Page 123 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

268 ● (TRAVEL.) Lyell, Charles. Travels in North America; with Geological
Observations of the United States. 2 maps, 5 plates, some hand-colored; text illustra-
tions. 2 volumes. 12mo, publisher’s cloth, stiffly recased, moderate wear; ink marks on title
pages; uncut; small bookplate on front pastedown. 10, [2] pages of June 1845 publisher’s
ads. London, 1845 [250/350]
FIRST EDITION. Includes travels in Canada, Boston, Virginia, South Carolina, and elsewhere.
Particular attention is given to Niagara Falls, and to race relations. “Lyell’s powers of close,
accurate observation, coupled with his judicious temper, render his works on America among the
best of his generation”—Clark, Old South III:199. Dow, Niagara pages I:546-561
(“fascinating and well-written”); Howes L575; Lande 578; Sabin 42761.
269 ● (TRAVEL.) Perrin du Lac, François Marie. Voyage dans les deux Louisianes,
et chez les nations sauvages du Missouri, par les États-Unis, l’Ohio et les
Provinces qui le bordent. Folding map, folding plate (closed tear). 8vo, contemporary
calf, moderate wear; hinges split, map on bluish paper (as called for by Howes) supplied
from another copy and slightly adhered to page 1, intermittent early marks and small ink
smudges, minor foxing, closed tear in leaf Dd7; early owner’s inscriptions on front free
endpaper. With half-title. Lyon, 1805 [3,000/4,000]
FIRST EDITION (probably preceding the 1805 Paris edition). An account of a tour through the
northeast, down the Ohio by flatboat, up the Missouri and Platte from St. Louis, and then
down to New Orleans. Extensive attention is given to the American Indians. Particularly
important for its details on the Missouri River fur trade, and for the related map of the
Missouri, described by Wagner as “the earliest published map of the trans-Mississippi region
which can be said to display even the faintest resemblance to accuracy”—Wagner-Camp 3:1. It
drew upon the same unpublished surveys by James Mackay that were important to the Lewis
and Clark expedition. “His beautifully-executed map was the only published form in which
the work of Mackay . . . could be found for upwards of a century”—Wheat, Transmississippi
West I:256 and page 164.
“Of New Orleans we learn that the Catalans were too familiar with the Negroes, the governor
was an old scoundrel . . . the men were lazy and pleasure-seeking and preferred colored
concubines to wives, the slaves were vicious and poorly furnished”—Clark, Old South 2:114.
The 1807 English translation omits all of the racy bits. If you read French, this is the one to
get. Field 1204; Graff 3254; Howes P244 (“b”); Monaghan, French Travellers 1176; Sabin
61102; Streeter sale III:1773.
269