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Antoine BIET

Voyage de la France equinoxiale en l'isle de Cayenne, entrepris par les François en l'année MDCLII

Chez François Clouzier, à Paris 1664, in-4 (17x24cm), (24) 432pp., relié.

BIET Antoine
Voyage de la France equinoxiale en l'isle de Cayenne, entrepris par les François en l'année MDCLII
Chez François Clouzier, Paris 1664, in-4 (17 x 24 cm), (24) 432 pp.,contemporary calf
First edition.
Contemporary brown calf, spine in six compartments with blind-ruled compartments and gilt fleurons, remains of a manuscript title label. All edges speckled red, binding skillfully restored. Tear to lower margin of title skillfully restored, a few tiny stains.
The work is divided into three parts: the first relates the establishment of the colony and its journey to Cayenne, the second is a collection of observations on the 15 months spent there by the author and the last is concerned with the country's climate, the fertility of the soil, and the customs and dress of the indigenous peoples. A last part is made up of a Franco-Amerindian dictionary, which is the very first appearance of a lexicon of the Galibi language. Some chapters also refer to Guadeloupe, Barbados and Martinique.    
Chaplain to the 700 colonists of the expedition sent to Guyana on the 18th May 1652, Antoine Biet gives a precise account of the second attempt at colonization. The attempt failed, and the hundred surviving colonists were forced to flee Cayenne for Surinam in January 1654 (and from there to Barbados), having suffered tropical illness and fierce resistance from the Galibi Indians.  According to Boucher de La Richarderie, “no account other than Biet's sheds so much light on the natives of Guyana; he describes them in all their primitive simplicity.” (Bibliothèque universelle des voyages, 1808).
Manuscript ex-libris on front endpaper: “Ce livre appartient à Mr. Adam de Saron [This book belongs to Mr Adam de Saron].”

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