BRADBURY, John (fl.1809). Travels in the Interior of America, in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811; Including a Description of Upper Louisiana, together with the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, with the Illinois and Western Territories. Liverpool & London: printed by Smith and Galway for the author & Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 1817.

8vo (211 x 126 mm). Errata slip with newer stub laid in at end. (Some minor spotting and staining, a few leaves with tears crossing into text and some light marginal chipping with some repairs.) 19th-century maroon half calf, marbled boards, spine decorated in blind and gilt, marbled edges (hinges reinforced, some slight wear and staining). Provenance: James Bridge (tipped-in presentation inscription); Edward Pritchard (signature, 23 October 1850); Dudley Bell Priester (1923-2017), Mississippi River collector and bibliographer (sold Bloomsbury, 20 November 2009, lot 63).

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY BRADBURY to Bridge on a leaf tipped-in after p.188: "'Presented to Mr James Bridge by the Author as a testimony of his respect and esteem." Scottish naturalist Bradbury traveled with English botanist Thomas Nuttall to America. While traveling the Missouri River, they met Daniel Boone, then aged 84 and wearing nearly 60 beaver pelts. In addition to information about the Mississippi Valley, the appendix contains an Osage vocabulary, an account of John Colter's captivity, and a catalog of rare and valuable seeds for plants Bradbury discovered on the Missouri River near St. Louis. Travels in the Interior of America "deserves to be classed as one of the most accurate and pleasingly written travel accounts of this period of American history" (Clark). Buck 89; Clark Old South II:137(1); Graff 383; Howes B-695; Sabin 7207; Streeter Sale III: 1779; Wagner-Camp 14:1.

Property from the Collection of Perry B. Hansen