James, Edwin (1797-1861)
Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819, 1820.

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1823.

First London edition (printed in the same year as the first American, with additional plates), three octavo volumes, half-titles present in second and third volumes, illustrated with large folding map, eight full page plates (of which three are hand-colored), one large folding map, one folding engraving showing elevations in the Rockies, and one text illustration; the set bound in uniform half tan calf, marbled paper boards, spines tooled in gilt compartments with labels, a neat set, 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (3)

Abbey Travel 650; Howes J-41; Sabin 35683; Wagner-Camp 25.

American botanist, mountain climber, explorer, army surgeon, and Vermonter, James is best known for his participation in the Long expedition as a twenty-two year-old, and the subsequent memorialization of the party's adventures in the present work. He is also remembered for the first recorded ascent of a mountain over 14,000 feet in elevation in North America, collecting Alpine botanical specimens, forging relationships with Native People, and participating in abolitionist work to aid enslaved African Americans.