- Amsterdam : Meridian Publishing Company 1977
- 8vo.
- stiff paper wrappers
- 65 pages
- Order Nr. 104634
- Price: $ 25.00

First authorized edition, enlarged. (Sabin 12227; Howes C324; Monaghan 1533). Text in French. Chastellux (1734-88) was a French officer who served in the French forces in the United States under the command of Rochambeau, a liason officer between Rochambeau and Gen. George Washington. After the war, he wrote an account of his war service and travels in the new American republic upon the conclusion of hostilities. Volume One describes travels in New England and the mid-Atlantic; Volume Two in Virginia, from the Chesapeake Bay to Natural Bridge. He also describes meetings with Washington and Jefferson. Title page of Volume One inscribed by Ezra Stiles, Congregational minister and president of Yale. Foldout maps in each volume showing Chastellux's travels. Three foldout engravings of Natural Bridge in Virginia at end of Volume Two. Boards scuffed at corners and at spine. Front hinge of Volume One cracked.
Chastellux and Ezra Stiles were well acquainted. The two men dined together on October 9, 1780 "in a splendid manner on 35 Dishes." On October 18, 1780, Stiles wrote Chastellux explaining a new type of mill wheel, of which he drew a diagram. On November 3 of the same year, Stiles recommended Chastellux for membership in the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences. According to his diary, Stiles received the first edition of Voyages during the winter of 1786-7. Stiles received the second edition from Chastellux on May 7, 1787 accompanied by a letter. Stiles noted Chastellux's death in his diary entry dated February 27, 1789. (Ezra Stiles papers, microfilm at the Morris Library, University of Delaware, Letters, Reel 4) and The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, D.D., LL.D. 3 Volumes (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901), Vol. II, 473-9; Vol. III, 262, 345, Copies of letter and published diary entries laid in.