Un tour dans les praires. A l’ouest des Etats-Unis
Tours, France: R.Pornin, 1845. 12mo. [iv], 296 pp. With 3 engravings (including frontispiece), all tissue guards present. Publisher’s cloth, gilt decorations on both boards, spine elaborately gilt, somewhat worn and rubbed; interior spotted throughout. Item #15299
Second French edition. Irving (1783-1859), an American writer, historian and diplomat, recounts his travels on the frontier. In 1832, Irving, recently returned from nearly two decades living abroad, embarked on a monthlong trek across what soon became Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). His traveling companions included Charles Joseph Latrobe, a 31-year-old Englishman of French ancestry, and Albert Alexander de Pourtalès, a 19-year-old Franco-Swiss count. They were joined by Judge Henry Leavitt Ellsworth of Connecticut, whom President Andrew Jackson had recently appointed to a board of commissioners arranging for the removal of the Southern Indian tribes west of the Mississippi. The first edition of Irving’s account of his journey was published in 1835. The book was quite successful, especially in French-speaking countries where the public wanted to discover how Irving’s companions felt about their encounters with Native Americans. The book remains a perennial favorite, retaining its original freshness, vigor, and vividness to this day.
Price: $150.00