With Important Maps of the Midwest and North America
And the First Printed Illustration of Niagara Falls
Rare first edition of Hennepin’s second major account which details his travels through present-day United States and Canada, including his apocryphal journey down and up the Mississippi River. The work includes two important folding maps of North America and the Midwest (see below). One of the plates stands as the first published illustration of Niagara Falls. Another plate shows a buffalo.
Fr. Louis Hennepin, a Recollect Franciscan missionary, arrived in Quebec in 1675 on the same vessel as the explorer René-Robert Cavalier de La Salle. The following year, he assisted in establishing a mission at Fort Frontenac (modern-day Kingston), and in 1678, he joined La Salle on an expedition into the Great Lakes region, eventually exploring the Mississippi Valley with Michael Accault.
Hennepin's account of the Upper Mississippi has great significance as he had penetrated further west than any European recorded before him - Burden.
During his Mississippi exploration, Hennepin was captured by the Sioux and later rescued in 1681 by a small party of French explorers led by Daniel Greysolon, sieur du Lhut. Upon his return to France, he published Description de la Louisiane (1683), an account of his travels that established his reputation as a chronicler of the American interior. However, after fleeing France in disgrace in 1692, Hennepin sought the protection of England's King William III. With the support of the British secretary of war, he proposed British colonization of the Mississippi Valley and traveled to the Netherlands to publish works promoting British influence in North America.
In Utrecht, Hennepin released two books with British support, Nouvelle découverte d'un très grand pays, situé dans l'Amérique (1697) and Nouveau Voyage d'un païs plus grand que l'Europe. These works, however, included sensational and unsubstantiated claims, such as his supposed descent of the Mississippi before La Salle’s famous journey in 1682. Although these exaggerations damaged his credibility, they nevertheless influenced European interest in North American colonization. Concerned that England might act on Hennepin’s recommendations, France responded by securing its own claims; in 1699, two years after Hennepin’s publications, French forces established Fort Maurepas near present-day Biloxi, Mississippi, to solidify French interests in the lower Mississippi Valley.
In spite of the missionary's egregious plagiarism - which Howes went so far as to style "an imposture which has consigned him to eternal obloquy," Reuben Gold Thwaites has praised Hennepin's works as
... invaluable contributions to the sources of American history; they deserve study, and to this day furnish rare entertainment. We can pardon much to our erretic friar, when he leaves to us such monuments as these.
The work includes two maps (both present here in first state):
Amerique Septentrionalis Carte d'un tres grand Pays entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale: The map provides an excellent summary of the state of knowledge of North America, at the beginning of the 18th century. Among other things, this beautiful map attempts to place into perspective Hennepin's mapping of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Karpinski noted that Hennepin's delineations of Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are remarkable improvements upon the Sanson maps. This map's configuration of the Great Lakes and of the North American Coastline suggest reliance upon a different map than Hennepin's more regional map. Burden has written an extensive entry on this map, noting: "One aspect that is very good is the longitudinal alignment of Florida, the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay. Crossing different national interests as it does it was always difficult for cartographers to get this aspect correct."
Carte d'un tres grand Pais Nouvellement decouvert dans L'Amerique Septentrionale entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale avec le Cours du Grand Fleuve Meschasipi: This extraordinary map was one the earliest and most important depictions of the Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley, a marked improvement over earlier maps. However, the Great Lakes are still considerably oversized, Hudson Bay too far to the east and the Mississippi River too far to the west, with its mouth in what is present-day Texas, based upon La Salle's report. The map offers an excellent summary of the state of knowledge of North America, at the beginning of the 18th century. Among other things, this beautiful map attempts to place into perspective Hennepin's mapping of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Karpinski noted that Hennepin's delineations of Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are remarkable improvements upon the Sanson maps.
A nice complete example of one of the most important early American travel books - with two important maps for the cartography of North America, the Great Lakes and the Midwest.
Provenance
- William Cawthorne Unwin, gifted in 1924 to Edward Dean Adams
- Edward Dean Adams (1846-1931) (his bookplate). Adams, a prominent Gilded Age financier and power broker, was a long-time trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He played a role in developing hydroelectric power at Niagara Falls, one of the first large-scale hydroelectric power plants. A man of diverse interests, Adams was an avid collector of early maps and rare coins, contributing to the study of numismatics and cartography.