AN ACCOUNT OF LOUISIANA, BEING AN ABSTRACT OF DOCUMENTS, IN THE OFFICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, AND OF THE TREASURY: PRESENTED TO THE HOUSES OF CONGRESS, IN A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT, ON THE 16th OF NOVEMBER, 1803

Albany: Printed by John Barber, Faust's Statue.., 1803. 48pp. Modern half morocco and marbled boards. Tanning and foxing, bottom corner of last leaf of text chipped with no loss of text, closed tear at top of titlepage not affecting text, else good. A rare issue of one of the most important documents of the post-Louisiana Purchase period, first published in Washington the same year (Howes erroneously lists a first edition of 1800). Based on material assembled by Thomas Jefferson, this publication provided basic knowledge of Louisiana to a country hungry to hear about it. This copy does not contain the APPENDIX..., which was issued separately but sometimes accompanies the main text. Evidently the APPENDIX... was not available to the printer, who added a note at the end of the text saying that he is unable to obtain a copy and does not even know if it has been printed. HOWES L493. SABIN 42179. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 3615. WAGNER-CAMP 2b:2. REESE, FEDERAL HUNDRED 96 (ref). REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 26 (ref). (Inventory #: WRCAM17485)