Astoria or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains (2 volumes)

New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1897 Book. Fine. Hardcover. 2 volumes. Pp. xvi, 389 + xvi, 391. Frontispiece in each volume, 27 plates from drawings, engravings and photographs, printed tissue guards. Maroon cloth, covers and spines decoratively stamped in gilt, top edges gilt. Inner front hinge of volume I and inner rear hinge of volume II cracked, else a fine and handsome set. "Tacoma edition" of this classic account of the first American attempt at settlement on the Pacific Coast, 1811, including the earliest extended relation of Wilson P. Hunt's overland expedition from St. Louis to that settlement. Includes drawings by R. F. Zogbaum, plus the intricate gilt cover design by famous book designer and artist Margaret Armstrong, with her initials printed in gilt at lower corner of front covers. "This book has been reprinted so many times as to almost defy description... however, several specific editions deserve mention. In 1895, G. P. Putnam's Sons issued a handsome two-volume edition bound in gilt-decorated red cloth, referred to as the Tacoma Edition..." (Tweney). [Smith, Pacific Northwest Americana: 5033; Tweney, The Washington Eighty-Nine: 34, note]..