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French Journal of Texas Missionary c. 1872 RARE

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:250.00 - 650.00 USD
French Journal of Texas Missionary c. 1872 RARE
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Up for your consideration is this very rare early French book, "Journal D'un Missionaire Au Texas Et Au Mexique", by Emmanuel Domenech (1825-1886). The Deuxieme Edition is an important book by a Catholic missionary describing early Texas and is dated circa 1872. This Deuxieme Edition book was published in Paris in 1872 and did not include the foldout map the 1st Edition had. The only two copies that could be found online were a 1st Edition copy for $750 and an author's proof with Domenech's notes and corrections that sold at auction last year for $6,500. This very well kept 2nd Edition features a red leather cover with gilt lettering and decoration on spine. The red cover shows some light scuffing and general signs of age; the front hinge has been repaired and the pages show foxing throughout. The book shows good condition otherwise; it measures 4 3/4" W x 7 1/8" T. According to the "Handbook of Texas" online, “A Catholic priest, Domenech was born at or near Lyons, France, on November 6, 1825, to Gabriel and Jeanne (Fournier) Domenech. The elder Domenech was a bottle-top manufacturer. Emmanuel was recruited as a missionary by Bishop Jean Marie Odin and traveled to America in 1846 with Claude M. Dubuis and his companions. Upon finishing his theological studies at the seminary of the Barrens in St. Louis, he was ordained in San Antonio on October 1, 1848; he may have been the first priest to be ordained in Texas. Although he worked in New Braunfels and Brownsville and traveled to surrounding communities, he was officially stationed first at Castroville, then at Eagle Pass. In 1852, because of his distaste for the hardships of missionary life and continuing poor health, he returned to France, where he served as a priest and began a supplementary career as a travel writer and amateur ethnologist. His "Journal d'un missionaire au Texas et au Mexique," published in Paris in 1857, was translated into English in 1858 as "Missionary Adventures in Texas and Mexico." 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." He published many repetitious, exaggerated, and self-glorifying accounts of his experiences and travels, but his colorfully detailed narrative of the establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in Texas, amid the tensions of boundary disputes with Mexico and the devastation of an epidemic of cholera, has no counterpart. He died of apoplexy and was buried at Lyons, France, on September 9, 1903 with military honors."(Ann Lozano "The Handbook of Texas" online).