Sagard-Theodat, Gabriel (fl. 1623-1629).

8vo (162 x 97mm.), [24], 380, [4 (blank)], 12, [132]pp., 5 leaves of manuscript index, illustration: engraved additional title-page by Jasper Isac, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials, binding: eighteenth-century speckled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, worming between B6 and H7 and g1 to h5 (affecting a few letters on each leaf), small tear with loss (not affecting text) to O7, light spotting

Church 421; Field 1341; Sabin 74883

Sagard-Theodat, a Franciscan, journeyed in the spring of 1624 from Dieppe to Quebec, where he dwelt amongst the Huron Indians. The extreme difficulties of the environment caused his missionary zeal to ebb after a few months, and he returned to his Parisian monastery and wrote of what he had learnt of the Canadian country and its peoples. One of the most important early works on North American Indians, it contains the first printed Huron vocabulary.  

Sabin notes that "copies are rarely found in good condition, and perfect in every respect", and we have been able to trace but three comparable copies at auction in the past half century.