Travels Through the United States of North America: The Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797; With an Authentic Account of Lower Canada (2 Volumes)

Francois Alexandre Frederic La Rochefoucauld Liancourt; H. Neuman (translator)

Printed for R. Phillips : Sold by T. Hurst and J. Wallis, and by Carpenter, 1799

[An Important Early Account of the United States and Canada, in a fine binding]  2 volume set. 4to, 28 cm.  Fine binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.  Bound in 3/4 brown levant morocco over tan boards.  Gilt spine lettering and ruled cover.  Marbled end sheets. Collated:  (ii), xxiii, (i), 639; (ii), 686, (9) (index), (1) (ad) pp.; lacking postscript and index at end of first volume.  Illustrated with three large engraved folding maps of the United States and Canada, the Northern and Southern Provinces of the United States, and with six tables (four folding) delineating the three branches of the United States government and their electoral procedures. Light offsetting from plates on to text; scattered foxing.  Refs: Howes L-106; Sabin 39057; Clark, Old South 2:103 (2).  

The Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt was a liberal social reformer who after being exiled in 1792 during the French Revolution, traveled for three years through the young United States and Canada between 1795-1797.  His work became one of the  primary source books for American history at the close of the 18th century.  Sabin states: "The observations of this distinguished author, made during a three years' residence, extend to the political constitution of the country, the manners, etc., of the inhabitants, its physical state and natural history. The translator appears to have executed his task faithfully, and to be well acquainted with the country described. His notes frequently increase the information, and sometimes correct the errors of the original."  Rochefoucault traveled throughout the Eastern United States, from Maine to Georgia, to the Great Lakes region, and then into Upper Canada.  He provides one of the first accounts of York (now Toronto) Canada.  "The work...contains much information available in public documents, such as constitutions and census reports and statute books...when all is said and done, this child of the eighteenth century, this spiritual kinsman of Jefferson and Young, has written a sound, informative account...He tried, when possible, to get a corroboration of what he was told, and he had a passion for figures...he was the political economist, searching for facts on government, law, taxation, labor, agriculture, trade and manufacturing, the military arrangements, and penal matters." (Clark, Vol. II, p. 120).   Translation, by H. Neuman, of "Voyage dans les Etats-Unis d'Amerique, fait en 1795, 1796, et 1797."   A handsome set.