Description
The first edition, first issue of Travels Through The States Of North America by Isaac Weld, published in London in 1799 and complete with 16 maps and plates.
Quarto, [2], xxiv, 464pp, [8pp catalogue]. Full calf, raised bands, six compartments, title in gilt over red morocco label on spine. Includes the publisher’s catalogue, but lacking the errata slip. Even toning to leaves throughout, a few leaves of text with transference. Contemporary gray endpapers. The first issue, with the index incorrectly identifying the fourth plate as: “The Patowmac River from Mount Vernon.”
This work is complete with 12 copper engraved plates, including a frontispiece, a large fold-out map of the eastern United States (hand-colored), map of Upper and Lower Canada, and two plans for Quebec and Washington, D.C. A few plates with light toning and scatter foxing. All plates and maps with solid hinges, tissue covers and vibrant imagery.
(Sabin 102541) (Howes W235) (Lowndes 2868) (Clark II, 132)
From the library of noted abolitionist and antiquarian collector, George Head Head of Rickerby, with his bookplate affixed to the front pastedown. Includes a handwritten note from Arthur H. Masten, to the recipient of this copy. An attractive work.
Isaac Weld (1774-1856) conducted a survey of the United States from 1795 to 1797, covering the Eastern Seaboard and parts of the American frontier, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and the Carolinas. Weld traveled by horseback, boat, and on foot, observing the social, political, and economic conditions of the newly formed nation. In “Travels,” he commented on the vast natural beauty of the American landscape, the state of infrastructure, and the way of life of settlers and Native American tribes he encountered. Weld was critical of the rough manners and egalitarianism he witnessed, contrasting it with European refinement, yet he admired the industrious spirit of Americans. His narrative of the nascent United States helped to shape European opinions of the new nation during the Revolutionary period.
