Fauna Americana First Edition - Meriwether Lewis - Bauman Rare Books

Fauna Americana

Meriwether LEWIS | Thomas JEFFERSON | William CLARK | Richard HARLAN

Item#: 101921 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Fauna Americana

"MESSRS. LEWIS AND CLARK HAVE DESCRIBED SEVERAL NEW ANIMALS": 1825 FIRST EDITION OF RICHARD HARLAN’S FAUNA AMERICANA, WITH MATERIAL BASED ON THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION

HARLAN, Richard. Fauna Americana: Being a Description of the Mammiferous Animals Inhabiting North America. Philadelphia: Anthony Finley, 1825. Octavo, original drab boards respined, retaining part of original printed paper spine label, uncut. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and slipcase.

First edition of the first systematic treatment of North American mammals, including several new species discovered and described by Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition, uncut in the original boards.

This work contains an important connection to the Lewis and Clark expedition: Harlan's 12-page addenda attempts to classify and name six new animals discovered and described by Lewis and Clark in the course of their historic 1804-06 expedition, the narrative of which was not published until 1814. Harlan writes: "Messrs. Lewis and Clark, in the history of their Expedition up the Missouri, have described, with their usual accuracy, several new animals, which have neither received scientific names nor assumed that station in the systems to which they properly belong." The animals first described by Lewis and Clark that Harlan here attempts to name and classify are three new species of squirrel, a new species of badger, a new species of hare, and a new species of dog. Harlan cites Lewis and Clark's descriptions as they appear in the first edition of their narrative by volume and page number. Harlan's work as a whole constitutes the first attempt at a systematic treatment of North American mammals. We know from John James Audubon's essay on "Deer Hunting" that he considered Fauna Americana an "excellent" work, and probably consulted the present work when preparing his own Quadrupeds (1845-48). Sabin 30390.

Foxing to text. An extremely good, uncut copy in the original boards.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
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