Details
CHARLES WILKES (1798-1877)
Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1844-1845. 6 volumes comprising 5 text vols. 4° (318 x 237mm), and 1 atlas vol. 2° (266 x 165mm). With errata slip in vol. V. Text: 9 double-page maps, 64 full-page fine steel engravings, and over 250 woodcut and steel engraved vignettes; atlas: 5 folding maps, one of these coloured. (Text: occasional light offsetting from steel engravings; atlas: light even browning and offsetting, a few repairs at folds, light wear in fore-margins, scattered spotting on first map, occasional small marginal dampstain.) Text: half-calf, spines ruled and lettered in gilt, edges marbled (a few neat repairs, a few corners rubbed); atlas: contemporary marbled calf (rebacked to style, corners rubbed). Modern morocco-backed boxes. Provenance: Crosby (armorial bookplate) -- George E. Kitham (neat stamp to Atlas title and contents) -- discreet 20th-century shelfmark on endpapers.
FIRST EDITION, THE RARE FIRST, OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL ISSUE, ONE OF ONLY 100 SETS PRINTED, of which 25 were destroyed by fire (Howes). The United States Exploring Expedition is the great American voyage of the 19th-century, announcing America's scientific coming of age. 'It was the first American scientific expedition of any size, charged to "extend the bounds of Science and promote the acquisition of knowledge," and was one of the most ambitious Pacific expeditions ever attempted' (Forbes). The Expedition represents 'the first governmental sponsorship of scientific endeavor and was instrumental in the nation's westward expansion. Specimens gathered by expedition scientists became the foundation collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Significant American contributions in the fields of geology, botany, conchology, anthropology, and linguistics came from the scientific work of the expedition. Wilkes's evaluations of his landfalls influenced later U.S. positions in those areas' (Dictionary of American Biography). Wilkes's impressive survey of the Pacific Islands resulted in over 200 new charts for 280 islands, notably Hawaii, the Fiji group, the Philippines and the islands of Micronesia. Wilkes was first to use the term 'Antarctic Continent'. His ships surveyed 1600 miles of coastline, and discovered the Shackleton Ice Shelf and Wilkes Land. The charting of the North West American Coast was equally important. Wilkes surveyed the entrance to the Columbia River then in the disputed Oregon territory, and all of the Puget Sound. A separate party travelled overland to San Francisco from the Columbia via Fort Sumner, and completed the earliest map of this new trail. After his return Wilkes spent the next 27 years producing a number of expedition reports. Fergusson 3954; Forbes HNB 1517; Howes W-414; c.f Hill 1866.
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Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1844-1845. 6 volumes comprising 5 text vols. 4° (318 x 237mm), and 1 atlas vol. 2° (266 x 165mm). With errata slip in vol. V. Text: 9 double-page maps, 64 full-page fine steel engravings, and over 250 woodcut and steel engraved vignettes; atlas: 5 folding maps, one of these coloured. (Text: occasional light offsetting from steel engravings; atlas: light even browning and offsetting, a few repairs at folds, light wear in fore-margins, scattered spotting on first map, occasional small marginal dampstain.) Text: half-calf, spines ruled and lettered in gilt, edges marbled (a few neat repairs, a few corners rubbed); atlas: contemporary marbled calf (rebacked to style, corners rubbed). Modern morocco-backed boxes. Provenance: Crosby (armorial bookplate) -- George E. Kitham (neat stamp to Atlas title and contents) -- discreet 20th-century shelfmark on endpapers.
FIRST EDITION, THE RARE FIRST, OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL ISSUE, ONE OF ONLY 100 SETS PRINTED, of which 25 were destroyed by fire (Howes). The United States Exploring Expedition is the great American voyage of the 19th-century, announcing America's scientific coming of age. 'It was the first American scientific expedition of any size, charged to "extend the bounds of Science and promote the acquisition of knowledge," and was one of the most ambitious Pacific expeditions ever attempted' (Forbes). The Expedition represents 'the first governmental sponsorship of scientific endeavor and was instrumental in the nation's westward expansion. Specimens gathered by expedition scientists became the foundation collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Significant American contributions in the fields of geology, botany, conchology, anthropology, and linguistics came from the scientific work of the expedition. Wilkes's evaluations of his landfalls influenced later U.S. positions in those areas' (Dictionary of American Biography). Wilkes's impressive survey of the Pacific Islands resulted in over 200 new charts for 280 islands, notably Hawaii, the Fiji group, the Philippines and the islands of Micronesia. Wilkes was first to use the term 'Antarctic Continent'. His ships surveyed 1600 miles of coastline, and discovered the Shackleton Ice Shelf and Wilkes Land. The charting of the North West American Coast was equally important. Wilkes surveyed the entrance to the Columbia River then in the disputed Oregon territory, and all of the Puget Sound. A separate party travelled overland to San Francisco from the Columbia via Fort Sumner, and completed the earliest map of this new trail. After his return Wilkes spent the next 27 years producing a number of expedition reports. Fergusson 3954; Forbes HNB 1517; Howes W-414; c.f Hill 1866.
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Please note that the text volumes of this set are mixed congress editions. Volumes I, II & III plublished by Sherman and IV & V by Lea & Blanchard. The Atlas volume is from the trade edition of 1845.