Featured Book
Featured Book 1. Allen, Paul (editor). HISTORY OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAINS LEWIS AND CLARK, TO THE SOURCES OF THE MISSOURI, THENCE ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND DOWN THE RIVER COLUMBIA TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, PERFORMED DURING THE YEARS 1804–5–6 BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 2 volumes. Philadelphia, PA: Bradford and Inskeep, 1814, 8vo., Volume I original paper-covered boards, Vol. II later quarter leather, marbled paper-covered boards, gilt-stamped label and five raised bands on spine, both volumes in later slipcases. xxviii, 470; x, 522 pages. $ 12,500.00 Howes 317; Shaw and Shoemaker 31924. This is the first official edition of the journals of the expedition across the Louisiana territory to the Pacific Ocean led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, 1804–6. Reuben Gold Thwaites notes that about 2000 copies were published but 583 were apparently lost. See Thwaites, “The Story of Lewis and Clark’s Journals” in The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society 6:1 (March 1903), 26–53. Donald Jackson notes that several “unauthorized,” spurious journals had previously appeared, Howes 321 for example. See Jackson, “The Race to Publish Lewis and Clark” in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 85:2 (April 1961), 163–77. Lewis had made some 1 arrangements for publishing the jour- nals before his death in 1809, where- upon the project was taken up by Clark with the assistance of Nicholas Biddle and Paul Allen. Biddle did not wish to claim credit for his contribution, and he engaged the services of Allen whose role was “but that of a reviser for the press.” (Thwaites 36).
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