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“REVEALED A STRANGE AND UNKNOWN WORLD, FULL OF EXCITING WONDERS… POINTED THE WAY TO ITS POSSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT”
LEWIS, Meriwether and CLARK, William. History of the Expedition Under the Command. Philadelphia, 1814. Two volumes. Exceptionally rare first edition, one of only 1,417 copies printed, of the definitive account of the most important exploration of the North American continent, with the famous large folding map of the course of the expedition and five in-text maps.
$250,000.
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“THE STUDY OF COOK IS THE ILLUMINATION OF ALL DISCOVERY”
(COOK, James). Cook's Three Voyages. London, 1773, 1777, 1784. Nine volumes altogether. Scarce complete set of first editions of Cook’s three Pacific voyages, including a first issue of the First Voyage, complete with the splendid large folio atlas volume to accompany the third voyage. Superbly illustrated with 203 engraved charts, maps and plates, many double-page or folding. A uniformly and very handsomely bound set in full period-style calf-gilt. $85,000.
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“ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCOUNTS OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND NEW ZEALAND”
VANCOUVER, George. Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean. London, 1798. Three volumes, plus atlas. Four volumes in all. First edition of this comprehensive survey of the North Pacific, illustrated with 17 plates and a chart. Complete with large folio atlas volume, with ten large folding engraved charts (eight of the coast of Northwest America) and six engraved views, offering what are probably the first published views of California. “This work ranks with the voyages of Cook and La Pérouse among the most important of the 18th and 19th centuries” (Cox II, 30-31). $72,000.
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“IT IS DIFFICULT TO OVERRATE THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE
OF THIS EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION OF VOYAGES”
HAKLUYT, Richard. Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation. London, 1589. Rare first edition of one of the greatest of all travel books, without the very scarce folding engraved world map (almost never present), but with the rare suppressed account of Drake’s voyage, handsomely bound by William Pitt Pratt. $60,000.
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“A CORNERSTONE OF ANY COLLECTION OF WESTERN AMERICANA”
PIKE, Zebulon. Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi. Philadelphia, 1810. Rare first edition of “one of the great chronicles of American pioneering achievement,” the primary account of the first United States government expedition to the Southwest, with six maps (five folding), three folding tables, and frontispiece portrait of Pike. Rare in contemporary sheep binding. $42,000.
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“TO ARREST AND THEREBY ETERNALIZE THE CURRENT MOMENT”
COBURN, Alvin Langdon. London. London and New York, 1909. First edition of Coburn’s first, groundbreaking photobook, an elegant folio production of 20 hand-pulled gravure plates tipped onto rich gray paper, each prepared by Coburn himself, representing a revolutionary “transition from pictorialism to modernism… a shift in attitude that triggered the final push towards photographic modernism” (Parr & Badger). $35,000.
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“MUCH RIDICULED BUT LIVELY AND INFORMATIVE”
CORYATE, Thomas. Coryats Crudities. London, 1611. Rare first edition of the legendary traveler Thomas Coryate’s “lively and informative” account (Baugh et al., 623) of his prolific travels through the major cities of 17th-century Europe, “the first English handbook on continental travel,” long coveted by collectors, illustrated with six woodcut plates (two folding), handsomely bound by Bedford. $32,000.
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FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF HENNEPIN’S NEW DISCOVERY, 1698
HENNEPIN, Father Louis. A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America. London, 1698. First edition in English of Hennepin’s two important accounts (in three parts) of his American exploration, with additional engraved title page, two large folding maps and six folding copper-engraved plates, including the first view of Niagara Falls. Jefferson owned copies of Hennepin’s works, and his maps influenced the planning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. $30,000.
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FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF HENNEPIN’S NEW DISCOVERY, 1698
HENNEPIN, Father Louis. A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America. London, 1698. First edition in English of Hennepin’s two important accounts (in three parts) of his American exploration, with additional engraved title page, two large folding maps and six folding copper-engraved plates, including the first view of Niagara Falls. Jefferson owned copies of Hennepin’s works, and his maps influenced the planning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. $30,000.
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STAUNTON’S “REMARKABLE ACCOUNT OF CHINESE MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS AT THE CLOSE OF THE 18TH CENTURY” (HILL)
STAUNTON, George Leonard. Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain. London, 1797. Three volumes altogether. First edition of this splendidly detailed description of 18th-century China, with engraved frontispiece portraits of the Emperor Tchien Lung and Lord Macartney and 27 additional in-text engravings, together with the Atlas plate volume containing 44 finely engraved folio plates, including several large folding maps and charts—among the earliest accurate charts of the interior of China—and lovely picturesque views and cityscapes by William Alexander. $28,500.
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