
VOYAGES TRAVELS EXPLORATIONS
PLACES
A-C
D-H
I-L
M-R
S-Z
(Imaginary Travels are gathered under "IMAGINARY")
[
]
An American Unitarian in India & Beyond — Very Early Account of Travelling the Suez Canal
Dall, Charles Henry Appleton. From Calcutta to London by the Suez Canal. Calcutta: The “Englishman” Press, 1869. 12mo (16.2 cm, 6.35"). [6], 272, xxii pp.
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The Maryland-born, Harvard-educated Rev. Dall, who established several schools in Calcutta as part of his work with Hindu reformers, was for 30 years the sole Unitarian missionary to India. This volume focuses primarily on his travels rather than his religious and educational work: it collects the letters he wrote as “Roving Correspondent” to the Englishman. These observant, engagingly written accounts were “fresh from the localities indicated” (p. [v]) — including the Suez Canal, which Dall explored from end to end in 1868 and again in 1869, making this a very early account of that modern marvel, for the canal officially opened on November 17, 1869.
The letters cover politics, culture, commerce, and tips on travelling in “far” places.
This is the uncommon first edition; WorldCat and NSTC locate
only five hard copies in U.S. institutions.
NSTC 2D970. Publisher's gray-blue paper wrappers; front wrapper with tiny hole, spine creased with one chip, edges and corners rubbed. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean.
A solid, clean copy of a scarce item. (36558)

An Example of Determination! — One Man's Take on BOSTON
Dearborn, Nathaniel. Boston notions; being an authentic and concise account of “that village,” from 1630 to 1847. Boston: Printed by N. Dearborn ... sold by W.D. Ticknor & Co., 1848. 16mo (15.9 cm; 6.25"). xx, [3], 8–426 pp., [35] plts., [6] maps.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
A history of Boston in encyclopedic entries written, illustrated, and printed
all by one man, engraver and flautist Nathaniel Dearborn (1786–1852), who first proposed the work in 1814. All manner of people, places, and historical events are here discussed in the work's extensive contents, including many societies, libraries, and museums. In addition to several in-text illustrations there are
35 plates, many engraved by the author, with five folded to fit the text, as well as
six maps of Boston, three of them folding. The engraved work is a mix of wood engraving and engraving on copper.
Provenance: Ink signature of J.R. Sower dated 1865 on front fly-leaf in ink.
Sabin 19078; Hamilton 692. On Dearborn, see: Stauffer & Fielding, American Engravers, v. 1, 62–3. Black paper–covered boards imitating leather, gilt ruling/stamping/lettering on spine, covers framed in blind with floral stamps at corners; well-rubbed with paper flaking on spine to expose some gatherings. Provenance marking as above, light age-toning with very occasional light staining, foxing, or corner creases, one plate with chipped edges, all folds strong.
A fun read and lots of VERY engaging illustration. (37071)

Dickens Goes to America
Dickens, Charles. American notes for general circulation. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1868. 12mo (18.7 cm, 7.36"). 104, [4 (adv.)] pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Relatively uncommon American edition of Dickens's report on his trip to the United States. Based on the author's letters home to friends and first published in 1842, this account features visits to the Perkins Institution for the Blind, Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, the White House, etc., as well as Dickens's thoughts on slavery, public health, copyright, and other issues.
See Howes D316 & Sabin 19996 for earlier eds. Publisher's tan paper wrappers printed in terra cotta; wrappers detached but present, with edge chips and front wrapper with small early pencilled notation in upper margin. Pages age-toned; waterstaining to first few leaves and scattered foxing.
This edition was inherently fragile, as a production; this copy is a survivor! (41233)
Important Account of
the Southwest & the Mexican Border
Emory, William Hemsley. Notes of a military reconnoissance, from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California, including parts of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila rivers. Washington: Wendell & Van Benthuysen, 1848. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.1"). 416 pp.; 43 plts. (lacking 1 fold. map).
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Emory, Brevet Major of the Corps of Topographical Engineers and an outstanding surveyor and mapmaker, here provides a groundbreaking description of the terrain, flora and fauna, and peoples of the historic Southwest. J. Gregg Layne (Zamorano 80) says, “A library of Western Americana is incomplete without [Emory's report].”
The volume is illustrated with
43 lithographed plates done by Weber & Co., including a portrait of “A New Mexican Indian Woman,” a fish of the Gila River, a map of “the actions fought at San Pasqual in upper California between the Americans and Mexicans Dec. 6th & 7th 1846,” and a view of cliffside hieroglyphics, as well as a series of 14 botanical images.
Government document: 30th Congress, 1st Session. Senate. Executive document no. 7; Howes describes this as the second issue of an edition which appeared in the same year as the first. The present example does not include the oversized, folding map found in some copies; the plates here are, however, in the preferred state, attributed to Weber.
Cowan & Cowan 195; Graff 1249 (other 1848 issues only); Haferkorn 38; Howes E145; Sabin 22536 (for House ed. only); Wagner-Camp, Plains & Rockies, 148:2; Zamorano 80, 33. Recent black cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Oversized, folding map lacking. Plates and pages with some light to moderate foxing; one leaf with tear from upper margin, extending into text without loss. Clean, strong. (27364)

Estelle, Illustrated & in English
Florian, Jean-Pierre Claris de; Samuel Maxey, trans.; James Mitan, illus. Estelle, a pastoral romance. London: Pr. by C. Whittingham for T. Boosey et al., 1803. 8vo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). xxiv, 181, [3 (2 adv.)] pp.; 7 plts.
$165.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon first edition of this English translation of Estelle et Némorin, a popular romance set in scenic Occitania. Originally published in French in 1787 and in English in 1798, the work appears here in a new English version by Maxey, featuring a preliminary “Essay on Pastoral Poetry,” a final section of notes on Occitan history, and verse renderings of Florian's songs throughout.
The text is embellished with seven charming plates engraved by James Mitan.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC C2059. Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in narrow gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped sunburst compartment decorations; leather expectably acid-pitted, extremities rubbed, joints cracked (sewing holding but tender). Pages age-toned; intermittent foxing, including to two plates; one plate with offsetting from surrounding text pages.
A delightful Whittingham production of this beloved pastoral. (41050)

A Really Elaborate Apology — Columbus, Too!
Foglietta, Uberto. Uberti Folietae clarorum Ligurum elogia. Genuae: Ex officina Hieronymi Bartoli, 1588. 4to (24.5 cm, 9.6"). [8], 265, [3] pp.
$875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First Genoa edition of Italian historian Foglietta's biographical sketches of
influential citizens from LIGURIA, the region in which Genoa happens to be located, including
four pages on Christopher Columbus. Native Genoan and historian Fogiletta (1518–81) was banished from the city and moved to Rome after publishing his work Delle cose della repubblica di Genova, which described abuses of the old nobility against the new (the latter including his family). The present work, originally published in 1572 at Rome, was written to prove his loyalty to his hometown, to which he happily returned in 1576.
The text is sumptuously printed in single columns with spacious margins using roman and italic type with a few illustrated initials, headpieces, and type ornaments as well as a printer's device featuring a hydra surrounded by the motto “virtus virescit vulnere” on the title-page; an index printed in double columns and register follow the main body of text. Cataloging at the Library of Congress notes that this edition consists of the same sheets as the Rome, 1573 printing except for the first gathering (pp. [1–8]), which has been reset.
Provenance: “Foglieta Claro[rum] Illustrium” has been written in ink along the bottom edge with “Don Berardi della Ferra” and another name scribbled out on the title-page, as well as a signature dated 1669 below the colophon, in what appear to be three different early hands; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 588/31; EDIT16 CNCE 19333; Sabin 24942. Not in Adams. On Foglietta, see: Treccani (online). Contemporary limp vellum, title inked on spine and bottom edge, evidence of now-absent ties; spine darkened and crackling just enough to show evidence of binding waste, some spotting on covers, endpapers repaired. Provenance notes and booklabel as above. Light to moderate age-toning and mostly faint marginal waterstaining throughout, with intermittent foxing and a handful of spots. Three leaves including the title-page have been repaired.
Exactly what one expects a nice 16th-century book to look like! (39368)

Fremont's Third Expedition
Frémont, John Charles. Geographical memoir upon upper
California, in illustration of his map of Oregon and California. Washington: Printed by Tippin & Streeper, 1849. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9.25"). 40 pp.
$165.00
Click the image to the right for an enlargement.
John Charles Frémont (1813–90) was born in Savanannah, Georgia, a strong and activist opponent of slavery, a born explorer, and strong-headed and -willed. His service in California during the Mexican War, for the Union during the Civil War, etc., in many ways shows why he was tapped to be a presidential candidate; but it was certainly his role as an explorer that captured the imagination and the hearts of many Americans.
Here Frémont presents to the U.S. Senate his formal report on his third expedition to the West. The map referred to in the title was
issued separately under title “Map of Oregon and Upper California. . . 1848" and is not present; hence the affordable price here.
The original edition, not a reprint. A government publication: [U.S.] 30th Cong., 2d sess. House. Misc. [doc.] 5.
Sabin 25837; Howes F366; Wagner-Camp-Becker, Plains and Rockies, 150:2. Recent marbled paper–covered boards with leather label on front cover. Occasional light foxing. (24883)

Plenty of Stories in
Plenty of Places
Frewen, Moreton. Melton Mowbray and other memories. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, 1924. 8vo (21.6 cm; 8.5"). viii, [4], 311 pp., [16] plts.
$240.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A very opinionated autobiography recounting Frewen's numerous adventures throughout England, the United States, Egypt, the Balkans, and India, from his childhood as part of the English gentry to tales of bison used as snow plows in the Wyoming Territory.
Howes notes ten chapters are dedicated to Frewen's “disastrous cattle enterprise on Powder river.”While suffering from financial difficulties throughout his life, Frewen continually worked with influential people, many of whom are here discussed in detail, including his wife Clara Jerome, aunt of Winston Churchill.
One way and another there is plenty of huntin', shootin', and fishin'; and there are plenty of politics.
Provenance: A tantalizing “Wealdside 1924” in ink on the front pastedown. The Weald is of course of huge extent, and there are therefore potentially a number of possible “Wealdsides”; but it is notable that the Frewen family dates back to Elizabethan times in East Sussex — and, perhaps, that Moreton Frewen died in 1924.
Howes F380; Graff 1442. Light green publisher's cloth, cover ruled and lettered in black, spine and back also stamped in black; gently rubbed and text slightly cocked, with a thumbnail-sized pink stain along the edge of the back cover and speckling the bottom edge. Light age-toning with offsetting to fly-leaves; inscription as noted.
A good read in a good solid copy. (37037)

“The Yaks are Strong & Hardy”
Gerard, Alexander. Account of Koonawur in the Himalaya,
etc. etc. etc. London: James Madden & Co., 1841. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). xiii, [3], 190, [2], [195]–308 (i.e.,
310), xxvi, [2 (adv.)] pp.; 1 fold. map.
$1750.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition: Description of the Kannaur (or Kunáwár) region of the Himalayas, taken from the late Capt. Gerard's papers and edited by George Lloyd. Charles William Wason, in the Monthly Review (1841 collected volume), opened his review of this work by saying “CaptainAlexander Gerard, and his brother Dr. J.G. Gerard, have been deservedly ranked amongst the most enterprising scientific travellers to whom Great Britain has given birth,” and he went on to predict that this volume “will be regarded as a precious contribution to science, and to geographical knowledge.”
Gerard's observations cover botany, linguistics, culture, and commerce, as well as geography. The area of his travels is depicted by an oversized, folding map of his own design.
NSTC 2G5453; Howgego, II, G7. Contemporary brown cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; rebacked and 95% of original spine reapplied, with the publisher's name at the foot of the spine chipped. Front pastedown and back of map each with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings), front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated [18]49. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Last preface page with small inked annotation. Pages slightly age-toned; map with light offsetting and one short tear starting along fold, not touching image. (24291)

A Tour of French Colonial Africa
Gide, André. Travels in the Congo. New York: Modern Age Books, Inc., 1937. 12mo. [12], 305, [4] pp.
$30.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
“Red Seal” paperback edition of this classic travelogue, translated from the original French by Dorothy Bussy.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, in original printed dust wrapper; dust wrapper partially split along front outer fold and nicked at corners. Pages age-toned. (28931)

“PAY or
I'll Tell the Truth About You”
Giovio, Paolo. Pauli Jovii Novocomensis episcopi Nucerini Illustrium virorum vitae. Quibus nunc accesserunt Turcarum imperatorum vitae, eodem autore, ex Italico in Latinum conversae, cum genuino indice. Basileae [i.e., Basel]: Per Henricum Petri et Petrum Pernam, 1567. 8vo. 2 vols. in 1. (891 [i.e. 893], [3] pp. (pp. [895–96] blank); 482 [i.e., 472], [104] pp.).
$1450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Renaissance collector, writer, and rascal, Giovio's most important writing is his “Lives of Illustrious Men.” Written in what is often called “law style” and clearly in part an outgrowth of his passion for collecting oil portraits of the great, it has among its nearly 200 biographies a judicious sprinkling of reports on contemporaries who were solicited for financial contributions, which solicitations were thinly disguised blackmail demands.
Those who paid had much embellished biographies; those who didn't were treated harshly and faults and sins were exposed ruthlessly. Among the booty Giovio thus obtained were two houses and much gold and silver.
Added to this edition is Francsco Negri's Latin translation of Giovio's Commentario de le cose de' Turchi (“De rebuvs et vitis imperatorum Turcarum usque ad Solymanum”; vol. 2, pp. 390–[472]).
Provenance: 17th-century ownership signature of “Ant. de Sedorne” on title-page; two 19th-century stamps on same, one unidentified and the other of the “Seminarium Sancti Nicolai de Cardueto”; and stamp on verso of same, of the Redemptorist Fathers of the Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary (deaccessioned).
VD16 G2077; Adams G666. Early vellum with precursor yapp edges, author/title inked old-style on top page edges as well as on spine; text block recased and new ties attached. Text browned in places, light waterstaining in some lower portions, stamps as noted above, else a good++ copy and
an impressively thick fistful of book. (34405)

Around the World with
Maps & Costumes
Goodrich, Samuel G. The second book of history, including the modern history of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Boston: Charles J. Hendee & G.W. Palmer and Co., 1838. 4to (19 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., 180 pp.; 16 maps.
$75.00
Click the images for enlargements.
From the author of Peter Parley's Tales: a children's history reader aimed at pupils who had come a bit further along from that first book. The accounts here of the development of Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, China, etc., and the countries' foreign relations, are illustrated with
in-text wood engravings including depictions of Portuguese, Norwegian, Russian, “Algerine,” “Otaheitan,” and other national costumes; also included in the volume are
16 steel-engraved maps.
While the title-page gives the Boston publication line described above, the printed front cover gives Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait, & Co., 1838; this is a later edition, following the first of 1832.
A first impression is that “child” readers had, in 1832, much greater powers of attention to print than is now common, but indeed the history here is — the stories are — absorbing and evocative.
American Imprints 50587. Publisher's quarter sheep and printed green paper–covered boards, rubbed and worn; pages cockled and foxed, yet paper good and untattered. One page with stray ink marks, not obstructing legibility.
A good, solid, pleasing copy. (33716)

A Travel Writer at a (Charming!) Loss for Words
Hall, Basil. Autograph Letter Signed to Isabella Walsh. Philadelphia: 17 December 1827. Small 4to (24 x 19 cm; 9.5" x 7.5"). 1 p.
$100.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Inscribed on a page of Walsh's autograph album was this kind and playful sentiment:
“Your Brother has just called with this album, in which, he tells me, it is your wish that I should write something.
I am so much flattered by your request that I lose no time in complying with it: but I am much at a loss what to say that shall deserve a place in so gay a book — & in such good Company.
But as it becomes every well bred lion to roar for the entertainment of the company when he is bid — whether he be in a growling mood or not — I take up my pen accordingly.
Yet I daresay you will often have the mortification of hearing the visitors to this your 'menagerie' exclaim — 'Well! I am sure I never saw such a stupid wild beast before — I dont [sic] believe he is a real lion after all — I have heard many a donkey make quite as good an exhibition!'”
Hall (1788–1844) was a Scot, a naval officer, and author of several accounts of voyages and travels including Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 (1824), and Travels in North America in 1827–28 (1829). Miss Walsh (b 8 July 1812) was the daughter of Robert Walsh (Philadelphia lawyer and abolitionist) and Anna Maria Moylan Walsh (who died in 1826).
Provenance: The Walsh album sold at Anderson Galleries 28 Nov. 1921 (sale 1609) as lot 60. Later in the Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. (34491)

A Visit from an Unnamed BUT
Possibly Discoverable &
Probably Published WOMAN Writer
Hall, Capt. Basil. Autograph Letter Signed to “Madam.” Putney Heath: no year. 12mo (7.125" x 4"). 2 pp., with integral blank leaf.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Hall (1788–1844), a Scot, naval officer, and author of several accounts of voyages and travels including Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 (1824), and Travels in North America in 1827–28, tells his correspondent that she is welcome to call on him on Sunday as she proposes, any time after 10:30 A.M. He gives detailed instructions on how to reach his house: It “is on the top of the Heath close to the Telegraph, which is a single Staff, a Semaphore.” He tells her he has finished making notes of her vol. II but has lent vol. I to another and does not yet have it returned to him.
As Hall writes that he will be easy to find because he is “about as well known here though I hope in a different spirit as in Yankee Land,” we date the letter to some time shortly enough after publication of Travels in North America for oblique reference to its angry reception there to be both natural and “fresh”; and, indeed, we wonder if his correspondent is American?
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. Old folds, a few spots of pale tea-colored stains. Written in a pale ink that is yet quite legible. (33346)

Still a Most
Interesting “Read” An Edinburgh Edition
Hall, Basil. Extracts from a journal, written on the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, in the years 1820, 1821, 1822. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co. and Hurst, Robinson, & Co., 1826. 12mo (14.5 cm, 5.75"). Add. engr. t.-p., xii, 313, [1 (blank)], add. engr. t.-p., x, 311, [1] pp. (lacking map).
$215.00

Captain Hall, a curious, good-humored, and open-minded English observer remembered for his later Travels in North America, here records his impressions of the countryside, customs, and social and intellectual lives of the areas he visited in South America and Mexico, which included Valparaiso, Lima, Santiago, Talcuhuana, Arauco, Guayaquil, Panama, and Acapulco. The sketches are strongly and consistently critical of Spain's government of her colonies, though admiring of the fundamental "excellent character of the Spaniards."
Hall's journal was first published in 1824; the present fifth edition was the second volume issued in the "Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts" series. The text has been expanded from the second edition.
Sabin 29718; Palau 112072 (first ed.). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper sides, spine ruled in double gilt fillets with gilt-stamped devices in compartments; worn and abraded with leather cracking over spine, and joints cracked but holding, Lacking map. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription. First and last few pages lightly spotted. (3436)

More than One Lifetime's Worth of Adventure & Interesting Ideas
Harriott, John. Struggles through life, exemplified in the various travels and adventures in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, of John Harriott, Esq. London: Pr. for the author, 1815. 12mo (18 cm, 7.1"). 3 vols. I: Frontis., xvxv, [1], 443, [1] pp. II: xii, 428, [2] pp. III: vii, [1], 479, [1] pp. (lacking pp. 69–72); 1 fold. plt., 1 plt.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Autobiography of
one of the founders of the Thames police, a clever and independent mariner who went adventuring around the world before settling down to become an Essex justice of the peace and eventually Resident Magistrate of the Thames River Police (a.k.a. the Marine Police Force, sometimes called England's first official police force). Here he looks back on his remarkably varied youthful escapades, including travelling in the merchant-service, visiting “the Savages in North America,” meeting the King of Denmark, serving in the East India Company's military service, and narrowly escaping such dangers as tigers, poisonous snakes, floods, fires, and scamming fathers-in-law. If the narrator is to be believed, the two issues that caused him the chiefest distress in life were pecuniary difficulties and other people's unchivalrous treatment of women. He also has much to say about law and business in the New World and the Old, slavery in America, forcible incarceration in private madhouses (with excerpts from a first-person account of such), and the nature of farming in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as the state of affairs in Washington, DC, and, of course, the history of the creation of the Thames police.
Vol. I opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author, done by Henry Cook after Hervé; vol. III is illustrated with an
oversized, folding plate of a water-engine intended for millwork, devised by the author, and a plate of another of his inventions: the automated “chamber fire escape”, which enables anyone to lower him- or herself from a high window. This is the third edition, following the first of 1807.
NSTC H625; Sabin 30461. Contemporary speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; vol. I with joints and extremities refurbished, vols. II and III with spines and edges rubbed, old strips of library tape reinforcing spine heads. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, vols. II and III with paper shelving labels at top of spines (vol. I showing signs of now-absent label). Vol. I title-page with offsetting from frontispiece; vol. III with pp. 69–72 excised (two leaves of a rather long religious-themed letter from Harriott to his son) and with upper portion of one leaf crumpled, reinforced some time ago. Some light age-toning, intermittent small spots of foxing and ink-staining, pages generally clean.
Utterly absorbing. (30651)

An EARLY Strawberry Hill Press Book
Herbert of Cherbury, Edward Herbert, Baron. The life of Edward lord Herbert of Cherbury. [Twickenham]: Strawberry-Hill [Press], 1764. 4to (22.5 cm; 9"). [5] ff., 171, [1] pp., fold. table, fold. port.
$425.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition and sole Strawberry Hill edition, limited to 200 copies. Cherbury — diplomat, philosopher,
TRAVELLER, and occasional poet (1583–1648) — left this account of his life unpublished at his death. Horace Walpole discovered it among his papers and with the permission of his heirs published it for the first time at his Strawberry Hill Press.
Hazen, Strawberry Hill Press, 11; ESTC N33713. 19th-century full brown calf, modestly tooled, rebacked, offsetting from binding to first and last leaves; gilt-tooled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Some browning and embrittlement of paper with leaves of the preliminaries loosening; some margins chipped with small loss of paper, and tears from margins of several leaves including portrait and folding table (the latter repaired, from rear, with archival tissue).
A hurt copy priced for the busted bibliophile yet ready, with faults noted, to give much pleasure. (33450)
Herndon, William Lewis; & Gibbon, Lardner. Exploration of the valley of the Amazon, made under direction of the Navy Department.... Washington: Robert Armstrong, 1853, & A.O.P. Nicholson, 1854. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.1"). 2 vols. I: 414, [2], iii, [1] pp.; 16 plts. II: x, [2], 339, [1] pp.; 36 plts.
$600.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Original government issue of these “Minute, accurate, and very interesting accounts of the aborigines of the Andes, and the Amazon and its tributaries” (Sabin). These two volumes are parts I and II of Senate Executive Document no. 36, 32d Cong., 2d sess., consisting of Lieut. Herndon’s description of following the Amazon itself and Lieut. Gibbon’s account of his travels along the Amazon’s tributaries in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Many of the 52 lithographed plates are in duotone; some were done by Ackerman Lithography and some by P.S. Duval & Co., after views of scenery, buildings, and natives drawn by Lieut. Gibbon.
Two volumes of maps, not present here, were issued separately.
Sabin 31524; Palau 113897. Publisher’s textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; vol. I with spine sunned and cloth chipped at spine extremities; vol. II with corners bumped, cloth peeling away from spine and chipped at spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed and small area of unobtrusive discoloration from now-absent label. Front pastedowns each with pencilled owner’s name and institutional rubber stamp (no other markings); front free endpaper of vol. II starting to tear along inner margin. Mild to moderate foxing and spotting; a few text gatherings unopened. One plate in vol. I with short tear from outer margin, turning into a narrow scrape extending about halfway into the upper portion of the image; one leaf in vol. II with tiny portion (less than one word) affixed to opposing plate.
Not a perfect set, but a perfectly fascinating one.
PLACE AN ORDER | E-MAIL US | PRB&M HOME