May 29 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2706 -
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Sale 2706 - Lot 269

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
(RIVER NAVIGATION.) Zadock Cramer. The Navigator: Containing Directions for Navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; with an Ample Account of These Much Admired Waters, from the Head of the Former to the Mouth of the Latter; and a Concise Description of Their Towns, Villages, Harbours, Settlements, &c. With Accurate maps of the Ohio and Mississippi. To Which is Added, an Appendix, Containing an Account of Louisiana, and of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, as Discovered by the Voyage Under Captains Lewis and Clarke. Seventh Edition Improved and Enlarged. 294, [1] pages including 28 full-page wood cut maps of river sections. 8vo, 7x4¼ inches, contemporary sheep-backed marbled paper boards, well-worn but sound; ink ownership inscription to the title-page: "Jo. Gratz March 1, 1812" and his annotations throughout. Pittsburgh: Cramer, Spear & Eichbaum, 1811
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Additional Details

"Most widely used guide to western waters in the early period" -- Howes C855.

Owned and annotated by one of those early users, high-society Philadelphia family member Joseph Gratz, logging details of his travels in 1812. Gratz narrates the progress of his river journey with dates and quips added to most of the maps, mainly relating to severe weather and navigation hardships, but of particular interest are the remarkable contemporary recordings bearing witness to the widespread destruction at New Madrid resulting from a series of powerful 7.4-8.0 earthquakes and aftershocks which impacted Missouri's southeastern bootheel only a matter of months prior to the group's arrival - "this is a most dangerous place, & requires great caution not to be lashed to pieces against the snags & sawyers with which the river abounds at this place."

Gratz's journey began at the head of the Ohio River on March 17th, 1812, reached the junction of the Mississippi on April 15th, and his final entry appears on May 2nd with their arrival at New Orleans.

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