Dobrizhoffer, Martin
First edition; extremely rare work on the equestrian tribe of Paraguay, source of Southey’s Take of Paraguay (1825), marvelously illustrated with folding maps of the region and plates illustrating the native population and fauna: praised by Sabin, Southey, Furlong and Mitre, still of interest to anthropologist and ethnographers. Dobrizhoffer (1717-1791) was an Austrian Priest and missionary, sent to South America in 1749 where he spent 18 years among the Guaranis and the Abipones (now an extinct tribe) following the expulsion of the Jesuits he returned to Vienna where he secured the protection of Maria Theresa and published his book.
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“Almost the only work relating to this almost unknown tribe of Indians, and is a memorial of a nearly 18 years of suffering and toil amongst a most savage race” (Sabin).
This was one of the books in Robert Southey’s remarkable collection of books in Spanish and Portuguese. He had hoped to write a history of Portugal but completed only his History of Brazil (1810–19). Writing to his friend John Rickman on 18 February 1809, he said of Dobrizhoffer’s book, “I have just spent the best part of three weeks in getting at it, & it is one of the best books I have met with.” At Southey’s suggestion, Sara Coleridge translated it into English in 1822.
The first volume is illustrated with a frontispiece, an engraved plate of fishes –including the palometa-, a folding plate of natives going hunting, and a folding map of the region “Mappa regionis Taruma & Mbaevera”; the second volume with a peculiar folding plate with medallion portraits of native women in different ages, a plate portraying a snake, and namely the large folding map of Paraguay, giving the location of the tribes, the hydrography of the region, etc.; the third volume with a double-page frontispiece depicting three natives fully armed, likely going to war, a folding plan “Colonia Abiponum a Rosario & S Carolo dicta a Barbaris Mocobiis, Tobis & Oaekakalotis Equitibus”, and a folding plate with a census of the tribe by regions.
“’De Abiponum lingua’, v. 2, chapter XVI is a discussion of the Abipon language, its grammar, and some short glossaries of vocabulary in Abipon and Latin on p. 161-182. ‘De aliis Abiponum linguae proprietatibus’, v. 2, chapter XVII is a discussion of the grammar and inflection of the Abipon language on p. 183-201. ‘Variarum Ameicae linguarum specimina’, v. 2, chapter XVIII is a discussion of various other languages, with some specimens, of the Americas from Mexico to Paraguay on p. 201-211; also includes references to the Guaraní language. ‘De Apibonum armis’, v. 2, chapter XXXVI includes a small section on indigenous names for weapons on p. 407-409” (John Carter Brown Library).
“The most complete, faithful, and interesting detail of the life, habits, and character of a savage tribe which was ever written” (Field, 431).
The complete work is extremely rare the last time a complete set –as here- of this first edition appeared in the market was 1980; incomplete copies often deprived of maps appeared only seldom.
Provenance: two small book tickets on the front pastedown of each volume, “Praed Prov. Franc Sigill.,”; the other “Olim Ex Bibl. Coll. Paris. S. J. Sanctae-Genovefae”, title pages with red stamp of the same school.
Palau, 74702. Leclerc (1878), 461. Borba de Moraes, 267. Medina, BHA 5070. Sabin, 20412.
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