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Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820 ... under the command of Maj. S.H. Long, of the U.S. Top. Engineers. Compiled from the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the party, by Edwin Thomas, botanist and geologist to the expedition

Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820 ... under the command of Maj. S.H. Long, of the U.S. Top. Engineers. Compiled from the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the party, by Edwin Thomas, botanist and geologist to the expedition

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Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820 ... under the command of Maj. S.H. Long, of the U.S. Top. Engineers. Compiled from the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the party, by Edwin Thomas, botanist and geologist to the expedition

by JAMES, Edwin (1797-1861)

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About This Item

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1823. 3 volumes, octavo. (8 3/4 x 5 5/8 inches). vii, [1], 344; vii, [1], 356; vii, [1], 347pp. Folding engraved map, folding engraved plate with geological profiles, and eight other plates (two handcolored plates and six aquatint plates, by I. Clark after S. Seymour. Half titles in second and third volumes. Uncut. Publisher's paper-backed boards, expertly rebacked to style. Housed in a morocco backed box.

Provenance: Richard M. Brown (bookplate)

The first London edition of this cornerstone of Western Americana.

Originally named the "Yellowstone Expedition," the U.S. government expedition under Major Stephen Long was the most ambitious exploration of the trans-Mississippi West following those of Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike. The expedition travelled up the Missouri and then followed the River Platte to its source in the Rocky Mountains before moving south to Upper Arkansas. From there the plan was to find the source of the Red River, but when this was missed the Canadian River was explored instead. Edwin James was the botanist, geologist, and surgeon for the expedition and "based his compilation upon his own records, the brief geological notes of Major Long, and the early journals of Thomas Say [who served as the expedition's zoologist]" (Wagner-Camp). Significantly, Long's expedition was the first official US expedition to be accompanied by artists (namely Titian Peale and Samuel Seymour), and the illustrations are an important early visual record of the region. Cartographically, Long provided the first details of the Central Plains. Upon returning to Washington from the expedition, Long drafted a large manuscript map of the West (now in the National Archives) and the printed map in James's Account closely follows his original. The myth of the Great American Desert was founded by Long: a myth which endured for decades. Long's map, along with that of Lewis and Clark, "were the progenitors of an entire class of maps of the American Transmississippi West" (Wheat). The American first edition was published in three volumes in Philadelphia in 1822-1823; this London edition followed. The London edition differs in some respects from the American: additional paragraphs of text were added, the plates were re-engraved and the two maps found in the American edition were here combined into one. James's Account deservedly ranks alongside the narratives of Lewis and Clark and Pike as the most important early exploratory narratives of the American west.

Abbey Travel II.650; Field 948; Howes J41, "b"; Sabin 35683; Wagner-Camp 25:2; Wheat Transmississippi 353.

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Details

Bookseller
Donald Heald Rare Books US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
38569
Title
Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820 ... under the command of Maj. S.H. Long, of the U.S. Top. Engineers. Compiled from the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the party, by Edwin Thomas, botanist and geologist to the expedition
Author
JAMES, Edwin (1797-1861)
Format/Binding
3 volumes, octavo
Book Condition
Used
Quantity Available
1
Publisher
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
1823
Note
May be a multi-volume set and require additional postage.

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About the Seller

Donald Heald Rare Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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New York, New York

About Donald Heald Rare Books

Donald Heald Rare Books, Prints, and Maps offers the finest examples of antiquarian books and prints in the areas of botany, ornithology, natural history, Americana and Canadiana, Native American, voyage and travel, maps and atlases, photography, and more. We are open by appointment only.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Rebacked
having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Morocco
Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
Octavo
Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
Plate
Full page illustration or photograph. Plates are printed separately from the text of the book, and bound in at production. I.e.,...
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