A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery, under the command of Captain Lewis and Captain Clarke [sic.] of the army of the United States, from the mouth of the River Missouri through the interior parts of North America to the Pacific Ocean, during the years 1804, 1805, & 1806. containing an authentic relation of the most interesting transactions during the expedition: a description of the country: and an account of its inhabitants, soil, climate, curiosities and vegetable and animal productions

Book Description

London: J. Budd, 1808. Octavo. (8 x 5 1/8 inches). iv, 381pp. Later half olive calf over marbled paper covered boards, spine in six compartments with raised bands, dark brown morocco lettering piece in the second compartment, the others with a repeat decoration in gilt. The first English edition of the first substantial published account of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The first British edition of the Gass narrative, printed in a large and elegant format as opposed to the American edition. The 2pp. introduction by the English publisher, Budd, is dated 18 April 1808 and makes virtue of the fact that Gass "appears to have been of inferior rank in the Expedition; but, for those who wish to know the unadorned truth, that circumstance is not likely to be lamented. From such facts as he records, the reader will be able to form a much more correct idea of the real state of the country, than he would from a narrative, written under the influence of a desire to establish or confirm certain pre-conceived positions; not to mention another influence, too generally prevalent in America, namely, that of self-interest, for which there may be such ample scope for indulgence, in giving an account of countries, immediately adjoining that of a nation of land-jobbers." Because of the delay in the publication of the official account, Gass' journal was the first to appear, and as such was eagerly taken up by readers starved for information about Lewis and Clark. Gass was a sergeant who, by order of Lewis and at the insistence of Thomas Jefferson, kept a journal of the expedition's activities, and this book is closely based on that document. "Patrick Gass was a rough reliable frontier soldier when he joined the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was made a sergeant when Sergeant Floyd died. He writes a terse soldier's narrative, exasperating in its brevity, but always with rugged honesty. His story was for many years the only true account of the expedition - the first real information the nation had of the Oregon country and of the Louisiana purchase. It is a work of primary importance" (Webster A. Jones). Field 595; Graff 1517; Howes G77; Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 3.2; Sabin 26741; Wagner-Camp 6:2.

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