First edition, “has been called the most noted of all books relating to California” (Hill), issue with "pro-" at end of index and "Mar Pacifico" on the map; indeed this is a first-hand, early and comprehensive account of the two missionaries experiences, work and life in Upper California, to-date an important source for our knowledge of California. In that sense, Sabin briefly explains “Fathers Serra and Palou were among the earliest of the Catholic missionaries sent to California; they established the first missions in that country which had so great an influence upon the natives, and brought most of the tribes under their control. The letters from Father Serra to Father Palou, which chiefly make up the volume, give not only an account of the founding of the missions but interesting details of the various Indian tribes, their manners and customs, together with descriptions of the country” (Sabin).
The illustration is composed of an engraved portrait of Serra, and an important engraved folding map of California “California antigua y nueva”, by Diego Froncoso, it includes a dotted line representing the mission trail from the Baja Peninsula to San Francisco. Fathers Serra and Palou, both from Mallorca, were among the earliest of the Catholic missionaries sent to California, and this is the best and most reliable source on Serra’s life, written by his lifelong friend Palou; they arrived in 1740 and worked to establish the first missions there. The volume is chiefly composed from letters sent to Father Palou by Father Serra and provide not solely an account of the founding of the missions but interesting details of the various Indian tribes, their manners and customs, together with descriptions of the country. The map was published in Mexico “to illustrate Father Francisco Palou's celebrated life... This map shows only the California coast and peninsula, with nothing eastward of the mouths of the Colorado and Gila rivers, but while its main purpose was to trace the travels of Father Serra during his years of service along the western coast, it is of interest here because it seems to be the first on which a boundary line was drawn between Lower and Upper California... As will be later noted, the line thus shown was not the boundary eventually established, even at its western end” (Wheat).
Provenance: Libreria de Colegio de nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas (branded on top page edges, inscription, call numbers in early ink to spine); J.F. Ramirez (stamp on title); Alfredo Chavero (stamp on title); Bonhams, sold at auction.
Cowan II p 472; Graff 3179; Wagner Spanish Southwest 168; Howes P56; Wheat Mapping the Transmississippi West pp. 128-129 and 208; Sabin 58392, Streeter sale 2450; Zamorano, 80 59; Palau, 210789.
