The Codex Canadensis And The Writings Of Louis Nicolas. The Natural History of The New World Histoire Naturelle Des Indes Occidentales

The Codex Canadensis And The Writings Of Louis Nicolas. The Natural History of The New World Histoire Naturelle Des Indes Occidentales

This illustrated scholarly volume brings together the Codex Canadensis and the natural history writings attributed to Louis Nicolas, a seventeenth-century French Jesuit who travelled extensively in New France between 1664 and 1675. Edited and introduced by François-Marc Gagnon, the book argues for common authorship of the two works and situates them within the early European effort to record the flora, fauna, and Indigenous peoples of North America. The Codex Canadensis is reproduced in full and presents a visual record of wildlife and human figures as observed by Nicolas, while the accompanying text, Histoire naturelle des Indes occidentales, offers a pre-Linnaean and pre-Darwinian account of plants and animals. The natural history text appears in modern French, with an English translation, and is extensively annotated with contemporary species identification and contextual commentary.

Notes adapted from the publisher's information.