[JESUIT RELATIONS – CALIFORNIA]. Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, ecrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques Missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus… [Including Piccolo’s Report on California]. Paris: Nicolas le Clerc, 1724–28.
16 volumes (of 34) only, 8vo. (Comprising of volumes: 5, 7, 11, 14–15, 17, 19–21. 23–24, 26, 28). Several engraved folding plates and maps including Father Kino’s map of California (laid in with small paper repair on verso at outer edge). Full French 18th century dark red morocco, center of each cover with arms of Marie Adelaide of France (1732–1800), daughter of Louis XV, covers thrice framed in gilt, 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, 2 orange or olive morocco lettering–pieces gilt, compartments with floral designs gilt, all edges gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers (some volumes with a small paper shelf label from a private library at foot of spine, few extreme ends chipped to some volumes).
SECOND EDITION. First published between 1702 and 1776, includes the “Memoire touchant lestat des Missions, nouvellement establies dans la Californie,” by Father Francisco Maria Piccolo, usually considered the first printed account of California. Piccolo was one of the first Jesuit missionaries in Baja California Sur, New Spain, now Mexico. His letters and reports are important sources for the ethnography and early history of the peninsula. The folding map, “Passage par terre a la Californie decouvert par le Rev. pere Eusebe–Francois Kino,” was engraved from a copy of Father Kino’s original 1701 manuscript (now lost). Kino, Jesuit missionary and traveler, visited Baja California in 1685. He was among the Seris and Pimas in 1690, after which he transferred to northern Sonora, where he remained until his death in 1711. His missionary work in Sonora included expeditions north and west to Arizona. This famous map, which was based on Father Kinos explorations effectively disproved the California as an island myth which had originated in the early years of the seventeenth century.
[Includes:] two additional volumes, not from the Marie Adelaide set, including a second copy of the fifth part (lacking the map). Cowan, p. 390; Howes L–299; Sabin 40697; Streeter Sale 2424; Wagner, Northwest Coast 483; Wagner, Spanish Southwest 74a; Wheat, Transmississippi 89.