LABAT, Jean Baptiste (1663-1738)

New Voyages to the French Islands of America, Containing the Natural History of the Countries.... and of the black slaves: besides the wars and principal cases... as well as an accurate description of the making of sugar, indigo, cochineal, cacao, and other commodities serving the trade. Amsterdam Balthasar Lakeman 1725 Ref. Sabin 38415; Cat. NHSM I, p.268; Howgego L43; Tiele 623; Mueller, Kakao p.29. "Labat went to the West Indies as a Dominican Missionary, and gives in this, his most famous work, details of all the islands he visited, and notably of Martinique and Guadeloupe. He also speaks of many of the smaller islands; of some of them this is the only early information we possess. He gives accounts of the cultivation of tobacco, sugar, indigo, etc., and many anecdotes of the inhabitants." (Cox II, p.235). Also on slavery, flora and fauna. The first Dutch edition with the same plates as the first French 8vo ed., published Paris 1722 4 parts in 2 vols. in-4to, 2 front., 350 pp, 404 pp, 254 pp, 167, [32] pp, 13 maps and plans, 83 plates. The text on the plates in French. Description of mainly Martinique and Guadeloupe, but also some islands that father Labat visited as a missionary. Translated from French into Dutch by Wilhelmus C. Dycks. Some hardly visible marginal damp staining on some pages. Contemporary uniform vellum bindings, titles in ink on spines