Second Visit to the United States of North America First Edition - Charles Lyell - Bauman Rare Books

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Second Visit to the United States of North America

Charles LYELL

Item#: 105594 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Second Visit to the United States of North America

Second Visit to the United States of North America

"HIS DETAILED OBSERVATIONS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY… EQUAL OR EXCEL THE ACCOUNTS OF OTHER TRAVELERS": LYELL’S SECOND VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES, 1849

(NORTH AMERICA) LYELL, Charles. A Second Visit to the United States of North America. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849. Two volumes. Octavo, original plum cloth.

First American edition of this fascinating travel narrative by the author of the landmark Principles of Geology (1830) and one of the founders of that science, in original cloth.

"In September 1845 Lyell returned to the United States, again to give the Lowell lectures in Boston. He and his wife first traveled to Maine and through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After Lyell had delivered his course of lectures, the Lyells set off in December on a long tour through the South" with stops in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana. They traveled by steamboat from New Orleans up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, then overland across Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, sailing for England on June 1, 1846. "Lyell's description of the coastal islands of the southeastern coast, erosion, topography, and fossils in Georgia and Alabama are an important contribution… while his detailed observations of the Mississippi Valley from the delta to the mouth of the Ohio River equal or excel the accounts of other travelers" (Clark). On his return to England, "Lyell had become a prominent man of science, an adviser to government on scientific issues, and an associate of Prince Albert. He was knighted in 1848" (ODNB). Published in London the same year. Sabin 42763. Howes L574. Clark III, 352. Early owner signatures, one on title pages.

Foxing to text, cloth toned, spines sunned. An extremely good copy in the original cloth.

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