[72], 312, [10 pp. numbered 313*], 313-506 pp. [i.e 516 pp]. Engraved additional title page; 2 folding engraved plates; 2 large folding engraved maps. (12mo) 15.3x8.5 cm (6x3½"), early 20th century full brown calf, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands, in brown morocco two-part solander box. First Edition.
An exceptional copy of Louis Hennepin's second work, with excellent provenance. Following his 1683 account of a trip up the Mississippi River to the Falls of St. Anthony, this second work adds a largely fictitious voyage down that river, an imposture which has tarnished Hennepin's reputation in the annals of travel literature. Nonetheless, it is a rare and significant work, with two engraved plates which include the first depiction of Niagara Falls, and a rather gnarly-looking buffalo. The marvelous maps are "Carte d'un Tres Grand Pais Nouvellement Decouvert dans l'Amerique Septentrionale entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale avec le Cours du Grand Fleuve Meschasipi...", measuring 38x46 cm, and "Carte d'un tres grand Pays entre le Nouveau Mexique...", 42.5x51.7 cm. The maps are backed with linen, with light offset; the first map when folded extends a bit beyond the page edges, so is curved at edges, but not frayed because of the protection of the linen backing. Bookplate of Edward Dean Adams on front pastedown, with inserted note presenting the book to him.
This copy of Hennepin's Nouvelle Decouverte d'un tres Grand Pays belonged to Edward Dean Adams, the great-great grandfather of the present owner. Edward Dean Adams (1846-1931) was an American businessman, banker, power broker and numismatist. He was the president of Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, which built the first hydroelectric power plants in Niagara Falls. Adams appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine on May 27, 1929. It was his connection to Niagara Falls which undoubtedly led to his possession of the book. In 1924, he was given the book by (or perhaps bought the book from), William Cawthorne Unwin (1838-1933), a prominent British civil and mechanical engineer involved with hydroelectricity at Niagara Falls. Unwin’s business card is enclosed in the inside cover, along with a note from Unwin, presenting the book to Adams, dated 1924.
Condition:
Just a little rubbing to spine ribs and extremities; neat repairs to lower margins of first several leaves, evidently to wormtracks, occasional small wormholes within, mostly to margins; old ink numbers in margin of final page; very good or better, an attractive copy.