?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(TRAVEL.) Luke, L.D. A Journal of Travels in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and . . . that Far-Off Region of Alaska. Frontispiece portrait. 174 pages. 12mo, original printed wrappers, minor wear and soiling; a bit of dampstaining in corner of portrait, minimal wear to contents. Utica, NY: L.C. Childs & Son, 1891
The book concludes with a trip to Alaska, "where eternal winter reigns, giving an explicit description of that weird country." Luke was in North America from 27 May to 24 September 1887 (pages 137-174). He starts with a long trip across New York with stops at Kaaterskill Falls and Palmyra, where he explored Cumorah Hill and met John H. Gilbert, the typesetter of the Book of Mormon, who asserted that "Spaulding was the true author, yet the manuscript came to him in Chowdery's handwriting" (page 142-3). He continues through western Canada to Vancouver, thence to Sitka and other smaller Alaskan villages, and then eastward via Spokane, WA. Luke was an Englishman who billed himself as "the great American traveler" and published several volumes of his travels, all rather obscure, but perhaps none more obscure than this one. In addition to his American trip, this volume coves the Holy Land, Greece, and Wales. Not in Howes, Flake, TPL, or any other bibliography we could think to consult. 2 copies in OCLC and none traced at auction.
