Father Cuoq (1821–98) was an extremely accomplished linguist as evidenced by his becoming fluent in both Algonquin and Iroquois; Field (Indian Bibliography, p. 93) writes glowingly of his mastery of these languages. His life as a missionary of the Order of Sulpitians, notably among the Nipissing at Lake of Two Mountains, certainly aided in his scholarly achievement.

•  Pilling, Algonquian, 100-101; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 952; Field 391; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Algonkin-14; Sabin 17980. Not in Banks; not in Evans, Masinanhikan. Original printed green wrappers, spine reinforced some time ago, edges chipped. Half-title with pencilled annotations. First text page rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages otherwise clean.

•  Shoemaker 15382. Contemporary speckled sheep, worn and abraded, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label. Front pastedown with early numerical inscription. Outer margins of last few leaves waterstained; some pages with mild cockling or light spotting, others with varying degrees of age-toning. (6030)

•  Matthew: Darlow & Moule 6788. John: Darlow & Moule 6789. Both: Pilling, Algonquian, 420; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 296.   Contemporary pebbled brown cloth, front cover detached, spine sunned. Pages age-toned. First two leaves of John each with short tear from upper margin, not touching text.  (26209)

Binding:  Publisher's gray-green cloth, front cover and spine stamped with “silver” (aluminum) waves and gilt title (unsigned). Top edges gilt. This is binding state B according to BAL, with the back cover unstamped.

•  BAL 2961; Wright, III, 952.   Binding as above, minor rubbing to corners and spine extremities. Front free endpaper with inked gift inscription dated 1957 and with pencilled inscription from Mackinac Island dated 1899. A clean, attractive copy.  (28871)

This is the first edition of the issue/state of the texts in two volumes.

The highly developed system of characters used in these books was invented by Fr. Chrestien Le Clercq (b. 1641) and was used beginning in the late 17th century by the Micmac for both religious and nonreligious texts, written on birch bark. In this production, the Micmac characters are printed on blue-green paper.

Provenance: Owned by H.W. Longfellow with “Micmac Language” in his hand on the recto of the frontispiece of the Gesangbuch and “Micmac Language New Brunswick” in his hand on the recto of the frontispiece of the other volume.

•  Pilling, Algonquian, 275; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2058 & 2059. The set not Evans, Masinahikan; not in Banks (rev. ed.), Books in Native Languages; not in Newberry Library, Ayer Indians.   Each volume bound in black oilcloth wallet-style with a natural cloth tie; some adhesion of old paper to the exteriors of the bindings. Internally very attractive clean, and with awonderful provenance.  (29261)

•  Sabin 80996; Pilling, Algonquian, 462; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 3601a. Not in Banks; not in Evans. Original buckram, showing minor water damage; upper page margins waterstained, obviously to very lightly. Title-page with library stamps and some rough old pen-markings; first two leaves a bit torn at binding.

•  Very good condition with a good+ dust jacket (small tears, price clipped from front flap).

Click the images for enlargements.

Several bibliographies, including Pilling's Proof-sheets and Ayer, treat this as two distinct works. Indeed, the dictionary and the grammar do each have their own distinct title-pages, pagination, and signature markings. They were issued together, however, though sometimes separated for sale. The publisher’s original paper wrappers are bound into this volume.

•  Pilling, Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages, 283; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Cree-93 & Cree-9; Pilling, Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, 2155 & 2156. Not in Vancil, Cordell Collection. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Wrappers (bound in) dust-soiled and with edge chips; front wrapper partially adhered to half-title and back wrapper with Grammaire half-title affixed. Map partially adhered to an additional half-title. Page edges untrimmed; pages very slightly age-toned, else clean. Pagination jumps from 708 to 711 in pt. 1, but as the word listing goes from sagamité to sagamo it seems certain that the text is complete.

•  Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Cree-95; Pilling, Algonquian, 283; Pilling, Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, 2156; Banks 36. Not in Vancil, Cordell Collection. Modern maroon cloth with black spine and corners. Very good copy.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Ida M. Hardy, dated 1867. The book itself, alas, provides no indication whether Ms. Hardy was a traveller of the actual or armchair sort.

•  Sabin 57368. Not in Phillips, List of Maps of America.   Publisher's brown cloth of Krupp's style Lea8, covers blind-stamped, front cover with gilt-stamped title; a little sunned with corners bumped and binding slightly cocked. Front pastedown with inscription as above, front free endpaper with mostly erased pencilled inscription. Mild smudging to some page edges; a few leaves with light waterstaining to lower outer portions. One leaf torn, repaired some time ago with cellophane tape, touching but not obscuring five words; map with short tear from lower edge, upper edge a bit crumpled. A solid copy, with map and all plates.  (26666)

The Journal was first published in London in 1826 and shortly followed by this first American edition. It includes a fold-out map showing Parry's route, in this case bound in upside down!

Provenance:  Signature of “B. Rush McConnell, 1827.”

•  Shoemaker 25670; Sabin 58867. On Parry, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XLIII, 392–93.   Quarter cloth over paper with paper spine label, antique style. Map a bit tattered on the edges, affecting ruled border, and with closed tears repaired from rear; paper overall a bit brittle at gutter, and first leaves wanting to separate from binding. Lightly cockled with bumped corners; foxing and old damp-staining. A leaf of advertisements has been bound in at front. Ownership inscription on title-page.  (4580)

No copy traced via OCLC.

•  Not in Banks. Not in Evans.   One leaf, folded. First page with half-inch long tear and another smaller tear at upper left corner, not touching text. Near fine.  (14758)

ten oversized, folding maps

•  Sabin 81135; Howes S461; American Imprints 44-5635.   Publisher's plain paper–covered boards, recently rebacked with olive green cloth, spine with new antiqued printed paper label; paper rubbed and stained. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page and sectional title, no other markings. All leaves affected by an unusual sort of very light and remarkably even waterstaining that left the upper outer corners (only) untouched and even bright, with a variously wavy line of light to moderate brown marking the “border”; otherwise a few other pages with other soiling or staining; one page with smudge of green ink, touching but not obscuring text; one leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text; and a bit of cockling. An excellent example of a good book that has suffered accidents but also is “better than it sounds.”  (29420)

The two volumes are illustrated with six steel-engraved portraits, an oversized representation of the “Talk with the Indians at Buffalo Creek in 1793,” and an oversized, folding map.

Brant had famously translated the Book of Common Prayer into Mohawk; in 1784, he led his tribe into Canada to live by the Grand River north of Lake Erie.

•  American Imprints 53125; Howes S1040; Sabin 92139.   Olive-brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spines with gilt-stamped title; vol. II in publisher's original binding and vol. I in recent reproduction of same (vol. I shorter than vol. II; vol. II with extremities rubbed, back cover discolored, back joint repaired and front joint starting). Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, rubber-stamp on each engraved title-page, pressure-stamp on each printed title-page, no other markings. Vol. I: Several early and a few subsequent pages with faint spotting; ten leaves with inner margins waterstained and subsequently slightly fragile, one with resulting tear extending into text without loss. Vol. II: some early outer margins waterstained. Folding plate with short tear from inner margin, touching image without loss. A more than serviceable copy of an essential work of American history, priced to reflect its previous service.  (29415)

•  TPL 5826.   Publisher's printed paper–covered boards, outer corners chipped and a lighter spot to front cover where there once was an old label of some sort affecting one word of type (“Price”); old, light waterstaining (with a darker edge) and some soiling to same cover, with evidence of the onetime moisture visible also to back cover and intermittently in the interior (especially to early leaves). Fragile. (25512)