Journal Historique du Dernier Voyage que fue M. De la Salle sit dans le Golfe de Mexique, pour trouver l'emboucher & le cours de la Riviere de Missicipi, qui traverse la Louisiane by JOUTEL, Henri (ca 1640-1735) - 1713

Paris: Estienne Robinot, 1713. 12mo., (6 4/8 x 3 6/8 inches). Large folding engraved map of the eastern seaboard, Caribbean, and Central America "Carta Nouvelle de la Louisiane et de la Riviere de Missisipi. . ." (14 1/4 x 14inches) (short repairs at the mount), woodcut head- and tail-pieces (lightly browned, one or two spots). Contemporary French sprinkled calf, spine in six compartments with five raised bands, morocco gilt lettering-piece in one, the others decorated with small gilt tools (hinges just starting at the head of the spine). First edition. A very attractive copy of the classic account of the ill-fated La Salle expedition, the first attempted European settlement of the area, with the rare and important map which laid the groundwork for the later maps of Texas. Jackson, Flags Along the Coast pp. 123-4: "Before leaving the subject of the influence of Delisle's "Carte Du Mexique", the map which appeared in Hendrix Jute's "Journal Historique" (1713) should be mentioned. This "Carta Nouvelle de la Louisiane" - like Delisle's map - has the Mississippi in mid-continent, emptying into the Gulf just west of the old bay off Espiritu Santo. Jute's map shows the bay quite large, but even larger is his "bay de St. Louis." Moreover, Jute gives a detailed account of French exploration within Texas, keyed to letters on the map. Thus, this map represents a transition to the type of information that Delisle depicted on his 1718 map of Louisiana. Joutel was La Salle's second in command on the ill-fated expedition. In 1682 La Salle had gone down the Mississippi to the Delta and claimed it for France, naming it Louisiana. Two years later he returned to found a colony there, but couldn't find it this time around, and ended up landing at Matagorda Bay, on the Texas coast. The colony was doomed from the start. La Salle was murdered by his own men. Joutel and some other survivors made their way across Texas and up the Mississippi to Fort. St. Louis on the Illinois, and then then to Quebec. An early and important book for the cartography of Texas and the history of the French in the region. Howes J266; Church 855; Graff 2251; Jenkins Basic Texas Books 114; Wagner Spanish Southwest 79; Sabin 36760. Alden & Landis 713/103. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.