unsuccessful attempts to colonize lands near New Orleans. In 1720, he sailed up the Mississippi and settled in Natchez territory, where he stayed for eight years and carried out various explorations.