James, Edwin
First British edition, bound in original brown paper-covered boards, re-backed with plain paper spines. Each volume in a separate cloth chemise, the three volumes together housed in a cloth slipcase with marbled paper spine label. Complete with very good folding map, nine plates (three colored, one folding), half-titles in Volumes II and III. Private library stamp of Lewis W. Macnaughton on each front free endpaper, some foxing to endpapers, otherwise very clean. This important government-sponsored expedition, led by Major Stephen Harriman Long of the U.S. Army Topographical Engineers, was tasked with conducting a military and scientific reconnaissance of the central plains for the first time. The part included men with training in geology, botany, zoology, and ethnology, as well as a naturalist, an artist, and a topographer. Eight guides and hunters and a seven-man military escort completed the twenty-two man detachment. Edwin James served as botanist, geologist, and surgeon. According to Wagner-Camp (25:2), he based his account on "his own records, the brief geological notes of Major Long, and the early journals of Thomas Say" (the expedition's zoologist). Field (948) notes that "in all of Major Long's explorations, the natives of the territories through which he passed received the largest share of his attention.A great part of Volume III is devoted to observations upon the Shienne, Arapaho, Pawnee, and other tribes of the Plains. Of the eight plates, seven are illustrative of Indian life and manners." Wheat, Transmississppi, 353 (noting that the map was one of the "progenitors of an entire class of maps of the American Transmississippi West"); Sabin 36583; Streeter Sale 1784; Howes H-41.
Gregg, Josiah
First edition, second issue, with New York and London imprints on title page. Two volumes, uniformly bound in three-quarter leather and marbled boards, housed in a custom cloth slipcase and chemise. Complete with two engraved maps (one linen-backed and folding), frontispiece and two additional plates in each volume, as well as illustrations in the text. Text and plates very clean. Wagner-Camp (108:2): "Commerce of the Prairies is regarded as one of the classic accounts of the trans-Mississippi West.Wheat calls its map, 'a cartographic landmark.an outstanding achievement.' Born in Tennessee, Josiah Gregg set out for Santa Fe in 1831 to recover his health, and afterward he became an active trader on the Santa Fe Trail for the next decade." Rittenhouse (255): "This work stands as a cornerstone of all studies on the Santa Fe Trail in the early period, describing the origin and development of the trade, Gregg's own experiences, and useful statistics for 1822-43." Howes G-401; Graff 1659.
Zagoskin, L.A.
Bound typescript with no publication information given, but identified in OCLC as "a translation made by Antionette Hotovitzky in 1935 of the original Russian ed., St. Petersburg, 1847, omitting the Indian vocabularies in the originals." [vii] 422 pp, with text on rectos only, bound in green cloth. Numerous ink stamps of the Alaska Indian Service in Juneau on endpapers and edges, otherwise clean and sound. "Contains [an] introductory outline of Russian trade, administration, and exploratory work in Alaska before Zagoskin's visit, and of the latter's mission in 1842-44, to survey the Kvokhpak (Yukon) and Kuskokwin River regions, with a view to developing trade, establishing posts and routes.Zagoskin describes in detail the Russian trading posts; his arrangements for travel and food; topography of the Norton Sound region; and Eskimo inhabitants, their customs, trade with Russians, etc." (Arctic Bibliography 19779, 19781).
Askin, John; Quaife, Milo (editor)
Two volumes, pp 657, 829, with illustrations, maps, fascimiles, in original binding of three-quarter black leather and tan cloth. Scuffing to extremities, frontispiece laid in loose in Volume II, else about fine. John Askin was a pominent fur trader and merchant who came to North America from Ireland with the British Army in 1758. After the British took over New France, he entered the fur trade and operated a trading post at Fort Michilimackinac. Later, he moved to Detroit, where he continued as a fur trader and was also involved in shipping and land speculation. These personal papers illustrate almost every aspect of life and times in the Old Northwest, including excellent documentation of the Great Lakes fur trade. Oversized; shipping cost will be more than standard for priority or international orders.
Pagès, Pierre-Marie-François de
First edition in English. 8vo. Vol. I: xiv, 2-289, with folded aquatint frontispiece; Vol. II: iv, 261, [3] (ads). Ex-library copies in recent three-quarter leather and marbled boards, new endpapers. Library ink stamps on three pages in each volume, foxing to first and last few pages of Vol. I and first few pages of Vol. II, otherwise sound and clean. "Pagès, an officer in the French Navy, was posted to Santo Domingo in 1766. The next year he apparently received a commission to search for a northwest passage by way of the eastern coast of Asia. He sailed first to New Orleans and proceeded to explore the Louisiana territory by traveling up the Mississippi and then taking a canoe up the Red River to Natchidoches. He traversed Texas on horseback to San Antonio and Laredo, then crossed Mexico, visiting Saltillo, San Luis Potosi, Mexico City, and Acapulco. From that port, Pagès sailed on the Manilla galleon to Guam and to the Philippines. This work offers much information on the Spanish colonial empire in North America and in the Orient. Unable to visit China, Pagès proceeded to Batavia on Java, Bombay and Surat in India, Muscat in Oman, then on to Persia. He then joined a caravan to Mesopotamia, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. From Acre, he sailed via several Mediterranean isles to Marseilles" (Hill 1285). The two volumes offered here cover all of the travels just described. A third volume, published in 1792, describes further travels in the polar regions. The veracity of Pagès account has been questioned by some scholars. Henry Wagner, in The Spanish Southwest, says "Pagès is supposed to have made a journey through Texas on horseback in 1767, passing from Natchitoches to the Rio Grande. The book contains numerous observations on Texas and the missions, but I have never been able to persuade myself that the author ever saw Texas. The work has all the appearance of being one made up in Paris, simulating a real journey, a common enough trick of the times." Thomas Streeter, however, argued that the work must be authentic because Alexander von Humboldt. in his Political Essay on New Spain, refers to Pagès being in Saltillo in 1767, "and there are two biographical sketches of Pagès.both of which record at some length this around the world journey and two later expeditions" (Bibliography of Texas 1027). Marilyn McAdams Sibley ("Across Texas in 1767: The Travels of Captain Pagès" Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 1967) states that this first London edition "is generally accepted as the first book in the English language which describes Texas."
Buchanan, W.C.
Rare carte-de-visite (CDV) photograph, 6 x 10 cm, of Guatemalan President Rafael Carrera, with the backstamp of itinerant American photographer William C. Buchanan, one of the first photographers to work in Guatemala. Carrera (1814-1865) was one of the most powerful figures in nineteenth century Central America. A mestizo with no formal education, he served in the military, where he developed strong conservative beliefs and rose rapidly through the ranks. With the support of the peasantry and the lower clergy (who opposed the anti-clerical liberal government), he captured Guatemala City in 1838 and seized power. In 1840, he established himself as dictator and withdrew Guatemala from the United Provinces of Central America, proclaiming it an independent republic. Recalling the Jesuits, he re-established the Roman Catholic Church in 1852. In 1854 he abolished elections and became President for Life. Under Carrera, adventurers from Nicaragua led by William Walker were repulsed, two attempts by Mexico to annex Guatemala were thwarted, and the territorial expansion of British Honduras was limited. He intruded frequently into the affairs of neighboring nations in behalf of their conservative forces. Although Carrera was crude and brutal, the clergy and upper classes appreciated his regime for its stability, respect for property, and support of the church. The country made some economic progress under his rule, becoming a major coffee exporter. Guatemala also attained a measure of ethnic equality under Carrera's leadership, which included appointing Indians and mestizos to political and military positions (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica). Because of the limited number of photographers operating in Central America during Carrera's lifetime, photographs of him are quite scarce. William C. Buchanan first traveled to Central America in 1853, working as a portraitist in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. In early 1854, he opened a studio in Guatemala City, and for several months worked in partnership with another American photographer, William Fitzgibbon. He appears to have left the city for Mexico late that year, and his whereabouts are unknown until 1859, when returned Guatemala City, remaining through 1865.
Perrin du Lac, Francois Marie
First edition of the English translation, abridged from the original French of 1805. 8vo, pp 106, [2] (index), in a modern quarter-leather binding. Embossed stamp of the Gorham Library Association on title page, number written in ink at bottom of first text page, otherwise unmarked, clean and sound. "Perrin du Lac describes a trading expedition up the Missouri to the River Blanche (the White River in South Dakota) that left Saint Louis on May 18, 1802 and returned on September 10. He continues with a long note about the Missouri fur trade and an extensive discussion of Indians along the Upper Missouri, including the Mandans, Sioux, Gros Ventres, and Cheyennes" (Wagner-Camp 3:3). Howes (P-244) calls this work "important for details concerning the early fur trade with the Indians on the upper Missouri," but suggests that Perrin du Lac gathered the information from others, rather than making the journey he describes. Sabin 61013; Field 1205.
159 pp. Moderate cover wear (creasing, fraying of paper, ink scribble on front cover), internally clean, with some general wear from use. According to the introduction, "The Black Writers' Guilf was founded in 1983 as a non-profit organization for the specific purpose of increasing literacy awareness and to encourage inner city residents (young and old) to write as an alternative to the many less positive activities available within the city.This pubiscation, Before I Awake, a book of selected short stores, was published by the Guild in order to give our writers an opportunity to see something of theirs in print and, hopefulluy, to encourage them to continue in this very rewarding field." Includes work by Robert Kenyatta Jones, Peggy A. Moore, Herbert R. Metoyer, Jr., Barbara Hunter, Dianne White Morris, Suma, Lafayette King, Ruth Rosa Green, Michael Nance, Michael Bernard Tolliver, and Harry M. Anderson.
8.25 x 10.75 in., 16 pp, with six half-tone illustrations showing the Saint-Laurent Penitentiary, political and economic map of French Guiana on back cover. Stapled wrappers. Light staining, edgewear, abrasion to wrappers -- good. Written for an American audience, this booklet seeks to dispel French Guiana's reputation -- fueled by several "sensational films depicting tortured, starved men or melodramatic convict escapes" -- as a "hell on earth" with a "pestilential climate, a population of confirmed criminals, fever-infested towns, forests full of savage beasts and poisonous serpents and seas teeming with man-eating sharks." The text provides a short history of the colony and description of its geography and natural resources, and explains that the penal colony is in the process of being disbanded, health conditions have improved, and asserts that "with the renewal of plantation and stock-farm activity, French Guiana can quickly become self-supporting. It has every potentiality for evolving into a prosperous and up-to-date country which will soon efface all traces of it's ill-starred past." Five pages are dedicated to a discussion of the history and future of the penal settlement.
Bartlett, John Russell
Facsimile reprint of the 1854 edition, complete in two volumes. Fine copies in brown buckram with gilt lettering. Jenkins (Basic Texas Books) describes this as "the most scholarly and scientific description of Southwest Texas of its era," as well as "one of the best American travel books ever written." Bartlett provides a day to day account of the movements of the boundary survey party (scientists, artists, teamsters, surveyors, and a military escort) as they traveled from Indianola, Texas to San Antonio, Fredericksburg, El Paso, San Diego, and back to Corpus Christi. The expedition "was valuable for contributions regarding mines, minerals, and geology in general, and vastly advanced knowledge of the natural history, ethnology, meteorology, and topography of the areas traversed" (Jenkins p. 31). Many early emigrants to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona used Bartlett's account as a guidebook on their trek west.
Belcher, A[lexander] Emerson
Small 8vo, 149 pp, in original green cloth stamped in black and gilt. Light wear to extremities, tear to final blank leaf torn. Inscribed by Belcher on the half-title page to Rev. Charles Cameron. Belcher (1844-1926) was a soldier, public servant, politician, and the first mayor of Southampton, Ontario. He was also one the founders of the Commercial Travellers' Association of Canada. In this uncommon and engaging book he describes life of a traveling salesman in an effort to educate the public about what they do, their good character and standards of conduct, how they interact with customers and employers, and how their lot in life might be improved. He includes entertaining tales of his fellow salesmen and customers encountered in his travels and also opines on the quality and important characteristics of hotels and railroads.
Two volumes, 6.75 x 10.25 inches, pp xii, 375; xiv, 377-777. Indexed, illustrated with photographs and line drawings, color frontispiece in each volume. A highly detailed work with separate chapters on opossum, bears, racoons, ring-tailed cats, martens, fisher, weasels, mink, wolverine, river otters, sea otters, spotted skunks, striped skunks, and badgers. Includes information on each species typical size and coloration, variations, breeding habits, behavior, distribution, population estimates, and more.
5.25 x 7.5 in, 103 pp, with illustrations from photographs. Original pictorial boards. Some rubbing to corners, short gift inscription on front free endpaper, otherwise unmarked and sound. Urquhart was an American Adventist missionary to Korea, and by the 1930s was Director of the West Chosen Mission. This work, aimed at a young audience, takes the reader through a visit to Korea, describing local customs (dress, role of women, medicines, religion, funeral rites, etc) and everyday life at home and in the towns and markets, as well as providing details of various missionary stations and enterprises.
Second edition, following the privately printed edition issued earlier the same year. 8vo, pp. viii, 194,c, [4] (publisher's ads), with folding map by A. Arrowsmith titled "Sketch of a Part of the Hudson's Bay Company Territory," in paper-covered boards with paper spine label. Front board original, spine with restorations, rear board professionally replaced. Map and title page have some offsetting, binding sound, text very clean. Housed in a cloth clamshell box with paper spine label.The Red River Settlement was an agricultural colony located in present-day Manitoba, North Dakota, and Minnesota established in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, Fifth Earl of Selkirk, on about 120,000 square miles of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company. Selkirk had become interested in settling the area after reading Alexander Mackenzie's 1801 book on his travels in the region. Poverty was on the rise in Scotland, and Selkirk believed he could give settlers a chance at a better life in the new colony he called "Assiniboia." His chief opponents in this plan were the partisans of the Northwest Company, who had long traded without interference in the territories now claimed by Selkirk and the Hudson's Bay Company. Although the colony was not very successful agriculturally, the lure of free land added new settlers every year, and scarce resources and disputes over land rights led to conflict with trappers and traders from the North West Company. This work, written by Lord Selkirk's brother-in-law, defends Selkirk's actions in response to aggressions instigated by the North West Company that ultimately culminated in the 1816 "Massacre at Seven Oaks," and the death of the colony's governor, Robert Semple. The Appendix contains legal documents in support of Selkirk's case. This edition also includes a rebuttal to the North West Company's response (A Narrative of Occurences in the Indian Countries of North America Since the Connexion of the Right Hon. Earl of Selkirk with the Hudson's Bay Co. etc.) to the first edition, as well as some additional documentation. TPL 1093; Streeter 3673; Sabin 20704.
Uncommon souvenir view book for the Norwegian mountain village of Finse and the Bergen Railway (Bergensbanen), with photographs by the prolific photographer Anders Beer Wilse (1865-1949). 24 pp, including illustrations, advertisements, and short text in Norwegian, English, and German. Undated, ca. 1910-20. Includes images of skiing, glaciers, caribou, hotels, and the railway. Light handling wear; very good.
One of 500 copies issued. pp x, 132, + 20 pp of maps and illustrations, with original prospectus laid in. A very good copy with some foxing to the edges, in a very good dust jacket with light soiling to the front panels and some chips at the edges. An account of the momentous struggle enacted by France, Spain, England, and the United States for control of St. Louis and the territory adjacent to it. Drawing on the voluminous reports of French, Spanish, and British colonial officials, this volume gives for the first time a detailed and connected narrative of the early days of St. Louis from its establishment in 1764 until the close of the War of 1812.
