Travels in North America During the Years 1834, 1835 & 1836. Including A Summer Residence with the Pawnee Tribe of Indians, in the Remote Prairies of the Missouri, and a Visit to Cuba, and the Azore Islands
first edition
1839 · London
by Murray, Charles Augustus
2 volumes, 8vo, original blindstamped purple cloth, lithographic frontispieces, xvi, 473 pp.; xi, 372 pp. Covers somewhat rubbed and soiled, spines faded, frontispiece of volume one torn and chipped in the upper margin, not affecting image, some foxing, especially frontispieces; otherwise very good. Murray (1806-1895) was a British author and diplomat, who spent several years traveling around Europe and North America. In 1835 he spent a few months with the Pawnee, and his description of the tribe is probably the most accurate before they were decimated by smallpox. On his way home he had a romantic relationship with an American woman form Niagara, but because her father objected to the relationship he returned to England and actually wrote a book about the affair (The Prairie-Bird, 1844). When her father died they were married, and Murray continued a career as a diplomat, serving a number of years in Persia. (Inventory #: 100396)