Sale 2683 - Lot 337

Lewis, Meriwether (1774-1809) & William Clark (1770-1838)
Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean.

London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1814.

First English edition, quarto; one page of ads at rear; illustrated with a large engraved folding map opposite title and 3 plates containing 5 charts; in quarter calf over marbled boards, spine gilt-lettered and decorated (plates somewhat foxed, a few short tears to folds, offsetting to opposite text leaves; lacking half-title, two closed tears; boards detached, losses at spine ends); 10 1/2 x 8 in.

The first London edition of Lewis and Clarke's, "definitive account of the most important exploration of the North American continent," (Wagner-Camp) differs only slightly from the preceding 1814 Philadelphia edition. This edition omits the appendix, which dealt with U.S. so-called "Indian Affairs," and was therefore deemed too local a topic for British interest. The "Life of Lewis" was also omitted, but this edition does include two excerpts of letters, from and to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson and Lewis had maintained a friendship for many years, but by 1809, their relationship had soured. Some scholars attribute the fallout to Lewis's debt trouble, which contributed to his declining mental state, and ended in his mysteriously violent death in October of that year.

Provenance: Joseph C. Thomas (1862-1929) with armorial bookplate to front pastedown.

Howes L317; Sabin 40829; Wagner-Camp 12.