Travels Through The Interior Parts Of North America, In The Years 1766, 1767, and 1768

London: Printed for the Author, by William Richardson.Sold by J.Dodsley, J.Robson., 1779., 1779. 8vo. pp. 4 p.l., xvi, [16], [17]-543, [1]directions to binder. 2 folding engraved maps & 5 engraved plates. A fine copy in contemporary sprinkled calf (front joint beginning to crack, outer margin of 1 plate shaved, occasional hint of foxing). Second Edition. The popularity enjoyed by Carver's narrative, one of the earliest books on the Middle West, is unrivalled in the literature of early native American travel; thirty-two separate editions of the work are recorded. After the Seven Years' War, in which he served in five campaigns against the French, Carver set out from Boston in 1766 to explore the territory beyond the Mississippi and to find a north-west land passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. On his 7,000 mile journey he travelled to Michilimackinac, then via Green Bay-Fox River up the Mississippi to Lake Superior, reaching further north-west than any other recorded traveller had been except for Hennepin in 1680. The work contains one of the earliest descriptions of what is now known as Minnesota and Wisconsin and the name 'Oregon' appears in print here for the first time. Carver made important contributions to the mapping of the region and the knowledge of its natural history, Indian life and customs are described with great detail, particularly their methods of warfare. Included are short vocabularies of Chippeway and Naudowessie languages. Of the three London editions, this second is considered to be the rarest. It contains a new preface and a plate of the 'Tobacco Plant', not present in the first edition. The plate, dated Nov. 1779, does not appear on the plate list and is sometimes wanting. Cox II 151. Howes C-215. JCB II 2538. Lande 108. Pilling, Algonquian, p. 68, & Siouan, p. 12. Sabin 11184 (calling for 2 maps & 4 plates). cfArents 890. cfBell C84. cfField 251. cfGagnon II 325. cfGraff 622. cfJones 563. cfStreeter III 1772. cfTPL 415.. F.