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[LEWIS & CLARK Expedition]. - Thomas JEFFERSON (1743-1826)
Message from the President of the United States, Communicating Discoveries Made in Exploring the Missouri, Red River and Washita, by Captains Lewis and Clark, Doctor Sibley, and Mr. Dunbar; with a Statistical Account of the Countries Adjacent. February 19, 1806. Printed by order of the Senate
Washington: A. & G. Way, 1806. Octavo (9 1/4 x 6 inches). Uncut. 1 folding engraved map ("Map of the Washita River in Louisiana") loosely inserted, 2 letterpress folding tables. (Expert restoration to map, mostly to the blank margins, but with one small area where the engraved border has been supplied in ink facsimile). Stitched (as issued), modern light brown cloth chemise, all within modern dark brown morocco-backed light brown cloth slipcase. Provenance: Congressman William Czar Bradley (1782-1867, of Vermont, contemporary signature on title).
Thomas Jefferson's report on the Lewis and Clark and Sibley-Dunbar expeditions, in original condition with the map: one of the great rarities of Western Americana cartography.
The first official publication to provide any detailed account of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the first work to give any satisfactory account of the southwestern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. The first section consists of material transmitted to Jefferson by Lewis, giving information on their route, the Indians, trade, animals encountered, and the geography. Equally important are the accounts of the southern explorations. "Two letters by Dr. Sibley...one on the Indian tribes of Texas and the other an account of the Red River and the adjacent country, seem to be the first accounts of Texas in book form...Sibley gives a careful account of the language, characteristics, location, and population of the various Indian tribes in Texas, with some account of their relations with the Spanish and French. The account of Red River gives a good idea of the physical characteristics of the country" (Streeter). This is the Senate issue of the report, dated February 19, 1806
The present copy is one of the few complete copies extant containing the very rare Map of the Washita River in Louisiana...from the Hot Springs to the Confluence of the Red River with the Mississippi Laid down from the Journal and Survey of William Dunbar Esqr in the year 1804 by Nicholas King, which is almost invariably lacking. It illustrates the route of the expedition from the Mississippi River into east Texas, and is the first cartographical effort of any detail to show western Louisiana and northeast Texas. Dunbar was well known for his survey work in Louisiana during the late Spanish period and under the United States. Nicholas King, who had the map engraved, also executed the Zebulon Pike map of the upper Mississippi.
Graff 4406; Howes L319, "dd."; Sabin 40824; Shaw & Shoemaker 11633; Streeter Sale 290; Streeter Texas 1038; Wagner-Camp 5:1.
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#19625 $125,000.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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