LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Feb Grand Format Book & Manuscript #682  / 

56507

Pike. Account Expeditions Source of Mississippi

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:975.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Pike. Account Expeditions Source of Mississippi
<B>Z[ebulon] M[ontgomery] Pike. </B></I><B><I>An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, to the Sources of the Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre Juan, Rivers</B></I></B></I><B>;</B></I> Performed by the Order of the Government of the United States during the Years 1805, 1806, and 1807, and a Tour through the Interior Parts of New Spain, When Conducted through these Provinces, by Order of the Captain-General, in the Year 1907. Illustrated by Maps and Charts. Philadelphia: Published by C. & A. Conrad, & Co...., 1810.<BR><BR>First edition of the first United States government expedition to the Southwest and one of the most important of all American travel narratives. Octavo (8.4375 x 5.1875 inches). 5, [1, blank], [1], [1, blank], 105, [1, blank], [9, Meteorological Observations], [1, blank], [107]-277, [3, blank], [2, Meteorological Observations], 65, [1], 53, [1, blank], 87, [1, blank] pages. This copy lacking one leaf of text (C3), the stipple-engraved frontispiece portrait of Pike by Edwin, the five folding engraved maps and charts, and most of one of the folding letterpress tables. Two folding letterpress tables and one engraved plate ("Falls of St Anthony") are present.<BR><BR>In a remboitage binding of later brown boards with newspaper classified ads, dated 1849, used as pastedowns. Cloth hinges. Title creased and torn, with a small hole affecting four letters in the word "Arkansaw," strengthened on the verso with newsprint. Light to moderate foxing and browning, as usual. Sold with all faults. <BR><BR>This copy with an early ink ownership inscription on the verso of the dedication leaf (preliminary p. [8]): "Marinus Willett Pikes Book / Decmbr 23 1810/ [flourish]" and at the head of p. 1: "Marinus Willett Pikes / Book December 23 1810 / Cosin to Z. M. Pike."<BR><BR>[Together with:] Black cloth silhouette portrait of M. W. Pike set into a paper matte (4.9375 x 3.875 inches) with a decorative gold paper frame on three sides. The paper is inscribed on the verso: "M. W. Pike. Phila'ha., Penna." Framed between glass (framed size: 16.8125 x 5.8125 inches).<BR><BR>"Major Pike was the first explorer under the government of the United States, of that vast portion of the republic now forming the States of Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico. His accounts of the principal features of the country, and of the savage tribes which inhabited it, are accurate and interesting. Six years after completing this tour, he was killed at Little York, in Canada, by the explosion of a magazine in a fort, from which he had just before driven the garrison by assault" (Sabin).<BR><BR>Marinus Willett Pike (1782-1861) was a carver and gilder of frames in Philadelphia. Gilded frames in this period were expensive, and Pike made some of the finest in Philadelphia, including those for portraits by Philadelphia painter Bass Otis (1784-1861).<BR><BR>Graff 3290. Howes P373 ("First government exploration of the Southwest"). Sabin 62936. Streeter 3125. Streeter, <I>Texas, </B></I>1047. Wagner-Camp 9:1. Wheat, <I>Transmississippi West, </B></I>297, 298, and 299.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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