Description
Unrecorded pamphlet by Aaron Teal, Western Letters: Written during a Tour through the Western & Southern States, in 1825, ’26 & ’27.
Sixteenmo, 60pp. Original printed wraps with string binding. Covers worn with some soiling, chipping and dampstaining. Light foxing to interior with dampstaining to fore-edge. Gift inscription on the front flyleaf. Light crease down the center from handling. Rare travel account, not found in Sabin or American Imprints. No copies located in OCLC or NUC.
Aaron Teall (1793-1878) was a physician originally from Fairfield in Herkimer County, New York. In the 1820s, he spent about two years traveling in the western and southern parts of the United States. Encouraged to share his travels, he had this pamphlet published in 1829. It is made up of a series of 20 letters, the first dated July 1825 from Vigo County, Indiana and the last dated February 1827 upon his return to Fairfield. Teall’s journey takes him down the Wabash to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Some of his descriptions relate to towns, such as Vincennes, Indiana; Natchez, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. He also mentions places like Harmony and Shaker-Town, Indiana. Being a physician, he discusses the practice of medicine and the diseases of the region. His commentary also includes his thoughts on religion, education and slavery. In the 1840s, Aaron Teall moved west and settled in Beloit, Wisconsin, where he died in 1878. Teall’s last will and testament contains a brief mention of this pamphlet, which is described as “my Western Travels as first printed.”
