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Recueil de voyages

Lot 18
17.01.2024 11:00UTC -05:00
Classic
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$ 327 600
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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ID 1119100
Lot 18 | Recueil de voyages
Estimate value
$ 80 000 – 120 000
Recueil de voyages

Melchisédech Thévenot, 1681

THÉVENOT, Melchisédech (1620-1692). Recueil de voyages. Paris: Chez Estienne Michallet, 1681.



“An essential document in the exploration of the interior of North America” (Reese).



The Huth-Siebert copy of this very rare first edition of Thévenot’s travels, “a major work of Americana, with one of the landmark accounts and maps of the discovery of the Mississippi Valley” (ibid). This slim volume includes a panoply of firsts, including: the first map to delineate the Mississippi River from first-hand experience, the first map to name Michigan, and even the first French map devoted to Australia.



“The most notable aspect of Thévenot is the first publication of Father Marquette’s relation of his discovery, with Joliet, of the upper Mississippi River and their exploration as far as the Arkansas River in 1673. This remarkable expedition established the basic structure of the Mississippi headwaters for the first time and opened the way for dominance of the French in the Mississippi Valley over the next century. Their account begins on May 17, 1673, when the party set out in two canoes from Mackinac. They reached the Mississippi via Green Bay and the Fox River on June 17, floated as far south as the Arkansas, and returned north by way of the Illinois and Des Plaines rivers and the later site of Chicago” (Reese).



This is one of only two complete copies to appear in the auction records since the Streeter sale, according to RBH. There is wide variation in the collation from copy to copy, with the parts bound in different orders and the natural history parts often found incomplete. This copy is complete and matches the Streeter copy in terms of pagination. The first engraved plate, of a spirit level, is in Church’s first described state, with the letterpress on verso. Some say that Thévenot invented the spirit level. There are two engraved maps, the one depicting the Mississippi and Lake Michigan; and the other, even larger map, depicting the discoveries of Abel Tasman from 1644. This latter map is both one of the first separate maps of Australia, and one of the first to show the coastline in detail. Both of these rare maps are present in their third states. According to Burden, the first two states of the Mississippi map are almost certainly proofs and exist in one copy each. Burden 540; Church 672; Clements, One Hundred Michigan Rarities 4; Alden & Landis 681⁄141 ("Order of pts is differently arranged in various copies"); Graff 4122; Harrisse Nouvelle France 147; Howes T-156 (“c”); Reese, Celebration of My Country 11; Sabin 95332; Streeter sale 101; Tooley, Australia, pl. 92.



Octavo (169 x 106mm). Two folding engraved maps; four engraved plates, two of which are folding and one with letterpress “Explication” text on verso; ten additional engravings in text, some full-page; a woodcut illustration in text; and a folding woodcut chart with letterpress text. Without blank c2. (Gathering 2c2 browned, first two gatherings toned, a little staining to title, closed stub tear to second folding engraving, some very mild offsetting to maps.) Late 18th-century calf, gilt border on covers (neatly rebacked, some light wear). Custom clamshell box. Provenance: Abraham Hyacinthe Duperron, 1731-1805 (ownership signature on title) – François-Xavier-Joseph-Ghislain Borluut de Noortdonck, 1771-1857 (bookplate; his sale, Ad. Van der Meersch, 19 July 1858, lot 2696) – Henry Huth, 1815-1878 (morocco bookplate; his sale, Sotheby’s, 19 July 1919, lot 7411) – acquired from Peter Decker in 1957 by: – Frank T. Siebert (his sale; Sotheby’s New York, 28 October 1999, lot 659) – Ernest E. Keet (bookplate).

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