Beschreibung:

Title: Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Laurence through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the Years 1789 and 1793. With a Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of That Country Author: MacKenzie, Sir Alexander Place: Philadelphia Publisher: Published by John Morgan Date: 1802 Description: Two volumes in one, plus atlas volume. [6], viii, cxxvi, 113, [1 blank]; [ii], (115)-392 pp. Second title page bound in preceding page 115. Engraved portrait frontispiece. With separate volume containing three large folding maps. (8vo) text volume in period full calf, morocco spine label; map volume in period calf-backed marbled boards . Second American Edition. Rare two-volume issue of the Philadelphia octavo edition of Mackenzie's voyages, with all three maps as issued in the London quarto first edition, not just the single map of the New York and Philadelphia one-volume issues. As Wagner-Camp notes when describing the Philadelphia edition, "Copies of this edition exist bound in two volumes, each with a title page, and carrying the three maps as is 1:1." Mackenzie's account of the first white men to cross the American continent north of Mexico, important not only for the geographic knowledge attained but also for the revealing ethnological studies of the inhabitants encountered. Preceded by the London edition published in 1801, a reprint, and a Paris and New York edition in 1802. The maps in this copy are: Map of America between latitudes 40 and 70 north and longitudes 45 and 180 west. A Map of McKenzie's track from Fort Chipewyan in 1789. A Map of MacKenzie's track from Fort Chipewyan to the Pacific Ocean in 1793. The portrait and the 3 maps are identical to those in the first London edition. Henry Stevens Catalogue of Rare Americana, 1926, states that "perfect copies of this [2 vol.] Philadelphia edition are exceedingly rare". The two volume set was taken by Lewis and Clark on their expedition. Howes M133; Sabin 43415; Smith 6384; Wagner-Camp 1:5. Lot Amendments Condition: Vertical split to spine of text volume; hinges cracked; foxing. Map volume without title page; some splitting along folds, foxing; good to very good overall. Item number: 281559