NARRATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION

Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1845. during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. With illustrations and maps. In five volumes. Pp. lvi+434+xii+476+xii+438+xiv+540+xii+558 (each volume lacking the half-title page), 11 maps (10 folding), 3 folding tables, woodcut text illustrations, printed music, appendices, index; rebound in modern dark brown half leather, the spines lettered in gilt and decorated in blind, light brown cloth boards; later endpapers; bookseller's sticker at head of upper pastedown Volumes I & II (and traces of removal of small sticker in the other volumes), the lower hinge cracking Volumes III & IV, all the folding maps and tables plus the title pages and the final text page in Volume IV neatly reinforced with cloth on the reverse, a few leaves lightly creased, a couple of small edge splits, chips or tears, the bottom fore-corner of pages 441/2 in Volume V reinserted with early paper repair (not affecting text), a few mainly small damp stains, scattered foxing, browning and soiling; Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia,1845. Third (second octavo) edition. Haskell 3; Hocken p. 125; F.4208. *First published in a very limited edition (100 copies) in 1844, more than a dozen editions were published in the years prior to the civil war. The present edition was reprinted, unabridged, from stereotypes of the second (imperial octavo) edition, but was issued without the plates and the separate atlas volume, and with the text illustrations being woodcuts instead of steel engravings. Beginning in 1838, the Wilkes expedition was the first national U.S. exploring expedition, and played a major role in the development of 19th century science. The expedition personnel included several scientists, who collected thousands of plant and bird specimens, which later formed the basis of collections at the Smithsonian Institution. The expedition circumnavigated the globe, notably exploring the coast of the Antarctic continent, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and the American northwest coast. Three chapters in Volume II (pp. 157-277) deal with New South Wales.