(Long's Expedition) Account of an...

Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819 and '20, By Order of the Hon. J.C. Calhoun, Sec'y of War: Under the Command of Major Stephen H. Long [with] Maps and Plates Atlas
James, Edwin, Compiler, Stephen Long, and Thomas Say

It's a key expedition for the American West that can be the most elusive, yet important. Post Louisiana purchase, he was appointed to head an exploration to the headwaters of the Platte, Red and Arkansas Rivers. It is he for whom the great Colorado mountain is named, and it is also he who coined the phrase in assessing the American West that a good portion is a "Great Desert". His contributions are a key component in western exploration and foundational for mapping of the West and Rocky Mountain front range.

Book Description: H.C. Carey and I. Lea, Philadelphia, 1822. Original Paper Covered Boards. Book Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Three volumes including atlas. Text volumes in original leather boards rebacked with matching leather spines and red and black gilt-lettered labels; atlas in original gray-brown paper covered boards with paper title label rebacked in leather. Text volumes (dated 1823): octavo, 503 pp. and 442 pp. plus xcviii Astronomical and Meteorological records, Indian vocabularies, and general index. Atlas (dated 1822): 4 pp. plus 2 double-page maps after S.H. Long by Young & Delleker, 7 (of 8) plates after S. Seymour and T.R. Peale, including one double-page plate of geological cross sections (lacking Indian Record on a Bison Robe plate). *** Condition: Text volumes: Light rubbing and edge wear, most pages light to moderately foxed, some more severely in volume 2. Contents mark-free. Bindings tight and sound. Atlas: Boards edge worn with light chipping and staining. Faded ink name on tp and rear endpaper. The maps and plates are largely clean and fox-free. Professionally repaired tears (one per plate) to margins of most plates with two entering image areas; maps not affected. *** The first edition Philadelphia Long set with atlas is considerably rarer in the market place and institutional collections compared with the earlier work of Pike, though sale prices lag behind the Pike. A cornerstone of any Western Americana collection that is seldom offered with the atlas

Condition is good with some scuffs and light dampstaining. Image size is 21 x 30(inches).