Justin Croft : Rare & Fine Antiquarian Books - Specialist in antiquarian books, especially in the field of literature, history, social sciences, religion, art and architecture, science and medicine

First edition, with the words "De l'imprimerie de Monsieur" preceding the imprint and with 130 pages. There are copies on papier velin (cf. the British Library copy, which lacks a half-title) and paper with vertical chain-lines, as in ours. A pirate edition of the same year has the same words preceding the imprint, but only 94 pages. Chaumière Indienne tells the story of a Englishman of the Royal Society seeking enlightenment through his travels to distant lands. "Born in Le Havre, [Bernardin de Saint-Pierre] took a delight even as a child in romantic day-dreaming, and after reading Robinson Crusoe set sail for Martinique at the age of 12." He later studied under the Jesuits, became a military engineer and something of nomad. "He became a geographer in Malta, a journalist in Holland, and engineer in Russia, in Warsaw and Vienna he lived by his wits; in Mauritius he appears to have lived as something of an opportunist. On his return to Paris he became a friend of J.-J. Rousseau, whose personality and philosophy were to have a profound influence on him" (New Oxford Companion to French Literature).