Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordon and the Dead Sea

Philadelphia: Lee and Blanchard, 1850. Seventh Edition, Revised. Good/No Dust Jacket As Issued.

The bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning with heavily foxed preliminaries, scattered in the text. Moderate shelf handling wear. The map has toned.

Dark brown cloth with titles, spine and front decoration in gilt; 9.5 inches tall; xx, 509 pages, 30 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, two large folded maps; 30 page publisher's catalogue with illustrations.
Captain William Francis Lynch (1801 -1865) was a naval officer who served first in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate States Navy.

Lynch had his first command, the Poinsett. The ship sailed on behalf of the United States Naval Hydrographic Office. In 1847, he proceeded to the Jordan River, transporting overland, by camels, a copper and a galvanized iron boat. A total of 16 men were a part of the trip, including John Y. Mason. Each boat was "assembled" and then placed on a carriage. His expedition ended with the exploration of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea.

Using the triangulation method, Lynch's expedition was the first to determine that the Dead Sea was below sea level, something that the scientific community had inferred but not previously determined conclusively, though several other expeditions by Europeans had attempted to do so. (Inventory #: 18653)