Histoire Naturelle des Indes
121 of 122
Accession number: MA 3900
Credit: The Morgan Library & Museum. Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983.
Title: Histoire Naturelle des Indes [supplied on an 18th century title page]
Contents: 199 images of West Indian plants, animals and human life, with accompanying manuscript captions written in late sixteenth-century French.
Medium: Most of the illustrations consist of a black chalk underdrawing and a combination of pen and brown ink with watercolor; on some images selected areas have also been glazed with a gum.
Dimensions: Binding: 30 x 21 cm; individual leaves: 29.3 x 19.7 cm.
Binding: Bound or rebound in brown leather in the late 18th century.
Pagination: Penciled folio numbers (1–125) in lower right corner of each page were added by The Morgan Library & Museum. Folios 92v–93, 93v–94, and 95v–96 are fold-out leaves.
Histoire Naturelle des Indes
Come Lindien Aiant Faict Fin De Son Trauail Po[Ur] Satifaire Et Contenter Sa Bien Aimee Se Joignent Ensemble En Mariage Appres Las Remonstra[Nce] Faicte Par Le Pere Dela Fille Comme Orres Cy Appres (How the Indian, After Finishing His Work of Satisfying and Pleasing His Fiancée, Gets Married After a Demonstration Made By the Father of the Bride as You Will Hear Hereafter)
The Indian, having worked as much as possible to give pleasure to his fiancée, dresses himself as magnificently as he can and returns to the house of the father of the bride and points out to him the hard work he is capable of and the good will he has to nourish them well. Seeing this, the father demonstrates to the daughter in his presence, telling her, "You need this young man. He will feed you well. You see that he brings a lot of good things for us to eat; he works hard at fishing as well as at catching wild animals; he plants, gathers fruit and firewood, in short, everything needed to feed the whole house." After having made this demonstration, the father points out similarly to the young man how well his daughter works at baking bread and dressing meat which she will cook in the cask, also called pot. After all these demonstrations have been made, they are joined in marriage in the house of the father. When they are married, father and mother no longer want to work and customarily their children feed them. There is only one tribe in each village and they do not permit others, not from their tribe, to live in this village. They choose the oldest one whom they call
Histoire Naturelle des Indes
Illustrated manuscript, ca. 1586
Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983; MA 3900 (fol. 123v–124)
