BIET, Antoine Voyage de la France équinoxiale... Lot 16

BIET, Antoine Voyage de la France équinoxiale en L'Isle de Cayenne, entrepris par les François en l'année 1652. Divided in three books. Paris, François Clouzier, 1664. In-4 (238 x 177 mm) of 12 ff.n.ch., 433 pp. Tortoiseshell calf, spine decorated, spotted edges (period binding). Alden-Landis, 664/15; JCB, III, 106-107; Sabin, 5269; Leclerc, 1516; Maggs, IV, 115; Boucher de La Richarderie, VI, 253. First edition. Antoine Biet, parish priest of Sainte Geneviève de Senlis, accompanied as chaplain the 500 or 600 colonists and adventurers that Royville took with him to Guyana. The lord of Royville was, with the abbot Marivault, theologian at the Sorbonne, one of the founders of the Company of America. It was as captain that he set sail under bad auspices: Abbé Marivault drowned while boarding at Honfleur. De Royville, for his part, was killed in a revolt during the crossing and his body was thrown into the sea. No other report than that of Biet gives so many details on the natives of this country. He depicts them in all their primitive simplicity. The work is divided into three parts, the first deals with the establishment of the colony and the journey to Cayenne, the second with the stay of the colonists, and the third "deals with the temperament of the country, the fertility of its soil, & the morals & ways of the savages of this region". The whole is followed by a dictionary of their language which occupies pages 399 to 432. Carefully written, it is preceded by useful remarks on the language common to the Galibis and to all the inhabitants of the coast. It is the very first known lexicon of the Galibi language. "No relation gives as much light as that of Biet on the natives of Guyana; he has depicted them in all their primitive simplicity. The vocabulary of their language is done with care, and is preceded by useful remarks on the language common to the Galibis and to their inhabitants of the coast" (Boucher). This rare and sought-after volume was reprinted in 1836. Two or three leaves with defects to the paper without affecting the reading; spines and corners formerly restored.