A JOURNAL OF TRAVELS INTO THE ARKANSAS TERRITORY DURING THE YEAR 1819; WITH OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANNERS OF THE ABORIGINES.
Philadelphia [PA]: printed and published by Thos. H. Palmer, 1821. First edition. 8vo. xii, [9]-296 pp. Folding frontispiece map (by H.S. Tanner; short teat at hinge, not affecting image, some offsetting, else crisp) and five engraved plates (with tissue guards, as issued); ownership signature of Cleveland physician Henry Kirke Cushing (1827-1910), father of Neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing, on title page. Howes N-229. Sabin 56348: "The Naturalist records in almost every chapter some incidents of his personal intercourse with the Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Osage Indians, then inhabiting the territory he explored." American Imprints 6319. Wagner-Camp 19a: "Journeyed from Fort Smith to the prairie country and the Red River, spending some time near the mouth of the Verdigris River." Field 1145. Graff 3055. Clark Old South III, 48: "[Nuttall] was not favorably impressed with the frontiersmen, censuring their failure to improve their surroundings more quickly … [he] betrayed an active interest in the Indians." Brinley 4667. Streeter sale 1597. Scattered foxing and toning to text, some pencil notes in margins, short ink note containing information about the author affixed to front endpaper (which is detached); a tender, untrimmed copy, housed in a custom cardboard sleeve and three-quarter leather and marbled board slipcase. Original boards (nearly detached, old paper tape on front and rear boards, spine cracked vertically and worn), partial printed paper label on spine (title chipped).(#7443). Item #57673
Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) was a botanist and ornithologist, fellow of the Linnean Society of London, member of the American Philosophical Society, and correspondent of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. His botanical explorations took him up and down the east coast of the United States, and further west along the Missouri River, a scant decade after Lewis and Clark. A subsequent excursion, begun in 1819, was his remarkable journey along the Red River in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Indian Territory. Nuttall was one of the first scientists to collect plants in Arkansas and Oklahoma. For his botanical descriptions, his depictions of the settlements and customs of the Native tribes, and of the frontiersmen he encountered, this work is considered a classic record of the early American frontier.
Price: $4,500.00