PERRIN DU LAC, François Marie (1766-1824)

Voyage dans les Deux Louisianes, et Chez les Nations Sauvages du Missouri, par les Etats-Unis, l'Ohio et les Provinces qui le bordent, en 1801, 1802, et 1803

Lyon: Chez Bruyset ainé et Buynand, 1805. 8vo. (7 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches). [4], x, 479, [1]pp. Engraved folding map, engraved folding plate.

Expertly bound to style in half calf and marbled paper covered boards within modern morocco-backed slipcase.

First edition, first issue: the principal account of early fur trade with Indians on the upper Missouri.

An important early piece of Western Americana, describing a fur trading expedition up the Missouri to the White River of South Dakota in 1802. Besides being a major source of information on the early fur trade, it provides much information relating to the tribes along the Missouri River at the time. The map has been described as "the earliest published map of the trans-Mississippi region which can be said to display even the faintest semblance of accuracy" (Wheat). The plate depicts the mammoth fossil skeleton on display in Philadelphia. Two French editions were issued in 1805, the present first issue published in Lyon, and a more frequently found second issue published in Paris.

Buck 61; Clark, Old South 2:52, 114; Field, Indian Bibliography 1204; Graff 3254; Howes P244; Monaghan 1176; Rader 2647; Sabin 61102; Streeter sale III:1773 (second, Paris, issue); Wagner-Camp 3:1; Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi West 256.

Item #35836

Price: $4,600.00