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1793 BARTRAM TRAVEL Carolina Georgia Florida PLATES MAP
This item SOLD on 6/29/2009 for $1,404.00
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Dublin: printed for J. Moore, W. Jones, R. McAllister, and J. Rice, 1793. The 3rd edition (and the 1ST IRISH EDITION) of this classic account of American natural history and exploration, with much material on the southern Indian tribes, which was first published in 1791 in Philadelphia. This Dublin edition, printed two years after the first, has the same collation and plates as the first English edition of 1792, and is, arguably, the RAREST of all editions of this work, and appears in trade even more seldom than the 1791 First. Bartrams "Travels" is an Insightful record of the author's extensive travels in the territories of the Creek, Cherokee and Choctaw Indians as far west as the Mississippi River. The author had great interest in the Indians and with white fur traders, and the narrative abounds in descriptions of forest life and the customs and manners of various tribes. The work has been hailed as "unequalled for the vivid picturesqueness of its descriptions of nature, scenery, and productions" (Sabin), and as "a valuable original authority on the Southern Indians during the Revolutionary war" (Stevens). Streeter calls Bartram's book "The classic of southern natural history and exploration, with much on the southern Indian tribes. Bartram's account of the remote frontier, of the plantations, trading posts, and Indian villages at the end of the eighteenth century is unrivaled." William Bartram (1739-1823), a celebrated American naturalist, was born in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania (then near Philadelphia), the son of John Bartram, a Pennsylvania Quaker and an early American botanist, horticulturalist, and explorer (whom Carl Linnaeus called the "greatest natural botanist in the world"). Bartram is famous for his journey of exploration throughout the American Southeast in the modern states of Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Florida he undertook between 1773 and 1777, recording the flora, fauna and Indian tribes he found there. Bartram sailed from Philadelphia in March 1773, explored Georgia, and began exploring East Florida in March 1774, especially the St. Johns River and the Alachua Savanna peopled by Seminole Indians. Returning to Charleston, Bartram set out for the southern Appalachians and the Cherokee country in April 1775, unaware that war had broken out in New England. Bartram crossed the Chattahoochee River into what later became the state of Alabama, then traveled to Mobile and Pensacola. Despite illness, he continued his journey west along the Gulf coast and up the Mississippi River beyond Baton Rouge. Sailing again to Mobile, he traveled inland late in the year to the Creek Indian settlements on the Tallapoosa River. In January 1776 Bartram returned to Georgia, shipped the last of his plant specimens to London from Savannah, and returned home to Philadelphia. Bartram made discoveries and sketches of over 200 new botanical specimens, including the Venus Fly Trap and a now extinct tree named for his great friend Benjamin Franklin, calling it the Franklin tree or Franklinia alatamatha. In addition to his scientific writings, Bartram was one of the earliest authors to document the customs of the Cherokee and Creek Indian tribes who were so prevalent throughout the Southeast at that time. Bartram's attention to detail and his vivid descriptions make for one of the most enduring and engaging journals of early exploration of southern natural history and ethnographical study. The words of this naturalist have stirred the emotions and minds of such renowned romantic writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge giving inspiration to them in their own literature. We are offering a complete, very attractive and well-preserved example (in a period binding) of this immensely important work with the frontispiece, the folding map, and all the plates present! The folding map shows the eastern coast of Florida, from the River St. John to near Cape Canaveral. The frontispiece is the engraved portrait of Mico Chlucco, the Long Warrior, or King of the Seminoles with feathered headdress and garments, necklace, tomahawk, etc. The other seven engraved plates (including one folding) show various plants of the regions described, and two depictions of the great soft-shelled tortoise. The Bartram's "Travels" is, without a doubt, a key book from the period of early settlement of the American Southeast, and an absolute must for any collector of Americana! Bibliographic references: Field 94-96; Howes B223; Sabin 3870; ESTC t121441; Streeter 1088 (1st ed.) Physical description: Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 "). Bound in full tree calf of the period flat spine ruled in gilt with red gilt-lettered title label (very neatly rebacked at an early date preserving original backstrip). Pagination: xxiv, 520, [12] pp.+ plates. Illustrated with with engraved frontispiece portrait of Mico Chlucco, King of the Seminoles; 1 folding copper-engraved map; and 7 further copper-engraved plates (one of which folding). COMPLETE with all plates and the map present. Part IV has its own divisional title-page (Hh 8 recto) with the title "An Account of the Persons, Manners, Customs and Government of the Muscogulges or Creeks, Cherokees, Chactaws, &c. Aborigines of the Continent of North America." Preliminaries include the author's Introduction and Table of Contents. Index at the end of the volume, with "Direction to the binder" on verso of the final leaf. Provenance: From the collection of Sir John Leslie, Bart., Glaslough House (County Monaghan, Ireland), a Conservative Member of Parliament for Monaghan from 1871 to 1880: with his engraved armorial book-plate [Franks 18177] on front pastedown. (The provenance suggests a possibility of an interesting American association, as Sir John Leslie's son was married to Leonie Jerome, a sister of Jennie Jerome, the famous American beauty and future Lady Randolph Churchill and mother of Winston Churchill !). Two well-preserved small colorful birds' feathers laid in between pages. Condition: Very Good+ to Near Fine antiquarian condition. Binding slightly rubbed, skillfully rebacked and slightly repaired at an early date preserving original backstrip. Binding tight. Interior exceptionally clean, bright and unmarked; all plates in excellent state of preservation. A particularly attractive example of this rare and important book! Please click on thumbnails below to see larger images. The winner must contact us within three days, and payment is due within 7 days after the auction's end. Please be responsible and do not bid if you are not intending to pay. We reserve the right to cancel bids from eBayers with no feedback or a history of negative feedback. This book will be shipped to any US location FREE of charge by FedEx. International shipping at cost. Happy bidding!
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