1812 · Baltimore
by Fisher, William
12mo (6 ¾ x 3 ¾), period sheep, rebacked with modern leather, old spine label, two wood engraved frontispiece portraits, 326 pp. Housed in custom made half morocco folding box. Covers a little worn and scuffed, contents foxed with some browning and soiling; lower corner of pp. 29-30 torn off, affecting a few words, and a tear on pp. 81-82; otherwise very good. Some sources suggest there are one or two other plates in this title, but only the portraits are bound in this volume.The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) was the first overland expedition by the United States to go to the Pacific coast. This was an extremely important expedition because it laid the groundwork for the Western Expansion, and gave our government a first hand account of the resources we picked up with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The expedition was led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, but was greatly assisted by Sacajawea, their Native American guide and translator. This work was published because of the growing demand by the public for information on the expedition. Fisher borrows heavily from Patrick Gass’s Journal, and portions of the works of Jonathan Carver and Alexander Mackenzie. While it has been criticized by scholars, it contains some extremely useful information, and it did play an important role in shaping the impressions of America at the time. Contains portraits of Lewis and Clark.
(Inventory #: 100211)