FOLDING MAP BASED ON DE CORDOVA
95. DOMENECH, E. Missionary Adventures in Texas
and Mexico, a Personal Narrative of Six Years
Sojourn.... London: Longman, et al., 1858. xvi,
336 [24] pp., large folding map: Map of Texas
Illustrating the Missions & Journeys of the Abbé
Em. Domenech. London: Longman & Co. 44 x 34.8 cm
(17-1/4 x 14 inches) with mission areas tinted in pink.
8vo, original embossed pebble cloth, gilt title on spine. A
very fine choice copy.
First
edition in English after the French printing published
in Paris the year before. Bradford 1350. Field 443. Graff
1120. Howes D408. Plains & Rockies III:356an.
Rader 1176. Raines, pp. 69-70. Tate, The Indians of
Texas: An Annotated Research Bibliography 2040:
"Describes the 1840 Council House Fight as a plot by the
Texans." The Handbook of Texas Online (Domenech):
"[Domenech] may have been the first priest to be ordained
in Texas....The book describes the trials of early Catholic
missionaries and is filled with vivid sketches of the Texas
frontier and anecdotes about its people. He found Houston
‘infested with Methodists and ants’ and dismissed
Austin, ‘the seat of the Texian legislature,’ as
‘a small dirty town’ with ‘only one wretched
hotel.’ His colorfully detailed narrative of the
establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in Texas, amid the
tensions of the boundary disputes with Mexico and the
devastation of an epidemic of cholera, has no counterpart."
See Horgan’s comments in The Great River (II,
p. 793). The excellent map, which is not listed by Wheat,
follows De Cordova’s conformation.
($300-500)