Life on the Mississippi by Twain, Mark - 1883

3 volumes. xii+427 pages with frontispiece portrait, 3 plates (one folding) and folding map; xiv+454 pages with two folding plate and two folding maps; xii+409+[errata] with 4 folding tables and 1 folding plate. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5") bound in original half leather with brown label in gilt lettering over marbled boards. (Howes C884. Sabin 17501. Field 388. Monaghan 503.) First edition.This work by the author had been written in his declining years. In a biography of his great-grandfather the author alleges in his introduction that the Voyage is a manuscript found in a shipwreck-and even whole chapters of which are either lost or water-soaked beyond legibility, and that he is the translator of this work. Written with greater care than his Letters, the work, except for several fanciful chapters, offers very real interest and authenticity. The numerous notes in the three volumes have appreciable interest. In the Voyage he is still writing of an agrarian Utopia. Pastoral descriptions abound-farmlands,… Read More

Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1870. 1st Edition. Third Printing. Hard Cover. Publisher's full black cloth, gilt lettering and decoration on spine and cover, double frontispieces. Illustrated with 234 B&W reproductions of prints, drawings, etchings qand engravings, many full-page. First edition, third printing: Pages xvii and xviii have their page numbers; the last entry on page xviii ends with the word "conclusion"; the engraved portrait of Napoleon III appears at page129; the heading on page 643 is "CHAPTER LXI"; the third page of the printed ads begins with "Illustrated History of the Bible." [McBride pg. 8]. The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress is a travel book by American author Mark Twain published in 1869 which humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered vessel Quaker City through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of… Read More

New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857. 1st Edition. Cloth. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. 1st edition. A Very Good copy. 12mo., ix, (iii), (13)-203, 12 pp., with 12 pages of the publisher's advertisements at the end. Bound in the publisher's brown cloth with the title and floral decoration on the spine in gilt. Spine sunned, with lettering fading. Small area of discoloration on the rear board, near the spine's foot. Light foxing to the preliminaries. Previous owner's name, 1857 date and town in ink on the front end paper; name and 1857 date on the title page. Internally very clean and bright. Very Good. *** First appearance of the Star-Spangled Banner in book form. The name and town of the previous owner is Thomas Cowan of Chapel Hill, NC. The Cowan family is a prominent North Carolina Family, and he is likely the son of the Cowan's of Wood Grove Plantation, in Rowan County, NC. Thomas Cowan was a graduate of the University of North Carolina in 1857, and died during the Civil War (See… Read More

1714 Joutel Journal Voyage MEXICO La Salle Texas Expedition Indians Mississippi

The BEST account of the La Salle's Texas Expedition!

Henri Joutel was an important 17th-century French explorer who is best remembered for his involvement in the final American expedition of Rene de La Salle. The Texas Expedition of Sla Salle began in 1684 when he and crew left France to establish a colony on the Gulf of Mexico. The voyage is one of the most important European voyages in search of the Mississippi River – a voyage the ended in mutiny and the death of La Salle. The established colony was a failure after being overtaken by Karankawa Indians.

According to Howes,
"Most reliable eye-witness account of La Salle's two-years wanderings in Texas."

Item number: #6477
Price: $2500
JOUTEL, Henri
Mr. Joutel's journal of his voyage to Mexico: his travels eight hundred leagues through forty nations of Indians in Lovisiana to Canada: his account of the great river Missasipi. To which is added a map of that country;… Read More

New York: Baker & Godwin, 1863. First Edition. Octavo. 117 pages, Index. Inscribed: "To David C. Acton, with the esteem and respect of his friend, David M. Barnes, July 1864." Acton had been made President of the Board of Police Commissioners in New York in 1860, a position he held until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was replaced by John G. Bergen and John Kennedy who became incapacitated in July 1863 as the mob protesting the draft began to cause mayhem (burning down the Colored Orphan Asylum, p. 117). Acton re-assumed command for the next five days and did not sleep as he quelled the riot. He himself was left with severe health problems for the next five years. Pastedown on verso of Dedicatory page, handwritten note: "Times of August 16, 1863" with newspaper column printing letter to Gen. Harvey Brown which in the later reply from Gen. Brown gives the credit for subduing the riot to Mr. Acton. This book has his name stamped in gilt on the front cover as "Hon. Thomas C. Acton"). One of the great… Read More

Sheet size 10 1/4 inches x 14 inches, fully margined beyond the plate mark, except the bottom edge, which is trimmed to the plate mark, a few tiny worm holes toward the right margin and lower left. The drawing has been attributed to Richard Brookshaw and the German engraver Johann Elias Haid made his own mezzotint from the same drawing.

Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1870. 1st Edition. Third Printing. Hard Cover. Publisher's full black cloth, gilt lettering and decoration on spine and cover, double frontispieces. Illustrated with 234 B&W reproductions of prints, drawings, etchings qand engravings, many full-page. First edition, third printing: Pages xvii and xviii have their page numbers; the last entry on page xviii ends with the word "conclusion"; the engraved portrait of Napoleon III appears at page129; the heading on page 643 is "CHAPTER LXI"; the third page of the printed ads begins with "Illustrated History of the Bible." [McBride pg. 8]. The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress is a travel book by American author Mark Twain published in 1869 which humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered vessel Quaker City through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of… Read More

1752-1753, Halle, Johan Justinus Gebauer. 2 volumes. [xlviii]+688 pages with frontispiece and 41 plates; [xxii]+905+[ 63] pages with 18 plates (15 folding], 8 maps (.5 folding), bibliography and index. Royal octavo (9 3/4" x 8") bound in quarter brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine over blue boards. Compiled and translated by Johann Friedrich Schröter. Introduction by Siegmund Jacob Baumgartens. (Sabin 77989; Howes S200; Borba de Moraes, page 453) First edition. Extensively illustrated cultural and natural history of the Americas, compiled and translated by Johann Friedrich Schröter. The work is illustrated with two large folding maps of North and South America after Delisle. Also included are folding views of Cuzco and Mexico City. Numerous engravings depict various native tribes, their customs, and the flora and fauna of the Americas. The first volume is based on a translation of Lafiteau's Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains (Paris, 1724), with accounts of the discovery of the New World and… Read More

A Delineation by pen and pencil of the mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, water-falls, shores, cañons, valleys, cities, and other picturesque features of our country. With illustrations of steel and wood, by eminent American artists. Edited by William Cullen Bryant. 2 Vols. 33x26 cm. Vol.I: 568 pp.+ 25 full-page engravings on steel h.t. Vol.II: vi+576 pp.+25 full-page engravings on steel h.t. Numerous engravings in-text. D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1872-1874.
--- Contemporary full leather binding with gilt letters and decoration. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Very tight binding, repaired by professional bookbinder. Previous owner name written on the first two pages of each volume. Some foxing, sometimes affecting engravings. A few pages have traces of water (more photos available upon request - additional postage due to heavy weight).
--- "Picturesque America was a conspicuous presence in the popular culture of the United States in the post-Civil War years. First published as a magazine… Read More

1904. Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1904. Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1904. A Memorial Tribute to a Prominent Female Boston Artist Inscribed, Signed and Marked by Holmes [Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. (1841-1935)]. [Whitman, Sarah Wyman (1842-1904)]. Sarah Whitman. Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1904. [vi], 27, [2] pp. Specked paper boards with contrasting spine, title and image of wreath to front board, gilt title to spine, deckle edges. Light wear to spine ends and corners, light toning to text, light foxing to a few leaves. "Helen C. Bell/ 14 Chestnut St./ From O.W. Holmes" in pencil to head of title page, check marks in pencil, most likely by Holmes, in margins next to two passages. $2,500. * A prominent and commercially successful painter and stained glass and book cover designer who ran an important literary salon with her husband, Whitman was one of Holmes's neighbors in Boston and Beverly Farms. Sarah Whitman is a record of a memorial service in her honor at the Baptist Church in Beverly… Read More