TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH & SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, EAST & WEST FLORIDA, THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY, THE EXTENSIVE TERRITORIES OF THE MUSCOGULGES, OR CREEK CONFEDERACY, AND THE COUNTRY OF THE CHACTAWS; CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE SOIL AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS OF T
BARTRAM, William
Philadelphia: James & Johnson, 1791. First Edition Contemporary calf with early rebacking and gilt-lettered black morocco spine label; [2], [iii]-xxxiv, 522 pages. Illustrated with an engraved folding map of the East Coast of Florida and seven engraved plates of natural history specimens (one folding). This copy lacks the engraved frontispiece portrait of "Mico Chulcco the Long Warrior." CLARK I:197: "His account is essentially factual, with occasional reflections on the wonders of nature and the manifestations of the Supreme Being through nature"; EVANS 23159; FIELD 94: "Bartram wrote with all the enthusiasm and interest with which the fervent old Spanish friars and missionaries.... Although more especially a naturalist, he sketches the striking peculiarities of the tribes he visited, and gives us tables of the names and localities of the numerous towns"; HOWES B223, "b"; SABIN 3870: "Unequalled for the vivid picturesqueness of its descriptions of nature, scenery, and productions" ; STREETER SALE 1088: "The classic of southern natural history and exploration, with much on the southern Indian tribes. Bartram's account of the remote frontier, of the plantations, trading posts, and Indian villages at the end of the eighteenth century is unrivaled"; VAIL 849. Moderate foxing throughout, occasionally heavy. Map with some wrinkles and wear along top edge with slight loss as with the folding plate of the Hydrangea Quercifolia. Very Good example of this scarce and important title, a landmark of southern natural history and exploration (Item ID: 015472)
$6,000.00
William Bartram traveled several thousand miles throughout the American Southeast in 1773, discovering over 200 new botanical specimens, including the Venus Fly Trap, and recording some of the earliest observations of the customs of the Cherokee and Creek Indian tribes. His journey of exploration covered virtually the entire lower South, going as far as Baton Rouge.