Description
The Seventh Edition of Zadok Cramer’s Navigator, published in 1811, the most important river guide to Western waters of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Octavo, x, [13]-295pp, [1]. Period quarter brown leather spine, paper boards, heavily worn at edges. General toning and soiling throughout. Faint dampstain to rear endpapers, limited impact on text. Previous owner’s name (James Williams) written in ink on front free endpaper. Faded notes and a rough sketch on rear endpapers. Free of marginalia within text block.
This work is complete with all 28 woodcut maps, including navigation charts of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers (13 each), plus a map of Pittsburgh and one of the Falls of Ohio.
(Thomson 282) (Howes C855) (Sabin 17385)
A very nice example of this important guide used for travel along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the early nineteenth century.
“At the beginning of the 19th century, the waterways of the trans-Appalachian West were important transportation routes for emigrants, traders, and travelers. Flatboats, keelboats, and eventually steamboats carried goods and people to various destinations along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers as well as their tributaries. River guides became standard purchases for those who traveled the western waters… One of the earliest and best-known river guides was compiled by Zadok Cramer.” (“American River Guides from 1800 to 1860,” AB Bookman’s Weekly, July 27, 1998, p. 125) Cramer died in 1813, two years after the publication of the 7th edition of The Navigator. His wife, and eventually his daughter, took his place in the printing business, and five additional guides were published between 1814 and 1824.
