“AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE OF WESTERN MAPPING”: THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AFTER LEWIS AND CLARK

IRVING, Washington. Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1836. Two volumes. Octavo, original patterned blue-gray cloth, Volume I rebacked with original spine laid down; housed in a custom clamshell box. $2000.

First edition, first issue, with the folding map of the routes of Hunt and Stuart, “an important milestone of western mapping” (Wheat, 157).

In 1811, Wilson Price Hunt and his party of Astorians (explorers financed by John Jacob Astor, the most powerful fur merchant of the time) embarked on the first expedition to the Pacific Northwest after Lewis and Clark. Steering away from the Missouri route of Lewis and Clark, they traveled across unexplored territory, becoming "the first party to see the Black Hills (Laramie Mountains) of Wyoming, first to come through the Wind River Mountains via Union Pass, first across the Tetons, first to attempt navigation of the 'mad' Snake River in Idaho, and first to cross the Blue Mountains in southeastern Oregon," before arriving at their final destination of Fort Astoria (a small settlement founded by sea explorers financed by Astor) in today's northwest Oregon (Roscoe and Larkin, 44-54). Irving was selected by Astor to write an account of the journey and to keep faithful reports of the terrain explored. Astoria is "crowded with incidents of Indian subtlety or ferocity, as well as with descriptions of the manners and peculiarities of the fierce lords of the great plains, and the vaster mountains, before civilization had enervated or corrupted them" (Field 760). First issue, with copyright notice on verso of Volume I title page and garbled footnote on page 239 of Volume II. In BAL's cloth B, no priority. BAL 10148. Graff 2158. Howes I81. Langfeld & Blackburn, 35. Sabin 35130. Wagner-Camp 61:1. Bookplates, early owner signatures.

Moderate foxing to text, folding map with expert paper repairs; cloth with mild rubbing, Volume I with expert restoration to spine. A very nice copy in the original cloth.