First edition, covering the French period of Louisiana history up to 1769

GAYARRE, CH. Histoire de la Louisiane, par Charles Gayarré. Premier volume [-Second volume.] Nouvelle-Orléans, Imprimé par Magne & Weisse, 1846-1847. Two volumes bound in one. [4], xi, [1], 377, [3, blank] pp.; vii, [1], 427, [1] pp. Large 8vo. Nineteenth-century red half hard-grained morocco, marbled boards, spine richly gilt with raised bands and gilt lettering, marbled egdes.

                                                                                                                                                 € 1250

Leclerc 629; Sabin 26792; Howes G85.

“Une des bonnes histoires de notre ancienne colonie, composée sur des documents extraits des cartons du ministère de la marine” (Leclerc.)

Excellent history of Lousiana from the discovery of America and the first European settlements up to the departure of d’Aubry and d’Oreilly, discussing among others the expeditions of De Soto, Marquette and Joliet, the exploration of the Mississippi by De La Salle, etc. etc.

Charles-Étienne Arthur Gayarré (January 9, 1805 – February 11, 1895) was an American historian, attorney, slave owner and politician, born to a Spanish and French Creole planter family in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up on a plantation before attending law school in Pennsylvania, he was a Confederate sympathizer and lost his fortune by supporting them, later earning his money by writing and as a court reporter. He was president of the Louisiana Historical Society for nearly thirty years. As a writer of plays, essays, and novels, Gayarré is chiefly remembered for his histories of Louisiana, a state he served in various capacities during his life. He is considered one of New Orleans’s first great historians.

– The first twenty quires are browned (160 pages). Copy with signed dedication to the Comte de Maupassant, dated Paris, August 1, 1874, by Edmond Bermudez: Edmond or Edouard Bermudez (January 19, 1832 – August 22, 1892) was a Louisiana attorney who served as Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from April 5, 1880 to April 5, 1892. He married Elizabeth Amanda Maupassant with whom he had nine children, five of whom died young. Amanda de Maupassant belonged to a family of great renown in France and was related to the comte de Maupassant.