North American Exploration
From Helen R. Kahn Rare Books
Helen Kahn's Lewis & Clark, Western Exploration, and Louisiana Purchase.
By Michael Stillman
Helen R. Kahn and Associates Rare Books has recently released a catalogue of Americana focused on the "Lewis & Clark Expedition, Western Exploration, Louisiana Purchase." For those who collect books on the western exploration of America, this catalogue cannot be missed. You will find many if not most of the principal works covering the pre-1850 journeys into and across the heartland.
Undoubtedly the most collectible of all these travel narratives is the one commonly known as
"Lewis and Clark," but technically History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark...prepared for the press by Paul Allen. Helen Kahn offers a copy of the first edition, printed in Philadelphia in 1814. This copy lacks the original map, but comes with one of 150 numbered copies made from the original copper plate by the American Philosophical Society. Item 41. The price reflects the absence of the map - $25,000 for an item otherwise priced in six figures. Item 42 is the first London edition of this same work, also printed in 1814, and complete with the map. $29,500.
There are several more Lewis and Clark related items in the catalogue. Item 40 is the 1809 unauthorized and unproofed The Travels of Capts. Lewis & Clarke...(Clark spelled his name without an "e").With serious delays in the official version, which was not published until 1814, and great interest in the journey from the public, some unauthorized reports were prepared. This is one. $5,000. Item 24 is Patrick Gass' A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery under the Command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke... (Gass couldn't spell Clark's name either). Gass was a member of the expedition and published his work in 1807, the first book about the journey to be released. $11,500. Item 15 is a more recent book (1970) which contains biographies of most of the participants in the famed expedition. It is called The Men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: a Biographical Roster of the Fifty-one Members and a Composite Diary of their Activities from All Known Sources, by Charles Clarke. And yes, this Clarke spells his name with an "e". $450.
|
North American Exploration
From Helen R. Kahn Rare Books
non
You might think Lewis and Clark were the first explorers to make it by land to the Pacific, and you would be right if you were focused on just the United States. However, Canadians will be familiar with the exploits of Alexander Mackenzie, who led two major expeditions across the frozen northlands. In his first in 1789, Mackenzie followed what is now known as the Mackenzie River, which led him, contrary to plans, to the Arctic Ocean. It took him four years to get the backing for another trip, but in 1793 Mackenzie managed to wind his way through Northern Canada to the Pacific. Unfortunately, his route was not a practical road and Mackenzie never got the backing again to find a better one. However, he remains the first non-native American to make it by land across North America (north of Mexico) to the Pacific. Item 45 is Mackenzie’s 1801 book Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the Years 1789 and 1793. $7,750.
It was La Salle's explorations that justified France's claim to the vast territories in the New World then known as "Louisiana." It was La Salle who named this area for the French King Louis XIV. He undertook many explorations, the most successful of which brought him from Canada down the length of the Mississippi. He claimed all of this territory for France. His final voyage, however, was not successful. Attempting to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi, La Salle missed his target and ended up in Texas. He died, so to speak, a Texan, killed by his own men, unhappy with being stranded in a place which bore little resemblance to Paris. Item 35, by Henri Joutel, is a Journal Historique du Dernier Voyage que feu M. de la Sale (sic)... (here's another author who couldn't spell his subject's name). Joutel was one of the few survivors of this last, tragic mission and took much of the information for his book about the last journey from La Salle's diary. Item 35, from 1713. $9,500.
It would only be a century and a quarter after La Salle claimed half of America for the French that France would make its final exit from the continent. Actually, France's effective role would end much sooner with the conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763, when she would cede Louisiana to the Spanish. However, for a brief period after the turn of the 19th century, France would reassume control. That would come to a quick end in 1803 when Napoleon, with no troops to spare for America, and in dire need of currency, would make Jefferson an offer he couldn’t refuse: Louisiana. Here is that famous purchase from the French perspective. Francois Barbe-Marbois was involved in the negotiations for France and writes about the deal in Histoire de la Louisiane et la Cession de cette Colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis... In it he debunks claims by the United States that the Louisiana Purchase included Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Item 2. $1,500.
|
North American Exploration
From Helen R. Kahn Rare Books
none
Another of the more famed travel books is Washington Irving’s Astoria. Item 30 is the first issue, first state of this classic. $1,800. Less well known is The Rambler in North America: 1832-1833 by Charles Joseph Latrobe. Latrobe accompanied Irving on his journeys and provides a detailed look at Indian life and other observations from his travels. Item 37. $875.
Item 8 is T.D. Bonner's The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. Actually, exaggerator would also be an appropriate title for Beckwourth. Born a slave to an English father and slave mother, he was granted his freedom by his father who treated him as the son he was. Wanderlust would lead Beckwourth into the mountains in the employ of the fur companies. It was there he would witness or take part in the events that would be the subject of the tales he told Bonner. However, while Beckwourth was prone to exaggeration, much of what is written about is based on fact, including his many years with the Crow Nation, even if not as the head chief. $800. There is an interesting, though incomplete website about Beckwourth at the following address: http:www.beckwourth.org.
There are books from many other early travelers as well: John and William Bartram, Johnathan Carver, Ross Cox, David Coyner, and Gabriel Franchere to name a few. Helen R Kahn & Associates Rare Books may be found on the web at www.hrkahnbooks.com or reached at their home in Montreal at phone number 514-844-5344.
|