Dec 08, 2015 - Sale 2401

Sale 2401 - Lot 79

Price Realized: $ 52,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 60,000 - $ 90,000
(LEWIS, MERIWETHER; and CLARK, WILLIAM.) History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Large engraved folding map ("A Map of Lewis and Clark's Track..."), 5 further maps in text. xxviii, 470; ix, 522 pages [i.e., complete]. Two volumes. 8vo, attractive contemporary full calf with red leather spine labels, small loss to head of backstrip of volume one; folding map possibly supplied with very sparing expert reinstatement along mounting edge, repair to gutter of first two leaves in volume one, some dampstaining and scattered soiling, very few leaves with small edge nicks, ink stain at bottom edge of volume two. Altogether a handsome copy. Philadelphia: Published by Bradford & Inskeep; and Abm. H. Inskeep, New York, J. Maxwell, Printer., 1814

Additional Details

FIRST EDITION. The most important of American exploration narratives and the first authentic account of the efforts of the Corps of Discovery. Edited by Nicholas Biddle and subsequently Paul Allen, from the journals of the late Meriwether Lewis and other sources, it is prefaced by a long biographical sketch of Captain Lewis by Thomas Jefferson.

The narrative and its cornerstone map were of utmost importance in establishing the young nation's understanding of itself. "Henceforth the mind could focus on reality... It was the first report on the West, on the United States over the hill and beyond the sunset, on the province of the American future... It satisfied desire and it created desire: the desire of the westering nation." -- DeVoto,
The Journals of Lewis and Clark.

Provenance: inscription on front free end-paper: "John Bird's Book February 24th A.D. 1819 And of the Commonwealth the forty-second." and his signatures on titles; ink ownership stamp on front pastedown: "Clifton Matheny / Monterey, VA."

Cohen 7; Graff 2477; Grolier Hundred 30; Howes L317 ("c"); Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 5a.1; Sabin 40828; Streeter sale III:1777; Wagner-Camp 13:1; Wheat 316.