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Catalogue
73
Voyages
& Travels
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Scarce Swedish Edition
of a North-West Passage Classic
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96. MEARES, JOHAN [JOHN]. Tvänne Resor Från Ostindien
till Americas Nordvästra Kust, åren 1786, 1788 och 1789.
Stockholm, J. S. Ekmanson, L. Utters, 1797. First edition in Swedish.
$725
8vo; pp. [12], 404; original marbled paper over pasteboard; rebacked
long ago with marbled paper; a nice large uncut copy.
Howes M471; Sabin 47265; vide Lada-Mocarski, Cox, Hill and Wagner
(1st ed.). The information which came from Meares' work formed the
basis, in large measure, for the claims of the British to the territory
of Oregon. While anchored off Nootka, Meares' ships were seized
by the Spaniards. England objected most violently, and in the wake
of the treaty which settled the dispute Spain relinquished all claims
to territory north of California. The work also describes in some
detail the Indians of the northwest coast - their customs, language,
manners, and way of life.
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Lovely Set, With the Extremely Scarce
First Issue of Volume One
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97. MICHAUX, FRANÇOIS ANDRÉ. The North American
Sylva, or a Description of the Forest Trees, Of the United States,
Canada and Nova Scotia. Considered particularly with respect to
their use in the Arts and their introduction into Commerce; to which
is added a description of the most Useful of the European Forest
Trees. Illustrated by 150 colored engravings. By F. Andrew Michaux.
Philadelphia: Sold by Thomas Dobson - Solomon Conrad; Paris: Printed
by C. D'Hautel, 1817-1818-1819. Three volumes. First American edition.
$12,500
Small 4to; pp. [iv], xii, xii, 268, [1]; pp. [iv], 250; pp. [iv],
285, [1] (Errata); 156 stipple-engraved plates, printed in colours
and finished by hand, after paintings by the two Rédoutés
(Pierre Joseph and Henri Joseph), and Pancrace Bessa. Contemporary
full green morocco (spines sunned); spines lettered and decorated
in gilt between gilt-ruled raised bands; covers elaborately bordered
in gilt and blind, with central double-gilt-ruled panels; a.e.g.;
and gilt-ruled turn-ins; coated endpapers; covers rubbed at edges,
with some light scratches; usual light offsetting, and sporadic
foxing, mostly light, but some leaves, mainly in vol. II, are darker.
Each volume is signed on the front paste-down by John P[endleton]
Kennedy (1795-1870), noted Baltimore author and politician.
Nissen BBI: 1361; Bennett, p. 76; l Meisel, III: pp. 379-380; Kress
B.6981; Raphael, An Oak Spring Flora, 20; Reese, Stamped with a
National Character, 21; Sabin 48695. The publication history and
bibliography of this highly important work are complex. The author
first visited North America in 1785, accompanying his father, André
Michaux, himself a distinguished botanist and traveller, in quest
of trees and plants that could be of benefit to France. After his
father's death in 1802, Michaux returned to the United States, touring
extensively, and then returned to Paris to compile this work. It
first appeared in Paris in French in twenty-one parts, issued between
1810 and 1813, and then in three volumes in French . The text was
then translated into English by Augustus Lucas Hillhouse (1791-1859),
a member of a prominent New Haven family, who was resident in France;
Hillhouse also contributed a 38-page account of the olive tree (vol.
II, pp. 166-204). This edition, with the Philadelphia imprint, would
appear to have been issued before the edition with the Paris imprint,
the dates of which are 1818-1819; both were printed by the same
printer. This copy has the rare first-issue of volume I [1817],
which was reprinted in 1818. The work contains six plates more than
called for in the title. Some years later the American naturalist,
William Maclure (1763-1840) purchased the copper plates and new
editions then followed, often accompanied by the three volumes of
Thomas Nuttall's work. It is, however, generally accepted, that
the plates of the Paris-printed editions, such as this one, which
were produced under the supervision of Michaux himself, are of superior
quality. The booksellers in Philadelphia, Dobson and Conrad, are
also of interest. Dobson (1751-1823) emigrated from Scotland to
Philadelphia and was responsible for the first American edition
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the first complete Hebrew Bible
printed in America; Conrad (1779-1831) was born in Pennsylvania
of German and Quaker stock and was well-known as a mineralogist
and botanist; his natural history collections and his herbarium
went to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences upon his death.
We have located copies of this edition only at the BL, BNQ, Dalhousie,
UBC, U of T, and NY Botanical; Harvard has a set in parts, i.e.
seven "half-volumes"; there are several copies with the
later issue of volume 1.
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98.
[MUSÉE DU LOUVRE]. CLARAC, CHARLES OTHON FRÉDÉRIC
JEAN BAPTISTE, comte de, artist; FORTIER, CLAUDE-FRANÇOIS,
engraver. Forêt vierge du Brésil. [1822]. $6,500
Copper engraving from Tome I of the Cabinet du Roi (Tableaux). Sheet
size: 65 x 86 cm. Plate mark: 65 x 84.5 cm. Inscribed: Left margin:
Le Comte de Clarac delt. Right margin: Fortier sculpt. Small blind
embossed stamps in lower margin: Calcographie du Louvre Musées
Imperiaux; private library. Some light foxing on upper corner of
margin and on verso; pencilled numbers in corners of lower margin.
A very strong image, exquisitely rendered.
We have located only one other copy of this print, at Fundação
Biblioteca Nacional (Brazil). The remarkable collection of engravings
known as the Cabinet du Roi originated with Louis XIV's minister
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), who commissioned engravers to
create designs for the King's tapestries and furniture. Colbert
set up a workshop and repository called the Chalcographie du Louvre
to employ engravers and printers, and to conserve the copperplates
produced for the engravings. As early as 1662, engravings were made
to record special celebrations given by the King at Versailles.
They were well-received, and by an order in council in 1667, an
enormous artistic endeavour was undertaken to record the King's
collections of paintings, sculpture, and coins, as well plans for
gardens and buildings, and the interior decoration of the royal
residences. Beginning in 1670, these engravings were published in
volumes and presented as gifts to visiting dignitaries. To offset
the cost of production, Colbert offered restrikes of them for sale,
and in 1727, the first complete set of the Cabinet du Roi engravings
was published in 23 volumes. The Tableaux volume of the Cabinet
du Roi series includes master works from the French, Italian and
Flemish schools, beautifully reproduced by prominent engravers Audran,
Baudet, Chasteau, Pesne, Rousselet and Claudine Stella, among others.
In response to naturalist Alexandre de Humboldt's (1769-1859) call
to artists to record the rich vegetation of the New World, le Comte
de Clarac (1777-1847), ambassador to Louis XVIII, was inspired to
portray the interior of a forest while on a diplomatic mission to
Brazil. His striking watercolour, painted between 1816 and 1818,
and entitled Fôret Vierge du Brésil, was exhibited
at the Paris Salon in 1819. Claude-François Fortier's engraving
is based on this work; it was displayed at the Salon in 1822. Clarac's
original watercolour was purchased by the Louvre in 2004.
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Scarce Arctic "Blue Book"
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99. [NARES, Sir GEORGE]. GREAT BRITAIN. ADMIRALTY. Arctic
Expedition, 1875-6. Journals and Proceedings of the Arctic Expedition,
1875-6, under the Command of Captain Sir George S. Nares, R.N.,
K.C.B....London, Harrison & Sons, [1877]. $6,000
Folio; pp. vii, 484; 15 plates (many folding) and 17 maps (mostly
folding, and some with partial contemporary colour); 33 in-text
illustrations; recent period-style quarter calf and marbled paper
over boards; fine expert restoration to folds of two maps; a fine,
clean, complete copy.
Arctic Biblio. 45255; Cooke & Holland, p. 239. One of the scarcer
of the British "blue books". This contains the reports
and journals of the expedition attempting to reach the North Pole
by Smith Sound and Robeson Channel, and the exploration of adjacent
coasts. The "Alert", under Sir George Nares, wintered
at Floeberg Beach, near Cape Sheridan on northeast Ellesmere Island,
and sent out sledge parties westward along the northern coast, eastward
to Greenland, and northward toward the Pole. The "Discovery",
under Captain H. F. Stephenson, wintered at Discovery Harbour in
Lady Franklin Bay, sending out sledge parties eastward to Greenland
and along its northern coast to Sherard Osborn Fiord, southwest
on Ellesmere Island to the head of Archer Fiord, and westward into
The Bellows. After the first winter of what was projected to be
two winters, the expedition was forced to return to England (in
1876), due to the ravages of scurvy.
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100.
NECKER, L. A. [LOUIS ALBERT] DE SAUSSURE. Travels in Scotland;
Descriptive of the State of Manners, Literature, and Science. Translated
from the French. London, Printed for Sir Richard Phillips &
Co., 1821. $225
Slim 8vo; pp. viii, 112; recent paper-covered boards, one gathering
slightly split from textblock; otherwise text very clean and tight.
A very good copy.
From Phillips' New Voyages and Travels, Vol. 6. Following a long
residence in Scotland, the author provides astute observations of
Scottish society, discussions on the progress of the nation in matters
of literature and science, and detailed descriptions of several
places and cities. Enlightening comparisons are drawn between the
fashionable London society and the spirited Scottish nation.
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