Clercq Chrestien 1641 (6 results)

Paperback. Condition: New.

PF. Condition: New.

PF. Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 12mo. pp. 14 p.l., 572. woodcut headpieces & initials. A very nice copy in contemporary calf, gilt back (scuffed, neatly repaired at corners & head of spine). First Edition of this valuable first hand account of later Recollet missionary activity in Northeastern Canada and New Brunswick, and one of the most authentic and charming studies of Canadian Indian life. Le Clercq's relation provides one of the most thorough and detailed early descriptions of the Micmac Indians of the Gaspé Peninsula, their origins, dress, language, beliefs and superstitions, customs and way of life. Le Clercq spent an intermittent twelve years (1675-1886) as a missionary among the Micmacs, by whom he was highly esteemed, and was the first to use the names 'Gaspésie' and 'Gaspésiens' to denote the territory and its inhabitants. He invented a system of hieroglyphics with which to teach the Micmacs their catechism and prayers; this system endured and served as the basis for the present-day writing. He also composed a dictionary for the use of future missionaries. Bell L133. Brunet III 916. Dionne II 227. Field 902 & Gagnon I 2001 (with added 4 page Table des Chapitres, not present in most copies). Church 717. Lande 517. Harrisse 170. JCB II 1415. Pilling, Algonquian, 305. Sabin 39649. Streeter VI 3633. TPL 110. Vlach 450. DCB I 438- 441.…

2 Volumes. 8vo. pp. 410, [2]; 354, [1 leaf]. large folding map, 11 plates (with 5 portraits incl. frontis.) & 1 text illus. contemporary half morocco, t.e.g., others uncut (light wear, bookplates removed from front paste-downs). First Edition of the English Translation. The French original, Premier Établissement de la Foy dans la Nouvelle France, published in 1691, is quite rare, circulation of the work having been suppressed or restrained on account of the author's anti-Jesuit attitude. Le Clercq was a Recollet priest who served as a missionary for many years among the Micmac Indians of the Gaspé Peninsula, and invented a system of hieroglyphics to teach them their catechism and prayers. The Recollets were the first permanent missionaries in Canada. The first volume of the present work contains a history of Recollet missionary activity in New France, 1615-29, with a critique of Jesuit activities, while the second includes an account of Tracy's campaign against the Iroquois, the return of the Recollets, the coming of Frontenac, the defeat of the English in 1690 based on Frontenac's despatches and de Monseignat's relation, and a description of the explorations of La Salle, taken from the records of the Recollets, Membré et Douay, the source of Hennepin's claims. "Supremely important historically for its details on La Salle's activities in Illinois and for supplying the first printed account of his epochal voyage down the Mississippi." (Howes, of the first edition) TPL 109. Lande 519. Howes L-172. Dionne II 1693. Gagnon I 2002. Pilling, Algonquian, p. 305. Story p. 447.…