The Life of John Ledyard, the American Traveller; Comprising Selections from His Journals and Correspondence

Cambridge: Hilliard and Brown, 1828. First. hardcover. good. xii, 325pp. 8vo, original 1/2 brown cloth and brown boards with original paper label, front cover detached, spine worn, edges of boards worn, scattered light foxing, margins uncut, cloth and boards lightly soiled. Cambridge: Hilliard and Brown, 1828. First Edition. John Ledyard, an American marine, sailed with Captain James Cook on Cook's third Voyage. "At Nootka Sound, which was reached in March, 1778, he (Ledyard) began to picture the vast possibilities of the northwestern fur trade and resolved (truncated) to enter it at the first opportunity." Dictionary of American Biography XI, p. 93. In 1784, Ledyard obtained the support of Thomas Jefferson and John Paul Jones, but his fur trading plans all resulted in failure. In 1787, Ledyard attempted to cross Siberia but was arrested in Irkutsk. In this work, he described the journey with extensive details on Yakutsk and its residents. Howes S-818. Sabin 88991. Eberstadt 119:118. (Inventory #: 223666)