LE PAGE DU PRATZ Ant.-Simon. Description of Louisiana... (with) two voyages to the north of New Mexico. Paris, de Bure l'aîné, 1758; 3 vol. in-12 (164 x 96 mm), marbled calf, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fleurons (contemporary bindings). 2 maps, plan of New Orleans and 39 plates. First edition in bookshops. One of the best sources on Louisiana, the Amerindian tribes of the Mississippi and the French trading companies (Cie de l'Occident, du Mississipi, etc.) that had established themselves there. Le Page du Pratz was 23 when he left La Rochelle for Louisiana, where he lived for sixteen years, eight of them among the Natchez Indians: he learnt their language, studied their culture, made friends with the natives... before marrying a Chitimacha. The account of his stay is a first-rate testimony to the customs of the natives (political organisation, agriculture, hunting, dances, superstitions, etc.) and the life of a settler among them (he was a tobacco planter and then a concession manager for the Mississippi Company). A fine copy in attractive, fresh bindings. Light spotting in the lower margin of volume I.