Breve Relatione D'Alcune Missioni De' PP. della Compagnia di Giesu nella Nuova Francia

Macerata: the Heirs of Agostino Grisei, 1653., 1653. small 4to. pp. 2 p.l., 127 [ie. 129], [1]. [extra leaf inserted at end of quire B]. A nice copy in modern limp vellum (lightly washed, some minor inconsequential marginal worming - partly filled in). First Edition of this important source on the Huron missions in Ontario. An Italian Jesuit missionary, Bressani came to Canada in 1642 and worked for two years among the Indians at Quebec and Trois-Rivières. In 1644, he requested and was granted permission to proceed to the far-distant Huron Missions on Georgian Bay. En route, he and his companions were attacked and imprisoned by a band of Iroquois, who cruelly tortured and mutilated Bressani, leaving him with only one whole finger on his right hand. Eventually he was sold by his captors to the Dutch, who assisted him in returning to France. Undaunted, Bressani returned to New France in 1645, participated in a peace conference with the Iroquois at Trois-Rivières, and set out again for the land of the Hurons. There he remained until the annihilation of the missions by the Iroquois in 1649; the following yeaar he was recalled to Europe. Bressani's relation was written to stimulate Italian interest in the Canadian missions, as the official Jesuit relations, issued under French provincial authority, were not well known there. It is largely devoted to the Huron Missions, particularly the final years during the Iroquois war of extermination, and includes accounts of the deaths of the Jesuit martyrs, Daniel, Brébeuf, Lalemant, Chabanel and Garnier. "Modesty and a delightful simplicity characterize the narrative, and especially the history of the captivity and sufferings of its author. He ends with the time of his departure from Canada, doubtless in order to give his work the powerful authority of personal testimony as eye-witness of almost all the things which he relates." (F.Martin, in the introduction to the French translation, published Montreal: 1852). Bell B407. Church III 524. JCB II p. 428. Lande 57. McCoy 82. Paltsists 39:290. Sabin 7734. TPL 44. Vlach 123. See Dionne II 139 (citing incorrect title). cfGagnon I 565. DCB I pp. 128-29. Story p. 95. Winsor IV p. 305.. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good.