Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien

1773. [BAEGERT, JACOB]. Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien... Mannheim: Churfurstl, Hof-und Academie-Buchdruckerey, 1773. 2nd issue. 12mo. [16], 358pp. 2 engraved folding plates and 1 engraved folding map. Three-quarter tan morocco over contemporary paper-covered boards, rebacked and recornered in period-style leather, morocco spine label stamped in gilt.. One leather tab in margin marking the folding map; stain marking where a tab once was at the folding plates. Very good or better. Howes B-29; Hill, p. 12; Cowan, p. 27; Sabin 4363; Bell B5; Streeter Sale 2442; Barrett 129; Wagner, Spanish Southwest 157; Meadows, Baja California 1; Graff 137; Pilling, Proof Sheets 203. Second printing with some corrections, after the first printing of the previous year, of an early account of Lower California by the Jesuit Jacob Baegert. Baegert lived in Baja California from 1751 to 1768 and spent most of his time at the Mission of San Luis Gonzaga, leaving after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. He provides important details on the culture of the Native Americans of the region, including the Pericues, Guiacuras, and Cochiemes. Wagner states that the German Jesuits were especially dissatisfied toward the end of the Jesuit regime in California, and Baegert's bitterness is evident in his book: "...it was a land full of ferocious beasts and even more ferocious Indians, the soil was poor, the water undrinkable and there was no fuel to be had." The fine and important map was made by a fellow Jesuit, Ferdinand Consak, and is described by Streeter as "most helpful in giving the location of the many Jesuit missions in Lower California. It also shows the route along the west coast of Mexico followed by Baegert in going to California in 1751 and his route out in 1768, after the expulsion of the Jesuits." The two plates, apparently not issued with all copies, depict male and female Californian Native Americans. Rare. The National Union Catalogue locates only three copies of the second issue.