Louis Hennepin | A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, 1698, first English edition

Louis Hennepin

A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, extending above four thousand miles, between New France and New Mexico. London: M. Bentley, J. Tonson, [&c.], 1698

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, 8vo (192 x 117 mm.), part 1: engraved frontispiece (A1v), engraved folding map "A Map of a Large Country Newly Discovered in the Northern America Situated between New Mexico and the Frozen Sea together with the Course of the Great River Meschasipi" with mileage scale, 2 engraved folding plates; part 2: separate title-page, pagination, and register, 4 engraved folding plates, contemporary calf, spine with raised bands in six compartments, modern morocco label to second compartment, sprinkled edges, map of America in part I with large paper repair, part 2 lacking large folding map bound before p.1 (stub of leaf remaining), browning and dampstaining throughout (including all plates/maps), joints weak

First English edition. Part I is a translation of Hennepin's Nouvelle découverte d'un très grand pays situé dans l'Amérique (Utrecht, 1697); part II is a translation of his Nouveau voyage d'un pais plus grand que l'Europe. Also included at the end is "An Account of Several New Discoveries in North-America" which contains extracts from the works of La Salle, Joliet, and Marquette.

PROVENANCE:

Gilbert Burnet, Lord Bishop of Salisbury (1643-1715, Scottish philosopher and historian, and highly respected cleric, preacher, and writer) armorial bookplate; the Earl of Cowper, armorial bookplate; "M. Cowper", ownership inscription to upper margin of title

LITERATURE:

Wing H1451; ESTC R24981 (with the "Tonson" imprint); Church 773; Graff 1862; Howes H416; Sabin 31371