[Rarebooks] fa: [ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, URUGUAY] Isabelle: VOYAGE A BUENOS-AYRES ET A PORTO-ALEGRE 1835

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, April 7. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/y2s4vvop

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Arsène Isabelle: Voyage a Buenos-Ayres et a Porto-Alègre, par la Banda-Oriental, les Missions d'Uruguay et la Province de Rio-Grande-do-Sul (de 1830 à 1834.) Suivi de considerations sur l'etat du Commerce Français a l'exterieur, et principalement au Bresil et au Rio-de-la-Plata. Le Havre: imprimerie de J. Morlent, 1835. FIRST EDITION. Tall 8vo (24.5 cm) in early/period morocco-backed marbled boards, marbled endpapers; [2], 618, [6] pp; with the terminal errata leaf and list of subscribers, 4 lithograph plates, large folding map (complete). Sabin, 35239; Borba de Moraes, I, 420.

Surprisingly rare work in which Isabelle, an unsuccessful merchant turned explorer, recounts his travels in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. The work is of particular importance for being one of the very few books of the time to describe Rio Grande do Sul. "Isabelle's book ... is full of interest, and valuable for its Brazilian section... This work is not easy to find today" (Borba de Moraes). The plates include a view of Buenos Aires as well as depictions of a gaucho and local costume.

Binding with some rubbing and edge-wear, front inner hinge cracked but secure; scattered foxing to the contents as always (but less than often found), some browning to the first few leaves and folding map, else generally quite clean and bright.