(History; Americana; First editions; fine bindings). ANTOINE TOURON (1686-1775) Histoire générale de l’Amérique depuis sa découverte; qui comprend l’Histoire Naturelle, Ecclésiastique, Militaire, Morale & Civile des contrées de cette grande partie du Monde. Par le R. P. Touron, de l’ordre des Freres Prêcheurs.Tome premier - Quatorziéme A Paris, chez Jean-Thomas Hérissant, fils (vols. I-VIII), chez Herissant fils & Delalain (vols. IX-XIV), 1768-1770 § 14 volumes, 12mo (170x100). I- half-title, title, cij, (pp. coij-cxiij bound at the beginning of vol. VII), 414 pp. ([no sign.]1-2, a-d1-12, e1-3, A-R1-12, S1-3) e3 and S4 missing, both blank. II- half-title, title, 410, [2] pp. (last leaf blank) ([no sign.]1-2, A-R1-12, S1-2, S2 blank). III- half-title, title, 471, [1] pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-T1-12, V1-8). IV- half-title, title, 376 pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-P1-12, Q1-8). V- half-title, title, 320 pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-N1-12, O1-4). VI- half-title, title, 375, [1] pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-P1-12, Q1-8). VII- half-title, title, pp. ciij-cxiij (pages belonging to vol. I), 413, [3] pp. (last leaf blank) ([no sign.]1-2, f1-8, A-R1-12, S1-4) (S4 blank). VIII- half-title, title, 276, [6] pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-L1-12, M1-9, missing M10, blank). IX- half-title, title, 482, [2] pp. (last leaf blank) ([no sign.]1-2, A-V1-12, X1-2, X2 blank). X- half-title, title, 460 pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-T1-12, V1-2. XI- half-title, title, 454, [2] pp. (last leaf blank) ([no sign.]1-2, A-T1-12) (T12 blank). XII- half-title, title, 632 pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-Z1-12, Aa-Cc1-12, Dd1-4. XIII- half-title, title, 498, [2] pp. (last leaf blank) ([no sign.]1-2, A-V1-12, X1-10, X10 blank). XIV- half-title, title, 560 pp. ([no sign.]1-2, A-Z1-12, Aa1-4. Small woodcut on title pages, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. Ownership stamp on all half-titles: Albrizzi Vincenzo Verona. Occasional foxing, few pages slighlt/very slightly browned, restored marginal tear on leaves L5 and K6 of vol. VIII. A very nice set. Late XVIII century brown full calf binding, wonderfully preserved. Covers framed with double gilded fillet with MAC monogram at the centre, surmounted by a royal crown. Spine with five nerves and six compartments, each one delimitated by a double fillet with angular fleurons in the shape of a frame at the centre of which can be seen a flower with stem and leaves (I, IV, V and VI), being everything gilt-stamped. II and III compartments with title (on red morocco leather) and tomaison (on green morocco leather). PROVENANCE: Taking into account some elements, such as the royal crown, the composition of the initials in imitation of the Marian monogram, widespread especially in France between the XVII and XVIII centuries, the relatively recent font used for the stampings on the spine of the volumes, can be advanced, with a certain assuredness the hypothesis that this copy once belonged to Marie Adélaïde Clotilde Xavière (1759 - 1802), elder daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729 - 1765) and granddaughter of Louis XV (1710 - 1774), wife to Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia (1751 - 1819) and Queen of Sardinia from 1796 to 1802. Keeping in mind the date of her accession to the throne and comparing it with some details of the binding (the fillet of the frames is not always precise, the royal crown stylized at times and the choice of a material like the calf leather, substituting the usual and much more expensive red morocco leather, typical of royal bindings), this copy might be identified not with the creation of a French atelier, but with an ex dono, manufactured somewhere in Italy in the last years of the XVIII century. The work, here in first edition, by the biographer, hagiographer and historian Antoine Touron, a member of the Dominican Order, is one of a kind, since it is not so much a story of the discovery of America as an accurate and detailed account of the arrival of Christianity in the New World and its progressive evangelization. Originally designed in four parts (as clarified in the Avertissement at the beginning of volume VII), divided by geographical areas (Saint Domingue, Mexique, Nouvelle Espagne and Empire du Pérou), the work should have ended with volume VIII. However, the distribution of the topics was changed during the press and between 1769 and 1770 volumes IX-XIV were published (which is why there is a second issue of the work released between 1769 and 1770). The first three parts concern the subjects declared in the Avertissement, while the fourth concerns the reception and diffusion of Christianity among the native populations of America, the fifth section is on the Inca Empire and the sixth and last on the New Kingdom of Granada. This Histoire, besides representing an apology of Christendom in the New World, is an irreplaceable source for the reconstruction of some particular dynamics, such as the creation of new colonial territories and the dissemination of the Gospel in South America between XVI and XVIII centuries thanks to the work of the Missionaries. Further evidence to support the attribution of this copy is the great religious fervor that distinguished the royal couple - who embraced the Rule of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in 1794 - and Clotilde in particular, who shortly after her death was acclaimed as Angelo tutelare del Piemonte (Guardian Angel of Piedmont), in 1808 was declared Venerable and beatified in 1982 by Pope John Paul II (1978 - 2005).