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Catalogue 257 The Streeter Sale Revisited |
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Section VIII: Milton to Powell |
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Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
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A Harrowing Journey Across 222. Milton,
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Viscount; and Walter Butler Cheadle: AN
EXPEDITION ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA, BY THE YELLOW
HEAD OR LEATHER PASS. London: Printed by Petter and Galpin, [1865].
37pp. Original printed wrappers. Top two inches of spine chipped away,
single vertical fold through center, scattered foxing on wrappers. Old
bookseller’s pencil note at head of titlepage and on verso of front
wrapper, three contemporary manuscript corrections in text. Internally
clean. Very good. In a half morocco box. A
presentation copy, inscribed on the front wrapper in the hand of Lord
Milton: “With the author’s kind regards.”
First issue, printed only for private circulation, followed the
same year by a public printing under a different title.
“Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle left Edmonton on horseback 3 June
1863 and struck the Athabaska on 25 June.
The Fraser River was reached 10 July and Tete Juane Cashe on 17
July. Here a decision had to
be made whether to try to reach the gold region around Caribou Lake by
going down the Fraser to Fort George or by going across by way of the
headwaters of the Canoe River to the headwaters of the Thompson River,
thence to Fort Kamloops and finally up the Fraser.
They decided on the latter route and after a heart-rending trip
arrived at civilization as represented by Fort Kamloops on 28 August.
At the end of the paper there is a discussion of the practicability
of a railroad along the same route, with the statement that ‘there are
no difficulties of importance.’ This
more or less fanciful route across the mountains, cutting the big bend of
the Fraser, is the route shown on Milton & Cheadle’s manuscript
map” – Streeter. During
their crossing, Milton and Cheadle were subject to all the perils
associated with an overland journey, including starvation, attacks by
hostile Indians, and exposure. A
detailed narrative, and one of the best accounts of British Columbia. This privately printed first edition is extremely rare.
Streeter’s copy sold for $550 in 1969, and only a few copies have
appeared on the market since. Nebenzahl paid $550 for the Streeter copy. 223. [Minnesota]:
MAP OF THE ORGANIZED COUNTIES OF MINNESOTA. Philadelphia: Thomas
Cowperthwait & Company, 1850. 21¼ x 17½ inches, plus 16pp.
supplement and 10½ x 8-inch inset. Folded into 12mo. contemporary cloth
folder, gilt-lettered cover. Front cover detached. Slightly rubbed.
One-inch separation along fold, occasional additional minute separations.
Color bright and clean. Good. An
early pocket map of Minnesota, reflecting the progress of the nascent
territory. The map records the
populations of the larger settled areas, including the original Twin
Cities: St. Paul and St. Anthony. Minneapolis,
which later sprung up across the river from St. Anthony, is not located.
The accompanying textual supplement offers a promotional
description of the state. “This
fascinating large scale map of part of Minnesota Territory was probably
based on P.S. Morawski’s much smaller scale Map of the Territory of
Minnesota... published as a public document in the report of Capt.
John Pope’s expedition (31st. Cong. 1st. Sess. Sen Ex. Doc. 42)” –
Streeter. The Streeter copy
sold for $70 in 1967. Rare.
Not in Rumsey. OCLC
locates only two copies. Eberstadt paid $70 for the Streeter copy. 224. [Minnesota]:
MAP OF MINNESOTA COMPILED FROM THE UNITED STATES SURVEYS BY C. MEYER &
H.V. MINDEN.... St. Paul, New York & Philadelphia. 1856. Folding
color map, 29½ x 20 inches. Bound in original 16mo. brown cloth folder,
paper label. Expertly repaired on folds. Color bright and clean. Very
good. An
interesting and relatively early Minnesota map, engraved by Friend and Aub
Lithographers of Philadelphia. There
is a small inset map of St. Paul. Nebenzahl paid $5 for the Streeter copy. 225. Mitchell,
S. Augustus: MITCHELL’S NATIONAL MAP OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC OR UNITED
STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. TOGETHER WITH MAPS OF THE VICINITIES OF
THIRTY-TWO OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE UNION. [bound
with:] A CONCISE VIEW OF THE NUMBER, RESOURCES, AND INDUSTRY OF THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE IN THE YEAR 1840: COMPRISING THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF THE
INHABITANTS, PRODUCTS, EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF EACH SEPARATE STATE; THE
MOST IMPORTANT CANALS AND RAILROADS.... Philadelphia. 1843. Two
colored folding maps, 33½ x 24 inches and 34¾ x 25½ inches. In original
elaborately gilt morocco folder, brass clasp intact. Small tear in second
map (i.e. the chart). Otherwise fine and bright. In a half morocco box. The
national map shows the United States west to the Indian Territory west of
Missouri, including the eastern part of Texas, north through most of Maine
and with a portion of Canada, and south through most of Florida.
There are insets of the portions of Maine and Florida which are
excluded from the larger image. The
second map contains a large center statistical chart surrounded by
thirty-two inset maps of various major American cities and their environs,
or states. This map is dated
1842 at the bottom and is described in Graff as a broadside, noting that
the map listed by Phillips was issued in 1843.
Streeter lists the two maps together, as in the present copy. The Streeter copy, in keeping with the poor performance of the maps
described in volume six of the Streeter sale catalogue, brought $40. A Major Western Map 226. [Mitchell,
S. Augustus]: ACCOMPANIMENT TO MITCHELL’S NEW MAP OF TEXAS, OREGON, AND
CALIFORNIA, WITH THE REGIONS ADJOINING. Philadelphia. 1846. 46pp. text
plus colored folding map, 22½ x 20¾ inches. 18mo. Original gilt morocco
binder stamped in blind and gilt. Gilt on binder especially bright.
Contemporary bookseller’s stamp on front free endpaper, contemporary
private bookplate on verso of title-leaf. Near fine. In a cloth clamshell
box, morocco label. A
major western map, with accompanying text.
The detailed “New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the
Regions Adjoining...” shows the western portion of the U.S. to the
Pacific, with the Indian Territory, Missouri Territory, Iowa, and portions
of the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wisconsin, as well as
northern Mexico and part of British Columbia, illustrating in detail the
trans-Mississippi region on the verge of the Mexican War.
Texas is elaborately depicted, with the Rio Grande as its southern
border; Oregon is shown to extend to 54° 40"; and the Santa Fe Trail
and the Oregon Trail are both detailed, the latter with a table of
distances published in the lower corner of the map.
“This map represents a great step forward, in that it is among
the first by a commercial cartographer to utilize the recent explorations
that had bounded and determined the nature of the Great Basin...because of
its popularity, this map of the West exerted great influence, not only
with the public but on other commercial cartographers” – Wheat.
The text describes each territory or state in turn, with notes on
Lewis and Clark and other early explorers, and more historical material.
Howes also mentions an issue with thirty-four pages of text, but
Sabin lists only the present collation. The Streeter copy was bought by the Nebraska Book Company, and reappeared
at Swann in 1999, where it sold for $6210 to a western dealer. The Artist/Author’s Most Important Work 227. Möllhausen,
Heinrich Baldwin: TAGEBUCH EINER REISE VOM MISSISSIPPI NACH DEN KUSTEN DER
SUDSEE. Leipzig. 1858. [28],494,[2]pp. plus sixteen plates (seven in
color, six tinted, and three in black and white) and folding map. Half
title. Frontispiece. Original black gilt-stamped cloth, rebacked with
original backstrip laid down. Moderate to heavy edge wear. Frontispiece
and titlepage foxed. Contemporary ownership signature on front free
endpaper. Internally clean overall. The
most important work of this notable German artist and topographer, who
accompanied several of the leading western surveys of the 1850s.
This book describes his experiences with the Pacific Railroad
survey under Lieut. Amiel Whipple, investigating a potential route along
the 35th parallel in 1853, which took the party across northern New Mexico
and Arizona. The work is
notable for its plates of the Pueblo Indians and Möllhausen’s account
of them. “...In addition to
the account in journal form of his experiences as topographer of
Whipple’s surveying expedition in 1853, there is an account of his
experiences in the West in 1851 on a trip from St. Louis to Laramie with
Prince Paul of Wurttemberg” – Streeter.
Möllhausen’s career and the chronology of these expeditions are
described in detail by Taft. The Tagebuch... is extremely scarce in the marketplace. The Streeter copy brought $500 and reappeared in a bookseller’s
catalogue in 1988 at $6500. It
was bought by Jay Snider, and sold at his sale at Christie’s in 2005 for
$24,000 to a California collector. Since
it was in original printed wrappers, it is not directly comparable to the
present copy. The First Printing of the Monroe Doctrine: 228. Monroe,
James: PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER...EXTRA. WASHINGTON,
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1823 [caption title].... Washington. Dec.
2, 1823. Broadside, 22 x 16¼ inches, printed in five columns. A hint of
foxing and light wear, but overall in near fine condition, with the
original deckle edges, never trimmed down. One
of two states of the first-ever printing of the Monroe Doctrine, one of
the most important American state papers, and the guiding principle of
United States diplomacy in the Western Hemisphere since its promulgation.
We know of only four total printings of the National
Intelligencer “Extra,” the true first printing of the Monroe
Doctrine. One other copy of
this issue of the broadside extra printing is known.
Two copies of another printing, one of them being the Streeter
copy, are also known. A
comparison of the Streeter copy and the present broadside reveals that
“National Intelligencer...Extra” is printed in larger type in the
present version, that a paragraph in the third column of text has been
reset, and some changes in capitalization and individual letters can be
found. No priority can be
established between the two states; indeed, they may have been issued
concurrently from two separate presses in the National Intelligencer
offices. The present broadside
is in lovely condition, while the Streeter copy and the other example of
the “Streeter issue” are both in deplorable condition. The Monroe Doctrine, largely drafted by Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams, is one of the most important statements in the history of American
foreign policy. It stood for
more than a century as an assertion of American power and hemispheric
dominance, and of the belief that the United States was strong enough to
enforce its will in the Americas against the European powers.
Monroe stated his famous doctrine in response to the possible
intervention of European powers (such as the “Holy Alliance” of
Russia, Prussia, and Austria) to shore up Spain’s crumbling New World
empire, and the aggressive stance taken by Russia on the Northwest Coast.
Monroe used the platform of his annual message to Congress on Dec.
2, 1823 to declare that “The American continents, by the free and
independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are
henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any
European powers.” He stated
that any European intervention could not be viewed “in any other light
than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United
States.” This stance of
American hostility to any European adventure in the New World has guided
foreign policy ever since. Although
the United States could do little to enforce the bold declaration at
first, it grew in principle as the United States grew in power.
In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt added his “corollary” to the Monroe
Doctrine, asserting that the United States might intervene in sovereign
Latin American states in order to prevent European intervention.
Though it was criticized and debated in the 20th century, the
Monroe Doctrine retains its power in the American imagination and, along
with George Washington’s Farewell Address, it remains the most famous of
American foreign policy creeds. The compilers of the Grolier Club’s One Hundred Influential American
Books picked the Monroe Doctrine as an entry, but displayed the later
government reprint. That
exhibition was mounted in 1946, and Thomas W. Streeter, one of the
catalogue’s compilers, did not acquire his then-unique copy until 1952.
The Streeter copy sold in 1967 for $3500. This first printing of the Monroe Doctrine is a document of fundamental,
indeed monumental, importance in American history. Carnegie Book Shop paid $3500 for the Streeter copy.
It reappeared at the Stanley Sax sale in 1998, where it was bought
by collector William Scheide, and it is now in the Scheide Library at
Princeton. Washington’s Journal, 229. [Moreau,
Jacob N., comp]: MÉMOIRE CONTENANT LE PRÉCIS DES FAITS, AVEC LEURS PIÉCES
JUSTIFICATIVES, POUR SERVIR DE RÉPONSE AUX OBSERVATIONS ENVOYÉES PAR LES
MINISTRES D’ANGLETERRE DANS LES COURS DE L’EUROPE. Paris. 1756.
198,[2], 17,[1]pp. Contemporary tree calf, ornate gilt spine, gilt tan
morocco label. Later brief bibliographic notes on front pastedown.
Internally bright and clean. Near fine. A
presumed later edition, issued the same year as the first.
Upon their victory over Washington’s troops at Fort Necessity,
the French seized Washington’s journal of the expedition and
Braddock’s instructions to Washington, as well as Braddock’s letters
to the British Ministry. These
papers were sent to France without delay, printed, and sent to every court
in Europe, offering evidence to support the French claim that Washington
murdered Jumonville. This
memoir, which includes the first printing of Washington’s journal of
1754, although in translation, indicates that Jumonville was approaching
Washington on a peaceful mission, but that Washington distrusted him and
ordered the party to be fired upon. The
memoir also contains a survey of the alleged French rights to the region
west of the Alleghenies. This edition differs from the established second edition in that it
contains four additional supplementary texts, included to further
reinforce the French assertion that the cause of the war could be laid at
the feet of the British. It is clearly from a different setting of type
from either the first or the later editions recorded in the standard
bibliographies. The additional
texts are: “Mémoire Envoyé par Sa Majesté Trés-Chrétienne a la Cour
de Londres,” “Observations Sur le Mémoire de la France Envoyées dans
les Cours de l’Europe par le Ministére Britannique...,” “Le Duc De
Penthiévre Admiral de France,” and “Ordonnance du Roi, au Sujet des
Batinmens Anglois....” Streeter
quotes Lawrence Wroth, in his JCB Library Report of 1945-46, as calling
this memoir “One of the most important documents in American colonial
history.” This edition is
not in Sabin, Howes, Lande, Lande Supplement, LeClerc, TPL,
or Bell, nor on OCLC. Another inexact comparison. Streeter’s
first edition went to Sessler for $650.
In the case of this book, however, I don’t think there is a world
of difference between the first and an unrecorded, possibly second
edition. The Most Entertaining Contemporary Book 230. Morton,
Thomas: NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. Amsterdam: Jacob Frederick
Stam, 1637. 188,[3]pp. Small quarto. Elegantly bound by Riviere & Son
in brown morocco, boards and spine finely gilt and stamped in black, gilt
inner dentelles, a.e.g. Titlepage slightly soiled, light age-toning,
occasional light foxing and soiling. A very good copy. One
of the classic accounts of the early settlement of New England, looked to
increasingly by modern historians and anthropologists for its unbiased and
detailed accounts of Indian life in early New England, descriptions of
flora and fauna, and internecine struggles among the colonists.
Morton first came to New England in 1622 and lived there until his
expulsion by the Plymouth colonists a decade later.
He was particularly sympathetic to the way of life of the Indians,
and provides extensive descriptions of customs, hunting, planting,
artifacts, and lifestyles in the first section of the work.
The second part provides a remarkable account of the landscape and
ecology of New England (William Cronon draws heavily on Morton in his
pioneering Changes in the Land).
The final section of Morton’s account is the most famous
historically, since it gives an account of his long and often amusing feud
with the Plymouth Colony and a description of his separate settlement at
Merry-Mount, where his close association with the Indians of the area and
open defiance of the laws of the Plymouth settlers provided one of the
more colorful episodes in early colonial New England. Morton’s work is very scarce on the market, only two copies having
appeared at auction in the last quarter century.
A book of the greatest importance, perhaps the best single account
of early New England. Kraus paid $1400 for the Streeter copy. 231. Mullan,
John, Capt.: REPORT ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MILITARY ROAD FROM FORT
WALLA-WALLA TO FORT BENTON. Washington. 1863. 363pp. plus four folding
maps, ten tinted lithographic plates, and errata. Original cloth. Spine
rubbed, extremities worn. Faint tideline. Very good. The
most complete account of Mullan’s reconnaissance, covering the period
from March 1858 to September 1862, followed by the reports of the engineer
and others. The plates, drawn
by C. Sohon and lithographed by Bowen & Co., depict the Great Falls of
the Missouri, Pend d’Oreille Mission, Paloose Falls, Flathead Indians,
etc. The maps are far and away
the best of the area to that time, and Wheat devotes some ten pages to a
discussion of them. A collector paid $125 for the Streeter copy. 232. Mullan,
John, Capt.: MINERS AND TRAVELERS’ GUIDE TO OREGON, WASHINGTON, IDAHO,
MONTANA, WYOMING, AND COLORADO. VIA THE MISSOURI AND COLUMBIA RIVERS....
New York. 1865. 153pp. plus folding map. Original brown cloth, expertly
rebacked with most of original backstrip laid down. Small ink numbers in
upper corner of titlepage, contemporary ink ownership signature (“Th[?]
J. Hobbs”). Very good. The
narrative includes a day-by-day itinerary during a journey of forty-seven
days from Walla Walla to Fort Benton, with a general description of the
route. Wheat provides an
exhaustive description of the “General Map of the North Pacific States
and Territories Belonging to the United States and of British
Columbia...,” which he calls “very fine” and reproduces as the
frontispiece of the fifth volume of Mapping the Transmississippi West.
The “Addenda” of Mullan’s work describes recent developments
in the mining of gold and silver in Idaho. Nebenzahl paid $125 for the Streeter copy. The Adopted 1783 Constitution 233. [New
Hampshire]: A CONSTITUTION, CONTAINING A BILL OF RIGHTS, AND FORM OF
GOVERNMENT, AGREED UPON BY THE DELEGATES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
NEW-HAMPSHIRE, IN CONVENTION, HELD AT CONCORD, ON THE FIRST TUESDAY OF
JUNE 1783; SUBMITTED TO, AND APPROVED OF BY THE PEOPLE OF SAID STATE; AND
ESTABLISHED BY THEIR DELEGATES IN CONVENTION, OCTOBER 31, 1783.
Portsmouth, N.H. 1783. 47pp. Quarto. Dbd. Later pen and pencil annotations
on titlepage. Moderate age-toning, dampstaining, foredges chipped. A good
copy. The
New Hampshire constitution from that state’s constitutional convention
of 1781-83, approved by the state’s delegates and citizenry and intended
to take effect in June 1784. An
earlier state constitution of 1781 had been rejected, and additional
revisions and amendments to the present document were proposed and finally
approved in 1792. Nebenzahl paid $120 for the Streeter copy. The Streeter Copy 234. [New
Mexico]: LISTA DE LOS CIUDADANOS QUE DEBERAN COMPONER LOS JURADOS DE
IMPRENTA POR EL AYUNTAMI-ENTO DE ESTA CAPITAL. Santa Fe: Imprenta de
Ramon Abreu a cargo de Jesus Maria Baca, 1834. Broadside, 13 x 7½ inches,
printed in double-column format. Overall clean and very good. In a half
morocco box. Thomas
W. Streeter’s copy of the earliest surviving New Mexico imprint, issued
while New Mexico was still a province of the Republic of Mexico, with
Streeter’s bookplate and pencil note indicating provenance.
The broadside lists the names of ninety men obligated to be jurors
under Mexican law in cases involving printing libels and other illegal
publications. Under a Mexican
law of Oct. 14, 1828, the ayuntamientos of the capital cities of
each state or province were required to establish a panel of at least
fifty individuals to serve as jurors over printed matter.
This is the list of citizens called to serve in Santa Fe.
It was issued by the ayuntamiento shortly after his
establishment of the first printing press in New Mexico.
“The first press of New Mexico was imported overland from the
United States in 1834 [and] was operating at Santa Fe by August 1834 with
Abreu as proprietor and Baca as printer, the latter having learned his
trade in Durango, Mexico” – Trienens. Howell paid $500 for this copy at the Streeter sale. Geologist Lewis Beck’s Copy 235. Nuttall,
Thomas: A JOURNAL OF TRAVELS INTO THE ARKANSA [sic] TERRITORY,
DURING THE YEAR 1819. WITH OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANNERS OF THE
ABORIGINES. Philadelphia: Printed and published by Thos. H. Palmer,
1821. xii,[9]-296pp. plus five lithographic plates and folding map. Modern
paper boards, paper spine and label. Three closed tears at folds of map,
repaired with tape on verso. Tanned, else very good. This
copy bears the contemporary ownership signature of Lewis C. Beck, a
geologist at Rutgers University and author of several important works of
American geology. One of the
important early travel narratives pertinent to the region, with a
considerable amount of valuable material relating to the Chickasaw,
Cherokee, and Osage Indians. Three
appendices are devoted specifically to observations of the Indians; there
is also a compilation of meteorological data.
Nuttall travelled in the company of Major Bradford from Fort Smith
to the prairie country and Red River, and spent some time near the mouth
of the Verdigris River. Clark
praises Nuttall’s scientific acumen and singles out his narrative as a
valuable work on the botanical history of the region. Goodspeed’s paid $75 for the Streeter copy. 236. [Onìs,
Luis de]: THE PASSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, WHICH RELATES TO THE
FORCIBLE OCCUPATION OF WEST FLORIDA, IMPERIOUSLY CLAIMS THE ATTENTION OF
EVERY AMERICAN...[caption title]. [Np. possibly 1810, but more
likely 1811]. 20pp. Errata slip affixed to final page. [bound with:] Onìs,
Luis de: OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF OUR EXECUTIVE TOWARD SPAIN
[caption title]. [Georgetown. 1813]. 25,[1]pp. [bound with:] Toze,
Eobald: THE FREEDOM OF THE NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE OF NEUTRAL NATIONS,
DURING WAR, CONSIDERED...[caption title]. [Np. nd].
[153]-312pp. All three titles bound in contemporary tree calf, rebacked in
modern calf, gilt morocco label. Uniform light tanning. Ownership
signature of Charles Jared Ingersoll (see below) on front pastedown. Very
good. In a half morocco and cloth box. The
first two of three early and important tracts on the growing controversy
between the United States and Spain over West Florida and Texas, published
anonymously by Luis de Onìs under the pen name of “Verus.”
As the Spanish minister to the United States, Onìs would negotiate
the landmark Adams-Onìs treaty of 1819, by which the U.S. acquired
Florida, agreed to a boundary with Spain all the way to the Pacific Ocean,
and fixed the boundary between Louisiana and Spanish-controlled Texas.
In the two tracts present here, Onìs addresses the question of the
control of West Florida and the boundary of Texas.
Onìs was not recognized by the U.S. as the Spanish ambassador
until 1815, and so here he writes in the guise of an American citizen
attempting to support Spanish claims to West Florida.
He warns of the “awful consequences” that would likely arise
from the “rash, unwarranted, and ill-fated” American occupation,
foreseeing potential military conflict with Spain, Great Britain, and
France. Of the first essay, no
copy is known to have a titlepage or imprint, and all conform to our copy.
We can locate five copies, plus the Streeter copy, of this first
tract. In the second title Onìs again defends Spain’s title to West Florida
and attacks American claims that the Brazos River constitutes the western
boundary of Louisiana, which he calls “ridiculous and unfounded.”
He also protests against the Guiterrez de Lara filibuster from
Natchitoches into Texas. Copies
of this second tract are known with and (more commonly) without
titlepages. A third anonymous
tract by Onìs appeared in 1817, and all three were published in his Memoria...
of 1820, where he ascribes dates to them.
Onìs dates the first essay to 1810, while Servies argues that it
is a response to Madison’s message of Jan. 3, 1811, and therefore
reasonably dates it in that year. This entire volume bears the ownership signature of Charles Jared
Ingersoll (1782-1862), author of Inchiquin and a history of the War
of 1812, and a lawyer and politician who served in the U.S. House from
1813 to 1815, and again from 1841 to 1849, when he was active in the
debate over the annexation of Texas, and on the sectional controversy.
Ingersoll has identified himself as the translator of the third
item in this volume, a treatise on freedom of navigation published in The
American Law Journal (circa 1817). An important and rare pair of tracts on the growing controversy over West
Florida, and on the boundaries of Texas and the westward reach of the
United States. Not an exact comparison, as Streeter had only the first of these
pamphlets. It sold to the
Carnegie Book Shop for the Clements Library for $350. 237. Parker,
Samuel, Rev.: JOURNAL OF AN EXPLORING TOUR BEYOND THE ROCKY
MOUNTAINS...PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1835, ’36, AND ’37...WITH A MAP OF
OREGON TERRITORY. Ithaca, N.Y.: Published by the Author, 1838. 371pp.
plus plate and folding map. Original cloth, expertly rebacked with
original backstrip and paper label laid down. New endpapers. Scattered
foxing. Map with small repairs, but very nice. Overall very good. The
Rev. Parker accompanied the American Fur Company’s exploring party of
1835 from Council Bluffs to Walla Walla.
The map is the earliest to illustrate the interior of Oregon with
any pretense toward accuracy. Contains
a vocabulary of the Nez Perce language, as well as those of other tribes. Stampfli bought the Streeter copy for $325, a very high price at the time
for one of the commonest of Wagner-Camp books. 238. Parkinson,
Sydney: A JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS, IN HIS MAJESTY’S SHIP,
THE ENDEAVOUR.... London: Printed for Stanfield Parkinson, 1773.
xxiii,212,[2]pp. plus twenty-six plates, a map, and an engraved
frontispiece portrait. Large quarto. Contemporary calf, expertly rebacked
with original gilt-extra spine strip laid down, gilt crest on front and
rear boards, corners refurbished. Minor edge wear. Occasional light foxing
and some offsetting from plates. On large paper, with generous margins.
Overall a very good copy. In a cloth chemise and half morocco and cloth
slipcase, spine gilt. Parkinson
accompanied Capt. James Cook on his first voyage to the South Pacific and
New Zealand, serving as draughtsman under the naturalist, Joseph Banks.
As botanical artist for the Endeavor voyage, Parkinson produced a
large number of magnificent botanical and natural history drawings of
Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. His
untimely death near the end of the voyage while en route from Batavia to
the Cape of Good Hope resulted in a dispute between his brother,
Stanfield, and Banks over ownership of his manuscripts and drawings.
When Hawkesworth learned of the impending publication of this work,
he sought and received an injunction to prevent its appearance until
sometime after the official account was issued.
Hawkesworth went so far as to omit mention of Parkinson’s name
from the official account, and even failed to give him credit for his
botanical illustrations. The
present work stands as the most attractive of the unofficial accounts of
Cook’s first voyage. It
contains extensive descriptions of Australia and New Zealand, and is the
first work to properly identify the kangaroo by name.
The handsome plates are from Parkinson’s drawings, and they
depict natives of Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, and New Zealand, scenes in
Tahiti and New Zealand, and native artifacts.
Also included are several vocabularies of South Sea languages. A major journal for Cook’s first voyage. Goodspeed’s bought the Streeter copy for $950 for Frank Streeter.
Since the plates were colored in that copy, it is not an exact
comparison with the present one. At
the Frank Streeter sale in April 2007 it sold to Donald Heald for $48,000. A Classic of the Overland Trail 239. Parkman,
Francis: THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL: BEING SKETCHES OF PRAIRIE AND
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LIFE. New York. 1849. 448pp. plus advertisements.
Illustrated half title. Frontispiece. Original blue blindstamped cloth,
gilt-stamped spine. Contemporary ownership signatures on front pastedown
and free endpaper. Joints cracked, spine slightly faded, edges of text
block decorated with green and yellow stripes. Very good and tight. In a
chemise and half morocco slipcase. Second
printing of the first edition, with the advertisement leaves numbered 1
through 6, and 8. This
printing was issued in mid-April 1849 and consisted of 500 copies.
One of the classics of western travel literature, Parkman’s work
may be the most familiar piece of western travel writing to modern
readers. The exciting
adventures of the young Boston Brahmin loose on the plains makes excellent
reading. Field remarks: “Mr.
Parkman had all the genuine love of adventure of a frontiersman, the taste
for the picturesque and romantic of an artist, and the skill in narration
of an accomplished raconteur. It
is not too high praise to say that his pictures of savage life are not
excelled....” Not exactly the same issue as the Streeter copy, which sold to
Goodspeed’s for $90. A Classic of Overland Literature 240. Pattie,
James O.: THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF JAMES O. PATTIE, OF KENTUCKY, DURING
AN EXPEDITION FROM ST. LOUIS, THROUGH THE VAST REGIONS BETWEEN THAT PLACE
AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN, AND THENCE BACK THROUGH THE CITY OF MEXICO TO VERA
CRUZ.... Cincinnati. 1833. 300pp. plus five plates. Modern calf and
marbled boards, leather label. A few small ink splotches on p.15, likely
from the time of priting, obscuring a few letters. Two leaves with small
hole in text, affecting a few words. Overall very good. The
second edition of Pattie’s narrative, differing from the 1831 edition
only in the reprinted titlepage. The
sheets in each edition are from the same printing.
The editor and virtual author, Cincinnati literary lion Timothy
Flint, achieved such a poor sale of the original edition that he canceled
the titlepage and reissued the work with the 1833 date to make it seem
current. The Pattie account is one of the classics of Western Americana.
The author and his father were engaged in the fur trade in the
Southwest in the 1820s. In
1828 they went overland to California, only the second American group to
make the trip by a southern route (the first was Jedediah Smith in 1826),
and the first to publish an account of their journey.
The party experienced difficulty and dangers in New Mexico,
Arizona, and California, where they were tossed in jail by Mexican
authorities and the elder Pattie died.
The son was released after he aided in vaccinating people during a
smallpox epidemic. A major
work of Californiana and Western Americana. Dawson’s bought the Streeter copy for $475.
It was later bought by Ken Hill, and is now in the Hill Collection
at the University of California, San Diego. 241. [Pearse,
James]: A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF JAMES PEARSE, IN TWO PARTS. PART I,
CONTAINING A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF HIS EARLY LIFE, AND MORE PARTICULARLY OF
FIVE YEARS RESIDENCE IN THE STATES OF MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA...PART
II, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS UNFORTUNATE IMPRISONMENT AT
PLATTSBURGH.... Rutland, Vt. 1825. 144pp. Contemporary half morocco
and paper-covered boards. First and terminal blank leaves lacking;
pp.137-138 lacking, replaced with facsimile leaf. Small hole in inner
margin of first four leaves, not affecting text. Gift inscription, dated
1826, on fly leaf. Scattered foxing and occasional stains. Early pencil
and ink drawings on front and rear endpapers. Bookseller’s label on rear
pastedown. Good. An
interesting memoir, in two parts, the first recounting the author’s
unhappy sojourn in the South from 1818 to 1823, the second detailing his
trial for slander against a corrupt innkeeper.
Part I is particularly illuminating in its gritty descriptions of
migration, work, illness, society, and slavery in Mississippi and
Louisiana from the perspective of one of the many northerners who had
attempted to settle in that region in the early 1800s.
The author worked briefly as a plantation slave manager, despite
his strong antislavery views. Sanders paid $100 for the Streeter copy. Early Description of Louisiana 242. Pendergrast,
Garrett Elliott: A PHYSICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE MISSISSIPPI
TERRITORY, LOWER LOUISIANA, AND A PART OF WEST FLORIDA. Philadelphia.
1803. 34pp. 19th-century three-quarter gilt speckled calf and cloth, spine
gilt extra, leather labels. Edgeworn, hinges bit tender. Armorial
bookplate of William Bailey on front pastedown and verso of titlepage.
Very good. A
presentation copy, with the author’s faint inscription still visible on
the blank facing page [11]. Generally
credited with being the first American scientific description of the lower
Mississippi Valley, based on the observations of the author and material
supplied by William Dunbar. The
author was a native of Natchez, and this work (dedicated to some of the
most eminent scientists of the day) was his dissertation for the degree of
Doctor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jones notes this work as “very rare,” and the Eberstadts call
it “a great rarity.” Ralph Newman paid $900 on behalf of Harry Sonneborn at the Streeter sale.
At the disastrous Sonneborn sale in 1980 it went to MacManus for
$770. A Rarity of the Early Indian Wars 243. Penhallow,
Samuel: THE HISTORY OF THE WARS OF NEW-ENGLAND, WITH THE EASTERN INDIANS.
OR, A NARRATIVE OF THEIR CONTINUED PERFIDY AND CRUELTY.... Boston:
Printed by T. Fleet, for S. Gerrish...and D. Henchman..., 1726.
[2],iv,[2],134,[1]pp., including in-text woodcuts. 12mo. 19th-century
green morocco, gilt, spine richly gilt. Binding edgeworn and rubbed.
Titlepage stained. Text trimmed close throughout, usually touching the
final letter on a line, but not affecting legibility. Lower quarter of
titlepage (containing the imprint and two lines of Latin text) as well as
the advertisement leaf in expert facsimile. An acceptable copy. From
the library of noted collector Walter T. Wallace, with his bookplate on
the front paste-down. One of
the primary sources for the early Indian wars of New England, describing
the fighting on the northern and eastern borders of Massachusetts during
Queen Anne’s War of 1703-13 as well as fighting in 1722-25.
Vail calls it an “excellent history,” and Field adds that
Penhallow’s “work on the Indian wars is esteemed as the highest
authority on that subject.” Penhallow,
although having gone to Massachusetts as a missionary, became a chief
justice of the colony, and as such was in an excellent position to know
about colonial military affairs. A very rare book, accorded a “c” rating by Howes.
Vail calls it an “excellent history, and Field ranks it “among
the rarest of New England imprints.” Not an exact comparison, since this copy has the imperfections noted.
The Streeter copy sold to Sessler for $2000. Presentation Copy 244. [Perrie,
George W.]: BUCKSKIN MOSE; OR, LIFE FROM THE LAKES TO THE PACIFIC, AS
ACTOR, CIRCUS RIDER, DETECTIVE, RANGER, GOLD-DIGGER, INDIAN SCOUT, AND
GUIDE. New York. 1873. 285pp. plus plates and advertisements. Original
cloth. Binding rather cocked, spine ends bit frayed, else very good. A
presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front fly leaf:
“Charles R. Bennett, San Francisco, California December 1894, from the
Author G.W. Perrie.” “The
author reached California in the middle 50’s and spent some time in
Lassen County. Later he became
a noted Indian fighter. His
account of the Crim Emigration Company which numbered seventy-five men,
his journey across the plains, and his experiences in the diggings are
related with great verve and drama” – Streeter. Nebenzahl bought the Streeter copy for $25 and sold it to me for $100
thirteen years later, in 1981. I
sold it in 1982 to the California State Library at Chico for $275. First Edition of the Perrin du Lac Narrative: 245. Perrin
du Lac, François Marie: VOYAGE DANS LES DEUX LOUISIANES, ET CHEZ LES
NATIONS SAUVAGES DU MISSOURI, PAR LES ETATS UNIS, L’OHIO ET LES
PROVINCES QUI LE BORDENT, EN 1801, 1802 ET 1803.... Lyon. 1805.
[4],x,479pp. plus folding map and folding plate on bluish paper. Half
title. Contemporary plain wrappers, manuscript paper label. Minor wear to
wrappers, heavier wear to spine. Internally bright and clean. Near fine.
In a half morocco and cloth box. The
rare first edition of this important narrative.
The author arrived in New York in 1801 and travelled to St. Louis
by way of the Ohio, ascending the Missouri River as far as central South
Dakota with a fur trading expedition in the summer of 1802.
There is some doubt as to whether Perrin du Lac himself made this
trip or used without acknowledgement the journal of St. Louis trader Jean
Baptiste Trudeau, but the veracity of the account itself is unquestioned.
It is by far the most important published account of the Upper
Missouri fur trade in its early days, including a great deal of
information about tribes along the river.
The large map of the Missouri River, beautifully engraved, is
unquestionably the most detailed map of its watershed up to that point. Wheat
describes it as “the earliest published map of the Trans-Mississippi
region which can be said to display even the faintest resemblance to
accuracy.” It charts the
river as far as the Arikara villages in central South Dakota.
The folding plate illustrates “Mamoth tel qu’il existe au
Musaeum à Philadelphie.” One of the few major narratives of the trans-Mississippi area prior to
Lewis and Clark, here in the very rare first edition.
There were two issues published the same year, the other in Paris,
with the same collations, but Howes and Wagner-Camp consider the Lyon
issue to be the first. The
English edition of 1807 is an abridgement and contains an inferior,
reduced version of the map. Nebenzahl paid $300 for the Streeter copy, which was not nearly as nice
as the Siebert copy. 246. Perry,
J.A.: THRILLING ADVENTURES OF A NEW ENGLANDER. TRAVELS, SCENES AND
SUFFERINGS IN CUBA, MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. Boston. 1853. 96pp.,
including in-text illustrations. Pp.95-96 (one leaf) in expert facsimile.
Engraved vignette of a sailing ship on the titlepage. 20th-century
three-quarter calf and marbled boards, gilt morocco labels, neatly
rebacked. Light even tanning, a few fox marks. Several leaves with small
chips in foredge, but no loss of text. A good copy, with final text leaf
in facsimile. The
Thomas W. Streeter-Frank Streeter copy, with TWS’ pencil notes on the
front free endpaper, including a note that reads: “Mr. [Henry R.] Wagner
told me he always regarded this as very scarce.”
This is not the copy which appeared in the Thomas Streeter sale,
but evidently a second copy; TWS presumably upgraded because this was
imperfect. The only edition of
this scarce narrative of a trip through Cuba and Mexico to the California
gold fields. John Perry left
New York in February 1849, bound for Veracruz.
He stopped in Havana and gives a description of Cuba, with
criticism of the slavery he saw there.
He then relates his trip across Mexico via Mexico City and
Guadalajara, with descriptions of life in Mexico, roadside bandits, a bull
fight, etc. He spent a year
travelling around California, and then went to work in the gold mines at
Mormon Island. His description
of the mines is valuable for discussing the hardships there, as well as
tensions and violence that erupted between Indians and whites.
The engravings includes scenes of “A Pleasure Party in the Harbor
of Havana,” “Masquerade Ball in Cuba,” “A Mexican Dinner,”
“Robbers Attacking a Coach,” “Miners at Work in California,” and
“Hunting in the Mountains.” Not
in Sabin. “His narration of
the trip across Mexico makes this a valued work” – Kurutz.
Scarce. The other Streeter copy, which was perfect, realized $325 to Ginsberg at
the sale. First Government Exploration 247. Pike,
Zebulon M.: AN ACCOUNT OF EXPEDITIONS TO THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
AND THROUGH THE WESTERN PARTS OF LOUISIANA, TO THE SOURCES OF THE ARKANSAW,
KANS, LA PLATTE, AND PIERRE JAUN, RIVERS...DURING THE YEARS 1805, 1806,
AND 1807. AND A TOUR THROUGH THE INTERIOR PARTS OF NEW SPAIN...IN THE YEAR
1807. Philadelphia: Published by C. & A. Conrad, & Co...,
1810. [8],105,[11],[107]-277,[5],65,[1],53,[1],87pp. plus six maps (five
folding) and three folding charts. Frontispiece portrait. Later
three-quarter morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Lightly tanned. Very
good. Tipped
into this copy is an extra engraving of Pike, fashioned after the
frontispiece portrait, and captioned: “The brave Brigadier General
Zebulon M. Pike, Who gloriously fell in his Country’s cause April 27th
1813. At York, in Upper
Canada.” The report of the first United States government expedition to the
Southwest, and one of the most important of all American travel
narratives, including an account of Pike’s travels to explore the
headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers, his earlier journey to explore
the sources of the Mississippi River, and his visit to the Spanish
settlements in New Mexico. Pike’s
narrative stands with those of Long and of Lewis and Clark as the most
important early book on western exploration and as a cornerstone of
Western Americana. The maps
were the first to exhibit a geographic knowledge of the Southwest based on
firsthand exploration and are considered “milestones in the mapping of
the American West” (Wheat). “The
description of Texas is excellent” – Streeter. Goodspeed’s bought the Streeter copy for $325. The 1796 Treaty of Friendship Between 248. [Pinckney’s
Treaty]: Charles IV of Spain: REAL CEDULA DE S.M. Y SENORES DEL CONSEJO,
EN QUE SE MANDA OBSERVAR Y GUARDAR EL TRATADO DE AMISTAD, LIMITES DE
NAVEGACION CONCLUIDO Y RATIFICADO ENTRE SU REAL PERSONA Y LOS ESTADOS
UNIDOS DE AMERICA. Toledo: En la Imprenta de Don Isidro Martin
Marques, 1796. 31pp. Folio. Modern vellum. Crisp and clean. A fine copy,
signed on final page with manuscript flourish of Josef de Covos. The
apparently unrecorded Toledo printing of this far-reaching treaty, present
in a certified copy with the Royal Coat of Arms on the title-leaf.
The treaty, comprised of twenty-three articles, was drawn up in San
Ildefonso on Sept. 4, 1796. Senator
Thomas Pinckney represented the United States, and the negotiations were
ratified by Washington and Charles IV.
Various clauses of the treaty define the boundaries of Florida,
mark the Mississippi as the definite boundary between Spanish Louisiana
and the settlements of the United States, and most significantly, secure
common navigation of the Mississippi for Americans and Spaniards.
Spain had asserted her absolute right to the navigation of the
Mississippi. To the American
settler, the Alleghenies and the bad roads were enough to cut him off from
any other route to market than down the river, and it was not easy to
restrain acts of forcible defiance of the Spanish claim.
The northern states were willing to allow the Spanish claim in
return for a commercial treaty, but the southern states protested angrily,
and the issue nearly resulted in dissolution.
The specter was not laid to rest until the negotiation and
ratification of this treaty. The
Maggs-Streeter-Beinecke copy of the Madrid edition of this document
realized $5000 at the Streeter sale. The
NUC locates seven copies of the Madrid edition and one copy of an
Alcala printing, but not a single copy of this Toledo printing.
We have seen a San Sebastian edition as well. Another inexact comparison, as Streeter had the Madrid edition.
It sold to Peter Decker for F.W. Beinecke for $5000 and is now at
Yale. A Legendary Rarity 249. Post,
Christian Frederick: THE SECOND JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST, ON A
MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR OF PENSILVANIA [sic] TO THE INDIANS ON
THE OHIO. London: Printed for J. Wilkie, 1759. 67pp. Antique calf,
stamped in gilt, spine gilt extra, leather label, gilt inner dentelles.
Titlepage slightly soiled, clean tear in margin repaired with no loss of
text. Occasional browning. Scattered light dampstaining in margin. Upper
corner of pP.45-46 torn with no loss of text. A very good copy. Christian
Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, was one of the most heroic figures
of the French and Indian War. By
single-handedly winning over the Indians of the Ohio Valley to the side of
the British, he achieved one of the major successes that led to the end of
the French and Indian War. He
made two dangerous journeys into the western part of Pennsylvania to
persuade the Indians to remain neutral or support the British.
This is the very rare account of Post’s The Second Journal...,
said by Lawrence Wroth to have been printed at Benjamin Franklin’s
expense. “Since the days of
Regulus no more perilous mission has been undertaken by a single man.
Braddock had been defeated, and eight hundred white soldiers slain.
Rewards that would have tempted all the fierce borderers a year
before, were offered in vain, until Christian Post, rejecting all offers
of compensation, and solely for peace and mercy’s sake, set out upon his
mission...It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the work he
accomplished. By his
persuasions he detached the Ohio Indians from the French interest, and the
empire of that nation in the west fell” – Field. The Streeter copy was bound with his copy of Thomson (see our note under
that author). 250. Powell,
H.M.T.: THE SANTA FE TRAIL TO CALIFORNIA 1849 – 1852
THE JOURNAL AND DRAWINGS OF H.M.T. POWELL. San Francisco.
[1931]. [14],272pp. plus plates and folding map. Folding frontispiece.
Folio. Half pigskin and cloth. Spine slightly darkened, cloth bit sunned.
Else a fine copy, without slipcase. One
of 300 copies printed by the Grabhorn Press for The Book Club of
California, and generally considered to be one of the masterpieces of
Grabhorn printing. Powell’s
extensive and detailed diary is one of the few gold rush narratives to
follow the southern route, going over the Santa Fe Trail through New
Mexico and Arizona. His
journal then records his sojourn in the mines.
An important modern overland and fine press classic. The Streeter copy went to Goodspeed’s for $250. |
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Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
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Questions or comments?Write us at amorder@reeseco.com |
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