London: Barnard & Sultzer, 1805. 96pp, folding map. Later 19th century half leather and marbled paper over boards. External wear with a patch of the marbled paper missing from the front board. Internally clean and free of foxing. Map foxed with offsetting and a repaired tear, withal complete and legible. Francois AndrŽ Michaux (1770-1855), son of botanist AndrŽ Michaux, came to America first in 1785 to assist his father and stayed on to conduct his own botanical expeditions. His first great expedition in 1802 took him from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh from whence he walked to Wheeling, West Virginia where he bought a canoe, descended the Ohio river to Limestone (now Maysville), Ohio. He then traveled overland to Lexington, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee, thence to Knoxville, Tennessee, Charleston (to drop off plants), back into Tennessee, North Carolina, out to Morgantown and back, a journey of some 1800 miles. This account of his travels is an abridgement of the English edition of the same year. The folding map (16 x 19 inches) is of particular interest. It shows the United States from the eastern seaboard to the Missisipi (sic) River of the many points of interest two stand out. A note identifies the northern boundary of North Carolina stating that it extends as far as the South Sea, an impressive claim granted by the charter of Charles II. In eastern Tennessee is Franklinia, a remnant of the proposed frontier state that never became official. (The map, from the same publisher as the book, is dated 1809.) Howes M579. Item #22601

Price: $450.00