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LESCARBOT, Marc (c.1570-1641). Nova Francia: Or th

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London: [Eliots Court Press] at the costs of George Bishop, 1609. 8vo (183 x 130 mm). Roman and italic types, woodcut headpieces, ornaments, and initials. Contemporary limp vellum panelled gilt, "STS" in gilt to upper cover, "LS" to lower, smooth spine gilt and ruled in six compatments with gilt-stamped device in each; half morocco slipcase. Condition: text block sprung from casing, title bifolium and preliminary gathering detached but present, minor dampstaining along bottom margin, long closed tear on I1 affecting a few letters, small burn-hole on R3, lower corners cut out from Ii1-2; covers somewhat worn and soiled, loss to upper right corner of upper cover. Provenance: STS (ownership initials on binding0, sold by Goodspeeds to Frank Siebert in 1867. Acquisition: Siebert sale, Sotheby's New York, 21 May 1999, lot 3 $63,000 via William Reese Company. the siebert copy of the rare first english edition, the work translated from the french edition published earlier in the same year,. Pierre Erondelle, the translator, a French schoolmaster in London, did so at the request of Richard Hakluyt, who at this time was of considerable influence in the reconstituted Virginia Company. Despite these attempts to encourage English emigration to New France sales of Nova Francia must have been initially slow as unsold sets of sheets eventually passed to George Bishop's widow, then to her second husband Thomas Adams and finally at the latter's death in 1625, to the bookseller Andrew Hebb. He reissued them that year with a cancel title-page, many more of which survive than that of the original 1609 first issue. Prior to the present copy, the only significant example at auction was the Boies Penrose copy, sold in 1971. It contained the map found in the French edition of the same year, though there is a general opinion that the copies of the English translation containing these maps are nothing more than a marriage of bookseller's convenience and a manufactured raritiy. The Penrose-Streeter copy was subsequently sold at Christie's New York in 2007, for $120,000. Church 341; European Americana 609/68; Field 916; Fischer. Champlain's Dream; Harrisse, Nouvelle France 19; JCB Catalogue II(i), 62--63 (second issue); Sabin 40175; STC 15491 (4 copies only); Vail 16; Waldon p. 53. Notes: (1) Leaf 1, conjugate with the title-page, is not described in any of the preceding references. (2) The map cited by several references (Sabin; European Americana) is likely a bibliographical ghost.

AE Footnotes [22]

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