TRAVELS INTO NORTH AMERICA; CONTAINING ITS NATURAL HISTORY, AND A CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF ITS PLANTATIONS AND AGRICULTURE IN GENERAL.

Kalm, Peter

Published by T. Lowndes, London, 1772

Two volumes. xii,414pp. plus six engraved plates; iv,423,[9]pp. plus folding engraved map. Contemporary calf, maroon gilt morocco labels. Moderate shelf wear. Hinges worn, more particularly on second volume. Minor foxing in text and on map. Four-inch tear along fold of map. Contemporary ownership signatures on front pastedown and front free endpaper. Good. This copy bears the ownership signature of Thomas Hanmer, likely son of Sir Thomas Hanmer, speaker of the House of Commons and noted bibliophile. The name of his estate, Bettisfield, appears on the front pastedown. The second English edition, translated by George Reinhold Forster, after the Swedish first edition of 1753-61 and the rare first English edition published in Warrington in 1770-71. "One of the most important and reliable eighteenth-century accounts of American natural history, social organization, and political situation. Kalm gives especially important accounts of the American Swedish settlements" - Streeter. Kalm was in America in 1748-49 and made a notable trip into the back country of New York with naturalist John Bartram, as well as travelling in more settled regions. He was one of the most notable early American naturalists, and made important contributions to the study of American botany. In his dedication, Forster writes the text will "display to the British nation, the circumstances of a country which is so happy as to be under its protection." While this statement might have expressed colonial sentiment during the years of the book's first production, by the time the Warrington edition was produced, such affection for Great Britain had clearly subsided. Interestingly, the work was also listed by Pilling for its brief Algonquian and Eskimo vocabularies. A fundamental work of early American natural history. HOWES K5, "aa." TAXONOMIC LITERATURE 3493. Coats, THE PLANT HUNTERS, pp.277-79. SABIN 36989. STREETER SALE 823 (ref). PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 2050d. REESE & OSBORN, STRUGGLE FOR NORTH AMERICA 80 (ref). Seller Inventory # WRCAM33666

Bibliographic Details

Title: TRAVELS INTO NORTH AMERICA; CONTAINING ITS ...
Publisher: T. Lowndes, London
Publication Date: 1772