Frankfurt or Oppenheim: Theodor De Bry and his heirs (see below), 1590-1624.. Twelve parts bound in twelve volumes (see below for collations).... More

Frankfurt or Oppenheim: Theodor De Bry and his heirs (see below), 1590-1624.. Twelve parts bound in twelve volumes (see below for collations). Uniform modern dark blue straight-grained morocco gilt, covers with gilt border of double fillets and a decorative roll; spine in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second, numbered in the fourth, the other compartments with repeat tooling in gilt, brown endpapers. Very good. The Great or American Voyages in Latin, Parts I-XII (of 13, and without the Elenchus), comprising: I. [Hariot, Thomas]: ADMIRANDA NARRATION FIDA TAMEN, DE COMMODIS ET INCOLARUM RITIBUS VIRGINIAE...ANGLICO SCRIPTA SERMONE A THOMA HARIOT. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1590. First edition, mix issue but mostly first issue. Colophon leaf F6, blank D6. Engraved title to text, letterpress title to plates, engraved arms on dedication leaf, folding engraved map of Virginia, engraved plate of Adam and Eve (the second state with inscription in the plate reading "Iodocus a Winghe in Io. Theodore de Bry sc."), 28 very fine engraved plates after John White (including 5 plates of Picts). A foundation work on the early exploration and delineation of America, describing and illustrating the first British colony to be established there. This volume is the first issued by the publisher, Theodor De Bry, in his extraordinary series, GRAND VOYAGES, describing the exploration of the New World. The elegant production, combined with the critically important text, make this volume one of the most important relating to the early discovery of North America. This work recounts the history of the abortive Roanoke colony established by the British in North Carolina in 1585. Thomas Hariot's text, describing the country of Virginia and North Carolina, was first published in London in 1588 (only six copies are known) and here republished in Latin. Hariot, like the artist, John White, was part of the Roanoke expedition and wrote his account from actual observation. It is the first description of the Virginia and Carolina country. The map which accompanies the volume is the first really good map of the Virginia coast and Carolina capes, showing the coast from the mouth of the Chesapeake to Wilmington, North Carolina. John White's illustrations are among the most famous of early American images. White was the lieutenant-governor of the abortive colony, and a skilled artist. His carefully executed watercolors, gleaned from close observation and remarkably accurate renderings of the Carolina Indians and their customs, costumes, rituals, hunting practices and dwellings, are here expertly engraved by De Bry. No other artist so carefully rendered American Indians until Karl Bodmer worked on the Missouri in the 1830s. Besides these illustrations, there are plates showing White's conception of the ancient Picts of Scotland, to whom he wished to compare the American natives. A remarkably important Americanum. CHURCH 140. II. [Le Moyne, Jacques, and others]: BREVIS NARRATIO EORUM QUAE IN FLORIDA AMERICAE PROVINCIA GALLIS ACCIDERUNT...AUCTORE JACOBO LE MOYNE. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1591. First edition. 2 engraved titles, engraved arms on dedication leaf, engraved text illustration of Noah sacrificing, double-page engraved map of Florida. Lacking blank leaf K6. A fine copy of this seminal work for early North America, with Jacques Le Moyne's spectacular series of images. Part II from Theodor De Bry's GRAND VOYAGES, this work collects together various accounts of the attempted settlement of Florida by French Protestants in the 1560s. The text is drawn from the accounts of Jean Ribaut, Ren?e Laudonni?, and Dominique de Gourgues; and describes the foundation of the colony in 1562 and its difficult existence until the massacre of the settlers by the Spanish in 1565. The chief glory of this work is the series of engravings after the watercolors of Jacques Le Moyne, depicting the life and ceremonies of the Florida Indians. As ethnographic documents, these are second only to those of John White, as records of American Indian life in the 16th century, and like White's work, these illustrations remained unrivalled until centuries later. Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, was born in Dieppe, France in about 1533. He was appointed artist to the Huguenot expedition to Florida, led by Ren?e Laudonni?, which sailed in April 1564. Arguably the first western artist to visit the New World, French painter, Le Moyne recorded the scenery of Florida and the lives of the Timucua Indians in great detail, as well as charting the coastline of Florida. The French colony was seen as a threat by the Spanish, and in September 1565 they overran the colony, and most of Le Moyne's drawings were destroyed. However, he escaped, made copies from memory of what he had seen, and returned to France. By about 1580 he had settled in London, and he later came into contact with Sir Walter Raleigh and with John White, the artist of the first English colony of Virginia. The former commissioned him to illustrate the Florida enterprise, and Le Moyne went on to produce the images that were published by De Bry after Le Moyne's death in about 1588. CHURCH 145. III. [Staden, Hans, and Jean Lery]: AMERICAE TERTIA PARS MEMORABILEM PROVINCIAE BRASILIAE HISTORIAM CONTINENS GERMANICO PRIMUM SERMONE SCRIPTUM A IOANE STADIO. Frankfurt: Theodore de Bry, 1592. First edition, second issue with de Bry imprint. 2 engraved titles (the second title with imprint 'in officina Sigismundi Feirabendii'), engraved arms on dedication leaf, engraved plate of arms without virtues, folding engraved map of Peru and Brasil, full- page engraved text illustration of Adam and Eve (first state without 'Io.' in the inscription, see part I), 30 engraved text illustrations. Lacks final blank Qq4. A fine copy of a fundamental work on the history of Brazil, with an important map. The third part of De Bry's GRAND VOYAGES, this volume being devoted to the history of Brazil, and particularly the observations of Hans Staden and Jean Lery, the two most reliable 16th-century accounts of that country. Staden, a German sailor, describes his two voyages to Brazil in 1546-48 and 1549- 55, including his long captivity among the Tupinimba Indians. His account of the manners and customs of the Indians is one of the primary American ethnological documents, and its accompanying illustrations, although somewhat dressed up here by the engravers, provide an invaluable illustrated record with many useful clues to artifacts and rituals. Staden's work originally appeared in German in 1557, and the early editions are exceedingly rare. Jean Lery was a French missionary in Brazil in 1556-58, and he is credited by Levi-Strauss and others with being the most acute early observer of the Brazilian Indians. His work first appeared in 1578, and the Latin translation was probably prepared by him. Besides the Staden and Lery narratives, this volume prints two letters from Nicholas Barre, who was with the Villegagnon expedition in 1552. The map, titled AMERICAE PARS MAGIS COGNITA. CHOROGRAPHIA NOBILIS & OPULENTAE PERUANAE PROVINCIAE, ATQUE BRASILIAE... (Frankfurt: De Bry, 1692), is one of the most accurate maps of South America issued to date. Since De Bry was not a cartographer, this map was probably derived from an unknown manuscript map, though the northern portions (now the southern United States) come from Le Moyne. The modified lump swelling from Chile, which Ortelius had eliminated from his maps in 1587, is an odd inclusion. The map has a great deal of topographical detail, with suppositious jungles, rivers, and mountain ranges in the interiors of both continents, but some of the actual river systems are indicated. The map is elegantly engraved in an almost extravagant Ortelius mode, with elaborate strap-work decorated cartouches and swash lettering. The title is written on a banner and displayed by a cherub. A whale/fish with a dorsal fin spouts water, and a three-masted ship sails towards the Cape. CHURCH 149. IV. [Benzoni, Girolamo, first part]: AMERICAE PARS QUARTA SIVE, INSIGNIS & ADMIRANDA HISTORIA DE REPERTA PRIMUM OCCIDENTALI INDIA A CHRISTOPHORO COLUMBO ANNO MCCCCXCII SCRIPTA AB HIERONYMO BENZONO. Frankfurt: Ad invistiss. Rudolphus II..., 1594. First edition, with third issue title (Church 155) but plate points of both first and second editions. Blank leaf R6 present. 2 engraved titles, engraved text illustration of arms with virtues, double- page engraved map of West Indies, engraved text illustration of Columbus led by marine deities, engraved text illustration of world map with medallion portraits of Columbus and Vespucci, 24 engraved plates numbered in Arabic numerals within plates. Blank leaf F6 lacking. CHURCH 153. V. [Benzoni, Girolamo, part two]: AMERICAE PARS QUINTA, NOBILIS & ADMIRATIONE PLENA HIERONYMI BEZONI...SECUNAE SECTIONIS HI[STORI]A[E] HISPANORUM TUM IN NIGRITTAS SERVOS SUOS, TUM IN INDIAS CRUDELITATEM, GALLORUMQ[UE] PIRATARU[M] DE HISPANIS TOTIES REPORTATA SPOLIA. Frankfurt: Theodore de Bry, 1595. First edition, second issue with both corrections in title "Hia" and "Invictis." Blank leaves l3-4 and F4. 2 engraved titles, engraved portrait of Columbus with eleven lines of text, engraved double- page map of New Spain, 22 engraved plates. CHURCH 156 (note). VI. [Benzoni, Girolamo, part three]: AMERICAE PARS SEXTA, SIVE HISTORIAE AB HIERONYMO BE[N]ZONO...SCRIPTAE, SECTIO TERTIA. Frankfurt: Theodore de Bry, 1596. First edition. Blank leaf G6. 2 engraved titles, double-page engraved map of Western Hemisphere with figures of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan and Pizarro, double-page engraved view Cusco, 28 engraved plates. CHURCH 158. Benzoni's work was first published in Italian at Venice in 1565. The chief glory of the De Bry edition are the extraordinary series of plates and maps with which De Bry illustrated the work, creating one of the most enduring collections of early images of the Western Hemisphere. The three parts that make up De Bry's rendition of Benzoni record the events surrounding Columbus discovery, relations with Native Americans, atrocities committed by Indians and Europeans, Pizarro's exploits in Peru, etc. Chauveton's anti-Spanish slant provided De Bry with the gory details of Spanish barbarity which are brought to life in the meticulous engravings that illustrate this volume. De Bry's sensationally illustrated edition of Benzoni has stood as a solid landmark of illustrated Americana, so much so that centuries later historians and editors have been compelled to copy the plates in new publications. Such scenes as Columbus' meeting with Ferdinand and Isabella, or the Spanish atrocities toward the Peruvian Indians, though not based on firsthand experience, have survived the centuries largely for their compelling visual rendition of events. These images have become history. Part one (Part IV of De Bry) includes a detailed and handsome folding map of the West Indies, "Occidentalis Americae partis...Anno MDXCIIII," which depicts the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico from northern Florida to the South American coast. Part two (Part V of De Bry) contains a folding map of Mexico, "HISPANAE NOVAE SIVE MAGNAE, RECENS ET VERA DESCRIPTIO." Part three (Part VI of De Bry) contains an important and very beautifully illustrated map of the Western Hemisphere, "AMERICA SIVE NOVVS ORBIS RESPECTUEUROPAEORUM INFERIOR GLOBI TERRESTRIS PARS," which includes full-length figure portraits of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan and Pizarro at the corners. This latter map shows the unknown "Terra Australis," as a huge conglomerate of land covering much of the southern part of the globe, and the Pacific coast of North America as a bulging mass not quite under control. A cornerstone history of early voyages of discovery, and one of the most wonderfully illustrated, whose early European depictions of America are among the most widely duplicated in history. VII. [Schmidel, Ulrich]: AMERICAE PARS VII. VERISSIMA ET IUCUNDISSIMA DESCRIPTIO PRAECIPUARUM QUARUNDAM INDIAE REGIONUM & INSULARUM. Frankfurt: Theodore de Bry, 1599. First edition. Blank leaf H4. Engraved title, engraved text illustration. The important early account of Latin America describing the voyages of Ulrich Schmidel to Brazil and Paraguay in 1535-53. The text was translated from Schmidel's NEUWE WELT, first published in Frankfurt in 1567. "Schmidel's account was included in many collections of voyages. Owing to his importance for the study of the history of the regions of Rio de la Plata and Southern Brazil several modern editions exist and there is a considerable amount of literature about him" - Borba de Moraes. A handsome copy of Part VII of De Bry's GRAND VOYAGES, with important Brazilian content. CHURCH 161. VIII. [Drake, Ffancis, Cavendish, Thomas, and Walter Raleigh]: AMERICAE PARS VIII. CONTINENS PRIMO, DESCRIPTIONEM TRIUM ITINERUM...FRANCISCI DRAKEN...SECUNDO...THOMAE CANDISCH...TERTIO...GUALTHERI RALEGH. Frankfurt: widow & sons of Theodore de Bry, 1599. First edition, second issue. e4 blank. Letterpress title to text with engraved vignette map of world showing Drakes circumnavigation, letterpress title to plates, double-page engraved map of Guiana with Latin and many German inscriptions, engraved map of the world on the verso of leaf KK4 showing Cavendish's circumnavigation, engraved map of North Atlantic on leaf Aa2, 18 plates. This volume contains relations of six different voyages, by Drake, Cavendish, and Raleigh, with a map and illustrations never before published. These accounts describe Drake's famous circumnavigation of the world and Caribbean raids, Cavendish's circumnavigation, and the famous search for El Dorado. The three voyages of Sir Francis Drake recounted here are of the greatest importance. The first is a description of the famous voyage of circumnavigation of 1577- 80, only described in print up to that time by Hakluyt, here based on the account of Nuno da Silva. Drake's Caribbean raid of 1585-86 is also reported, based on the account of Walter Bigges, as well as the final voyage of 1595-96, directed against the Spanish at Panama. This is the first extensive account of the last voyage, during which Drake died off Panama, and it is evidently based directly on his log, continued by others after his death. Besides these texts, the titlepage of the volume has an extraordinary double hemisphere world map, showing the track of Drake's circumnavigation with an inset portrait of Drake. Illustrations relating to Drake include engravings of his landing on the coast of Patagonia and his reception by California Indians during the circumnavigation voyage, as well as engravings after Boazio showing his captures of Santiago, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, and St. Augustine during the 1855-86 Caribbean raid. The St. Augustine view is the earliest view of any North American town. Sir Thomas Cavendish's circumnavigation of 1586-88 was the third voyage around the world, and the account published here on pages 43-78 is one of the first to appear (accounts were issued in Amsterdam almost concurrently). This account is by Francis Pretty. The voyage followed a track similar to Drake's and was certainly based on knowledge gleaned from his trip. Three plates illustrate Cavendish's experiences in the Pacific. The remainder of the volume describes two voyages to the Caribbean and South America, one by Sir Walter Raleigh undertaken in 1595 in his famous search for El Dorado, and another of the following year to the same place, attributed to Raleigh but actually undertaken by Laurence Kemys. The large folding map illustrates this part of the volume, and provides the most detailed version of the cartography and imagined cartography of the Orinoco, Amazon and Guiana region published up to that time. Five of the illustrations also relate to the Guiana exploration. One of the most difficult parts of the De Bry GRAND VOYAGES to obtain, with descriptions of the second and third circumnavigations of the world. CHURCH 164. IX. [Acosta, Joseph, and others]: AMERICAE NONA & POSTREMA PARS. QUA DE RATIONE ELEMENTORUM: DE NOVI ORBIS NATURA...COPIOSE PETRACTATUR. Frankfurt: for Mathias Becker, 1602. First edition. Leaves YY6 and dd4 blank. Letterpress title within engraved border, four letterpress section titles of which two have engraved vignettes, engraved arms on dedication leaf, engraved map of Magellan Straits, 39 engraved plates numbered I-XXV and I-XIV. This contains a number of important accounts relating to Latin America and the Pacific, including the work of Acosta, and the Pacific voyages of Oliver van Noort and Sebald de Weert. Although De Bry died in 1598, his vast illustrated publishing endeavor was carried on by his widow and two sons, Johann Theodor and Johann Israel, who issued parts seven, eight and the present ninth part, intending it to be the final installment or "postrema pars" of the monumental Grand Voyages series. This would of course not be the case, as the series extended to a total of thirteen parts, but part ten was not published until 1619. The "Grand Voyages" has been described by Boies Penrose as "stately...the cornerstone of every library of Americana." The seven books of Acosta's HISTORIA NATURAL Y MORAL DE LAS INDIAS (first published Seville, 1590), is the first work included here, and is regarded as one of the most important source books on the Indians of Mexico and Peru. Based on Acosta's time in the missions of both countries from 1571 to 1588, the HISTORIA NATURAL provided a vital picture of the Spanish plundering of the New World to a European readership. Streeter states that Acosta's work "operated more strongly than any other in opening the eyes of the rest of Europe to the great wealth that Spain was draining from America." The fourteen De Bry engravings which relate to this section depict in vivid (and at times exaggerated) detail the customs of the Aztecs and Incas and their violent confrontations with the Spaniards. Includes engravings of Indians working Potosi mines, llamas as beasts of burden, Aztec religious rites, games, human sacrifices, funerals, etc. These are some of the most exquisite of early ethnographic illustrations of native Americans, nothing really approaches the detail and quality of these pictures until the 19th century. Also included is the account of Olivier van Noort's Pacific voyage, describing a journey to the Moluccas via the Straits of Magellan. Olivier entered the Straits on Sept. 5, 1599, and as a consequence of terrible weather conditions did not make it into the Pacific until Feb. 29, 1600. He continued along the coast of Chile, to Peru and New Spain, stopping at the Mariana Islands, Manila, Borneo, and Java, returning to Rotterdam in August of 1601. The voyage was first published in Rotterdam and Amsterdam in 1602 and then translated into German. The ADDITAMENTUM... has its own engraved titlepage illustrated with a portrait of van Noort with the New and Old Worlds represented on two globes, with two standing figures, a Native American and a tatooed Pacific Islander. Eleven plates relate to the van Noort voyage, including wonderful depictions of native South Americans, views of places visited, Dutch interaction with Indians, clubbing penguins, etc. Finally there is the account of Sebald de Weert's voyage of the same object as the van Noort voyage. On June 20, 1598, De Weert sailed from Amsterdam on a vessel which was part of the fleet sent to the Moluccas by way of the Straits of Magellan. The voyage met with disaster, the commander of the expedition died, and de Weert's ship was the only one that returned. One fortunate side note to this voyage was the discovery of three islands located about sixty miles from the South American continent, appropriately named the Sebaldines. The separate titlepage for the RELATIO HISTORICA... includes a handsome engraving of the five ships which formed the fleet. Fourteen beautiful engraved plates correspond to the RELATIO HISTORICA..., depicting incidents from the voyage, ports visited, including Rio de Janeiro and San Sebastian, as well as hostile natives met along the route through the Straits. The total of thirty-nine plates and the map of the Straits of Magellan contained in this volume represent a treasure of classic American ethnographic illustrations. De Bry's sons equal and perhaps exceed the work of their master father, and the art of depicting the historical scenes of discovery and conquest in the New World is carried out to the highest order. A classic volume of American ethnographic illustration, including two little-known Pacific voyages. CHURCH 168. X. [Vespucci, Amerigo, Hamor, Ralph and John Smith]: AMERICAE PARS DECIMA: QUA CONTINENTUR, I. DUAE NAVIGATIONES D[OMI]N[I] AMERICI VESPUTII...II. SOLIDA NARRATIO DE MODERNO PROVINCIAE VIRGINIAE...AUTHORE RAPHE HAMOR...III. VERA DESCRIPTIO NOVAE ANGLIAE...A CAPITANEO JOHANNE SCHMIDT. Oppenheim: Hieronymus Gallerus, 1619. First edition, first issue. Leaf I4 blank. Letterpress title to text with engraved vignette, letterpress title to plates, 12 engraved plates. Lacking blank leaf c4. The tenth part of the GRAND VOYAGES was issued seventeen years after part nine, when the series was resumed by De Bry's son-in- law. It contains illustrated editions of three major narratives. The first are the letters of Vespucci relating to his explorations of South America in the decade after Columbus. The other two are major narratives of the English settlement of North America. Hamor's description of the infant Virginia colony was originally published in london in 1615, and here appears with illustrations. John Smith's foundation work A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND, was published in London in 1616 and also appears here in illustrated form. CHURCH 170. XI. [Schouten, Willem, and Joris van Spilbergen]: AMERICAE PARS UNDECIMA: SEU DESCRIPTION ADMIRANDI INTINERIS A GUILLIELMO SCHOUTEN...PERACTI. Oppenheim: Hieronymus Gallerus, 1619. First edition. Blank leaves F6, D6 and e6. 2 letterpress titles with engraved vignettes, 2 letterpress section titles, 3 engraved maps (1 small format folding map of New Guinea, one folding map of the south Pacific, and 1 of the straits of Magellan), 29 plates. Lacking original engraved map of 'Mar di India', but present as a facsimile. The De Bry edition of the first two Dutch cirumnavigations, both voyages of the greatest magnitude. Schouten sailed with Jacob le Maire around the world in 1615-17, and Spilbergen accomplished the same task in 1614-1618. Both added greatly to knowledge of the South Pacific and southern South America. CHURCH 172. XII. [Herrera, Antonio and others]: NOVI ORBIS PARS DUODECIMA. SIVE DESCRIPTIO INDIAE OCCIDENTALIS, AUCTORE ANTONIO DE HERRERA. Frankfurt: for heirs of Johann Theodore de Bry, 1624. First edition. Letterpress title with engraved border, letterpress title, double- page map of the western hemisphere, 19 engraved text illustrations, 14 engraved maps (1 double- page). Lacks initial blank leaf and blank leaf Cc8. A collection of important voyages in the West Indies and around South America, most notable for the collection of maps of different parts of the Americas which accompany Herrera's work. Besides this, there is a series of accounts of different voyages in the Straits of Magellan between Magellan in 1519 and the Nodal brothers in 1618. CHURCH 173. A magnificent set of the most famous and influential of all collections of voyages, including a particularly fine copy of the highly esteemed first part, Hariot's VIRGINIA. The iconography disseminated through De Bry's popular compilation of travel narratives dominated the European view of the New World for more than a century after their publication. The exceptional ethnographic engravings in the first two parts are of special importance for the study of Native American life at the time of the first encroachment of Europeans. Throughout the set, however, many engravings include images of flora, fauna, and topography that provide interesting details about the way America looked in the 16th century and the way Europeans saw her.etails about the way America looked in the 16th century and the way Europeans saw her. Less

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New Helvetia, Ca. February 1842 - June 1843 (for the Sutter letters). Accompanying documents dated between 1828 and 1862.. Six manuscript letters,... More

New Helvetia, Ca. February 1842 - June 1843 (for the Sutter letters). Accompanying documents dated between 1828 and 1862.. Six manuscript letters, totaling sixteen pages, written on quarto-sized or larger sheets. Accompanied by twenty-two other manuscript documents or partially printed forms, completed in manuscript. One letter with a 1 x 4- inch chip in the bottom edge, costing approximately eight words, otherwise the letters are in near fine condition, clear and legible. The remainder of the documents with some occasional wear or paper repairs. The entire collection in overall very good condition. A remarkable collection of six manuscript letters written in the early 1840s by California pioneer John A. Sutter, a central figure in the California gold rush. It was at Sutter's mill in Coloma that gold was found in January 1848, sparking the California gold rush and the greatest westward migration in American history. Any letters penned by Sutter from California in the 1840s are rare and quite desirable. These letters are among the earliest known Sutter letters from California, and they provide a great deal of insight and information on Sutter's early career in the Sacramento area, including his financial hardships, business ventures, interactions with emigrants, trappers, and Indians, and his efforts to defend his vast land claims against the encroachments of former associates. All were written from Sutter's Fort at "New Helvetia," and were sent to another important figure in the early history of California, Jean Jacques Vioget, a fellow Swiss immigrant, one of the first residents of San Francisco, and a prominent businessman, trader, and surveyor. Along with the six letters, which are all in Sutter's hand and are written in French (accompanied by English language translations), is a collection of twenty-two additional manuscripts and printed forms detailing Vioget's career. These added documents provide quite a bit of information on the life and activities of this little-known but important figure in the early history of the settlement of San Francisco. "Capt." John A. Sutter was born Johann Augustus Sutter in 1803 in Baden, Germany, of Swiss parents. Early in life he worked in a printing, publishing, and bookselling firm in Basel, before marrying in 1826 and opening his own dry goods and drapery store. He also served in the Berne militia for a time. When his business failed he emigrated to the United States, arriving in New York in 1834, and then travelled to the German colony at St. Louis. He became involved in the Santa Fe trade (making two journeys to the Southwest himself) before setting out for California (via Hawaii and Alaska), where he arrived in 1839. Sutter ingratiated himself with the various political leaders of California, and was granted by the Mexican government an estate of nearly 50,000 acres at the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers. His land was meant to be an outpost guarding the frontier of Alta California against incursions by Indians and Russian fur traders. Sutter named the region "Nueva Helvetia" (New Switzerland), later commonly called "New Helvetia," and presided over the region as nearly an absolute ruler. Sutter constructed a strong fort, worked the land with the labor of some one thousand Indians, and began cultivating the region, also building a mill, raising cattle, and offering help to immigrants to the region. From the early 1840s, Sutter had to defend his land against fur traders, hostile Indians, and squatters. Often in these letters he complains of the losses he has sustained due to the activities of interlopers such as trader Michel La Framboise, chief of the Hudson's Bay Company, or due to betrayals by his former business associates. Paradoxically, the situation only worsened when Sutter's millwright, James Marshall, discovered gold at Sutter's Mill on Jan. 24, 1848. Soon Sutter's land was overrun by squatters and gold seekers who killed his cattle and used his crops. After California joined the United States in 1850, Sutter served in a variety of state and federal political positions, but he continued to suffer financial setbacks. From 1864 to 1878 he received a monthly $250 stipend from the state, but died destitute in 1880. These six letters provide important information on Sutter's business activities in the early 1840s, his financial dealings and hardships, his relations with Indians, fur traders, and the Russians, and his dealings with merchants in San Francisco, whom he supplied with timber, hides, agricultural products, and other goods, and on whom he also relied for goods and services. The letters also provide insight to Sutter's character and personality, as he often writes in a deeply personal tone. These six letters were translated by students at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento and were published in 1942 in a limited- edition volume called SIX FRENCH LETTERS: CAPTAIN JOHN AUGUSTUS SUTTER TO JEAN JACQUES VIOGET 1842-1843. A photocopy of that volume accompanies these letters, as do alternate English language translations of the letters. The quotes from the letters excerpted below are taken from the text of SIX FRENCH LETTERS.... The years covered by these letters coincide with what have been called "Sutter's years of expansion and material accumulation" (SIX FRENCH LETTERS...). At the time, farming was Sutter's most important enterprise. He hired Jean Jacques Vioget to make a map of his lands in January 1841 (he made another such map in 1843), and Vioget served as a witness to Sutter's purchase of Fort Ross from the Russians in December 1841. Vioget also functioned as a contact and agent for Sutter in San Francisco, helping Sutter buy and sell goods, as well as arranging for transportation of Sutter's products. The first letter in this group from Sutter to Vioget (at "Yerba Buena," later San Francisco) is dated Feb. 18, 1842. Sutter writes to Vioget ("my dear fellow countryman") and informs him of a shipment of timber he is sending to San Francisco and the prices he hopes to get for the lumber: "Right now, I am sending you twenty-nine pieces of oak wood, mostly all big pieces, which are really worth $10. There are three among them which are worth at least $15, but all are $5 if one would also take the others which you still have on the beach. If you could sell them or give me credit at about $5 apiece, it would be fine. If not, please keep them at my disposal; and each trip I will send some others. It is absolutely necessary that the big ones sell as well as the small ones. Without that my efforts would not pay at all. It is a great deal of work because these trees are not so near the river. Sometimes we have to drag them two or three miles to load them at the wharf. In summer I can send you wood from the highlands, such as pine, cedar, etc." Sutter goes on to ask Vioget to help an employee of his, David Chandler, procure some goods in San Francisco that Sutter cannot supply at New Helvetia: "I took the liberty of giving a small order of $30 on you, sir, to Mr. Chandler who has worked here. He would like to have some utensils and other things that I don't have here. You would oblige me very much by procuring them for him, if you please. By the small launch I shall send without fail 15 hides for those $30." The next letter is dated Aug. 28, 1842 and effectively conveys the financial difficulties that Sutter often fell into, and the measures that his creditors in San Francisco would take to collect what they were owed. Sutter begins by complaining to Vioget that his ship, the Sacramento, has been detained in San Francisco harbor by California pioneer William Richardson, who was the first white settler in Yerba Buena, and was at that time captain of the port. Richardson embargoed the ship on behalf of merchants looking to collect from Sutter: "I don't know why this man [Eulogio Celis, the aggrieved merchant] acts so bitterly. I paid him a large bill last spring, and now he surely knows that I can't pay anything until next winter. In three or four weeks the beaver hunting is going to begin. I understand that you will take the place of Mr. Celis; for this reason I take the liberty to apply to you, sir. As a fellow countryman, I dare hope that you are willing to bring to bear all your influence so that such things can no longer happen and that they will give me time, as to any Californian. I shall indeed pay what I owe. Considering briefly my situation since the beginning of my establishment, I do not believe that any reasonable man will take strenuous steps against me, especially since I am ready to pay the interest. Almost everywhere, as you, Mr. Celis, and I know very well, I have been obliged to pay very high prices for merchandise; and for this reason nothing can be lost by waiting a little longer." Sutter goes on to explain to Vioget why he has been tardy in sending Indian laborers to Yerba Buena, and updates his countryman on the situation at his estate: "I pray you not to be angry because I haven't sent you the Indians. I could not because I need them myself; and at present I haven't enough; but with the return of the little ship, I shall send you six men. My work is increasing from day to day, even more since I am building another establishment in the upper part of the Feather River because the animals no longer have enough to eat here." Two months later Sutter writes to Vioget again, asking him to intercede on his behalf again with Mr. Celis, who claims Sutter's accounts are in arrears. The letter of Oct. 16 reads, in part: "In answer to your letter of the seventeenth of last month, I repeat that Mr. Celis' account is not right and he must send you my current books so that you may be convinced. You will see that Mr. Celis has made an error of nearly $600. You know very well that the launch 'Sacramento' is mine on condition that I pay for it. All those provisions of the contract, which you yourself signed as a witness; and it is in the power of the Russians and no others to take possession when they wish. They have written about all this to the government." In a long, fascinating, and very informative letter of Feb. 2, 1843, Sutter gives Vioget details about his finances and his plans to pay his accounts, on the progress and growth of his business enterprise, and on his difficulties with fur traders treading onto his land and using up his resources. He begins by describing his plan to pay his debts: "Yes, sir, I can assure you that everything is going better at present. If the good Lord gives me a good crop this year, I shall have more than enough to pay my debts, except to the Russians; but that is different. As for me, I am neglecting nothing and am doing more than my utmost. I hardly ever sleep at night, and I assure you that the trouble that I had last year has made me ten years older. You would find me completely changed. I am getting all the pelts by myself to pay my debts, and I am sending everyone something on account...I think that when I pay something to everyone, people will see that I am doing my best and will have a little more patience in waiting for the remainder." Sutter complains that he is being hindered in his attempts at fur trapping by incursions onto his lands by hunters from the Hudson's Bay Company, and vents his anger at Michel La Framboise, chief of the company: "If that cursed party of hunters from the Hudson's Bay Company had not come this year against the orders of the government, I would have had a good fur-trapping season. At present, my Indians are bringing me a few beaver pelts, that's all. The first trip was rather good; but now they are selling them secretly to the Canadians, giving four or five good pelts for one red wool scarf or a red handkerchief, etc., and that hurts me a great deal. According to my orders from the government, I have forbidden La Framboise to trap beavers; but in spite of that, he still does as he pleases. If Mr. Alvarado were still governor, I would confiscate their canoes with the traps, and everything they have. Without asking my permission, Mr. La Framboise camped in the middle of my territory between my two farms, for I still have one establishment at the third rancheria on the Feather River. They do whatever they want, since this time there are sixty men; and that is enough to ruin beaver hunting completely. Since they are so strong, they do just as they please and they do not at all respect the orders of the government. I can assure you that my cattle are in great danger since, with these sixty men, there are at least forty women, and a quantity of children and dogs. The whole crowd must eat, and about every three days they kill a deer. There aren't very many more since deer have been killed and eaten in this vicinity for the last ten or twelve years." Despite these troubles Sutter remains optimistic about his business prospects, and he concludes by describing for Vioget the great activity on his lands: "In a few days my new steam distillery will produce a great deal of the spice of life. There is still one pump to finish, then everything is done. That will be a pretty income for me. I also have a mill that grinds ten fanegas of wheat a day. I plan to establish a tannery in the American manner with a mill to grind oak bark. I have a good master tanner; and in a little while I will be able to sell tanned leather, which is a very good article in this country. Along with the cow hides, the hunters are furnishing me with deer and elk hides that I will have tanned in the same way. I also have a hatter who makes woolen hats ordered for the Indians. I have some Indian rope makers who are making shoes for my people. Next summer I will have all the blankets for my Indians manufactured right here because I have nearly 2000 sheep for which I have a very good shepherd from New Mexico. You see, sir, that the expenses of the establishments are beginning to diminish, and I no longer have so much need of outsiders. I won't keep any but the most necessary people, such as the blacksmiths, carpenters, tanners, etc." In a letter of April 12, 1843, Sutter informs Vioget that he is sending him two Indian laborers "who know how to make adobes." He goes on to relate his troubles with neighbors on the other side of the American River: "Those gentlemen on the other side are beginning again to annoy me. I thought I was on good terms with them now, and I assure you that I am tired of living this way in this cursed country! Captain Walter is talking terribly harshly against me - that gentleman would do better to control himself a little." Sutter signs off with an optimistic forecast for his farm returns: "The wheat, peas, and potatoes are all fine and promise a good crop." In the final letter in the group of six, dated June 14, 1843, Sutter writes Vioget of a scheme by Charles W. Flugge, who had been Sutter's friend and served as his legal adviser, business manager, and representative, to steal land from Sutter: "And now, sir, just imagine a man whom I never would have thought capable of it, a man who possessed my confidence, whom I thought my friend, and who is more or less under obligation to me, permitting himself to dispute my right to my best land, where there are already two establishments. This man is Mr. Flugge who wishes to have these lands for himself, and he even claims that my boundary line passes from the mouth of the Feather River through the middle of that bad strip of land through which we passed while going to the top of the Buttes! Again the impudence of that man! We already had disagreements last winter. After he could no longer agree with Mr. Cordua, I was once more foolish enough to employ him again. I was even at the point of sending him tomorrow to the town of Los Angeles to see the governor on my business. Perhaps he is going anyway to act against me. By chance I discovered his plans. I am sure that he has written to you concerning these affairs. For that reason I beg you to aid and assist me against a rare schemer...I believe the whole plan is that Flugge or Cordua, or Flugge alone, I don't know which, wish through intrigue to try to come into the possession of these lands in order to make large speculations." Sutter goes on to ask Vioget to make him another map of his lands, which he could then use in his claims against Flugge. Sutter encapsulates his difficulties as the pioneering landowner in the region, and his feeling of being taken advantage of by his former associates, when he writes: "Isn't it too bad that after having sacrificed everything, after having enormous expenses, and risking my life, etc., to become established here; in a word, pulling chestnuts out of the fire, others want to come and eat them." The recipient of these six letters from Sutter, Jean Jacques Vioget, is a fascinating figure and important in the early history of California. Vioget (1799-1855) was born in Switzerland, joined Napoleon's army at the age of fifteen, and then trained as an engineer. In the 1820s he served in the Brazilian navy, rising to the rank of captain, and engaging in the maritime trade in South America. He first arrived in San Francisco, then known as Yerba Buena, in 1837, when only two homes stood in the village - those of Jacob Leese and William Richardson. It was at this time that Vioget made a watercolor of the Bay, which hung in the cabin of his ship for the next two years. He returned to Yerba Buena in 1839 and rented the home of William Leese. The alcalde of the small town, Francisco de Haro, hearing that Vioget was a trained engineer, hired him to produce the first survey of the village. Vioget's plan covers the area that is now San Francisco's Financial District and featured a grid made of trapezoidal blocks. In January 1840, Vioget received a grant of land and built a hotel, Vioget House, which also had a saloon and billiard parlor. Vioget became a leading saloon-keeper and merchant in the city, and also continued to offer his services as a surveyor. It was at this time that Vioget first went to work for Sutter, surveying his Sacramento-area land grants in 1841 and 1843. Vioget spent his last years in San Jose, where he is buried. Included in the group of twenty-two documents regarding Vioget are manuscript letters and printed forms completed in manuscript, documenting his career from the 1820s to the 1850s. The earliest item is a printed Swiss "Certificate of Origin," completed in manuscript, stating that in 1828, Vioget was twenty-nine years old and the son of Jean Pierre Vioget. Another printed form, completed in manuscript, is Vioget's Brazilian passport, dated 1829, and contains several signatures, ink customs stamps, and accompanying notes. There are also two of Vioget's Swiss passports, dated 1831 and 1833, both signed by Vioget and executed at the Swiss consulate at Toscane. Several other manuscript letters and documents from the 1830s, some of them signed by Vioget, give instructions to Vioget regarding his service in the Brazilian navy, while other documents relate to maritime affairs involving Ecuador and Peru. A two-page manuscript letter, dated Oct. 1, 1843, from Padre Muro of San Jose, relates the Padre's sending mission Indians to Yerba Buena for fifteen days to help build Vioget's house, and also sends instructions on how Vioget should pay for their labor. A six- page manuscript letter to Vioget is dated June 20, 1844 and gives him extensive instructions regarding the bark, Clarita, and its voyage to Mazatlan. A letter dated Aug. 20, 1860 is written on a blank sheet attached to a printed description of the "French College" at the corner of Jackson and Mason streets in San Francisco. The letter is written by a Mr. Mibielle, the head of the school, to Vioget's widow, Maria. The printed document gives an interesting description of the school's plan of study. Finally, there are three manuscript pages describing the business accounts of Maria Vioget from 1858 to 1862. A great collection of Sutter letters, telling us much about the business, struggles, and character of a crucially important figure in California history, wonderfully supplemented by an archive of material illuminating the life history of another California pioneer, Jean Jacques Vioget. SIX FRENCH LETTERS: CAPTAIN JOHN AUGUSTUS SUTTER TO JEAN JACQUES VIOGET 1842-1843 (Sacramento: The Nugget Press, 1942). Sutter: ANB 21, pp.169-70. DAB XVIII, pp.224-25. Vioget: Hart, COMPANION TO CALIFORNIA. Less

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(Edinburgh, 1839-41). Elephant-folio. In the two original half-calf-folders with green leather-spines and pattern-stamped cloth boards; gilt title... More

(Edinburgh, 1839-41). Elephant-folio. In the two original half-calf-folders with green leather-spines and pattern-stamped cloth boards; gilt title and author to front boards. Remains of the original green cloth-ties. Some wear to spines, especially at capitals. 12 Less

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