ACCOUNT OF AN EXPEDITION FROM PITTSBURGH TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1819 AND '20...UNDER THE COMMAND OF MAJOR STEPHEN H. LONG.
James, Edwin:
Philadelphia. 1823. Two text volumes. 503;[4],442,xcviii pp., lacking the atlas volume. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Spine ends rubbed. Foxing throughout, moderate age-toning, else a very good set. The Long expedition ranks in importance with those of Pike, and Lewis and Clark, and our experience would suggest that at this point it is harder to procure this work than the chronicles of either of the others. Long was appointed by the government to explore the Yellowstone, but attempts to ascend the Missouri in a steamboat were unsuccessful, and the expedition finally crossed the plains through present-day Kansas and Colorado to the foot of the Front Range. Although the party failed to reach the headwaters of the Yellowstone or the Red River, as intended, it did gather much valuable data. The report was written by Edwin James, botanist of the expedition. This set contains the appendix, entitled ASTRONOMICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL RECORDS, AND VOCABULARIES OF INDIAN LANGUAGES..., present with a separate titlepage dated Philadelphia, 1822. The appendix, which is present in this copy and to which Thomas Say contributed a section on Indian language, is frequently lacking. Because James, the author, was botanist of the expedition, there is a considerable amount of valuable botanical information. This set lacks the atlas volume; complete sets have become quite difficult to obtain. WAGNER-CAMP 25:1. GRAFF 2188. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 1958, 3493. HOWES J41. STREETER SALE 1783. TAXONOMIC LITERATURE 3275.
(Item ID: WRCAM39302) $1,250.00