AN ACCOUNT OF EXPEDITIONS TO THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THROUGH THE WESTERN PARTS OF LOUISIANA, TO THE SOURCES OF THE ARKANSAW, KANS, LA PLATTE, AND PIERRE JAUN, RIVERS...DURING THE YEARS 1805, 1806, AND 1807. AND A TOUR THROUGH THE INTERIOR PARTS OF NEW SPAIN...IN THE YEAR 1807

Philadelphia: Published by C. & A. Conrad, & Co. Somervell & Conrad [of] Petersborough. Bonsal, Conrad, & Co. [of] Norfolk, and Fielding Lucas Jr. [of] Baltimore, 1810.. Two volumes. Text: 8,105,[11],[107]-277,[5],65,[1],53,[1],87pp. plus three folding tables. Atlas volume: six engraved maps (five folding) and three folding letterpress tables. Text: Original plain blue-grey paper boards with tan paper backstrip, expertly rebacked in matching paper with most of original backstrip laid down, printed paper label, manuscript spine title. Boards lightly rubbed, soiled and edgeworn, corners bumped. Scattered tanning and staining, an occasional paper flaw (with loss of a few letters on p.44). Atlas: Quarto. Contemporary half speckled calf and marbled boards, expertly rebacked in matching calf with portions of original backstrip laid down. Early bookseller's ticket of "Hugh Hammell's Cheap Bookstore" of Philadelphia on front pastedown. Tanning, some offsetting from plates. Text and atlas in very good condition overall, with the text volume untrimmed and appendix to part one unopened. Howes' "best issue" of one of the most important of all American travel narratives: the first edition of the report of the first United States government expedition to the Southwest, including an account of Pike's exploration of the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers, the sources of the Mississippi River, and the Spanish settlements in New Mexico. This copy is in its original binding with the atlas bound separately, and is very unusual thus. Pike's narrative stands with those of Lewis and Clark and Long as among the most important early books on western exploration and as a cornerstone of Western Americana. "In 1805, Pike was given the difficult assignment of conducting a reconnaissance of the upper Mississippi region. He was ordered to explore the headwaters of that river, to purchase sites from the Indians for further military posts, and to bring a few influential chiefs back to St. Louis for talks. The trip was only moderately successful as a mission to the tribes, but Pike was able to convey important geographical information to President Jefferson and other Washington officials. On Pike's second expedition, 1806-1807, he was assigned to explore the head-waters of the Arkansas River, then proceed south and descend the Red River from its source....Pike and his men were taken into custody by a Spanish patrol, and Pike was able to observe many areas in New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Texas....His book created interest in the Southwest and stimulated the expansionist movement in Texas" - Hill. The maps were the first to exhibit a geographic knowledge of the Southwest based on firsthand exploration and are considered "milestones in the mapping of the American West" (Wheat). "The description of Texas is excellent" - Streeter, TEXAS. This work was published in two forms: as a single octavo volume with all the maps and tables bound in, or, as here, in two volumes with the maps and folding tables in a quarto volume. This latter form was recognized by Howes as being the "best issue." It is quite uncommon to find the text and atlas bound separately, even more so to find them in their original bindings, as here. A very desirable set of a landmark work of western exploration. HOWES P373, "b." WAGNER-CAMP 9:1. STREETER SALE 3125. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 297, 298, 299. GRAFF 3290. FIELD 1217. STREETER TEXAS 1047C. HILL 1357. BRADFORD 4415. RITTENHOUSE 467. SABIN 62936. JONES 743. BRAISLIN 1474. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 32. (Inventory #: WRCAM62709)