The Collected Library

8vo (216 x 140 mm). Folding geologic section (some spotting throughout.) Original drab boards (spine rebacked with modern cloth, rubbing, some ink splatter). Provenance: William Maclure (1763-1840), Scottish-American geologist and cartographer (presentation inscription).

FIRST EDITION. PRESENTATION COPY. INSCRIBED BY FEATHERSTONHAUGH TO "THE FATHER OF AMERICAN GEOLOGY," WILLIAM MACLURE. Shortly after being appointed the first U.S. government geologist, G.W. Featherstonhaugh set out to study the mineral deposits of the western portion of the Louisiana Purchase, with much of his work taking place in what is now Arkansas. This account of his findings was presented by Featherstonhaugh to William Maclure, who in 1808 undertook a geological survey of the United States; over the following year he mapped almost every state in the Union and traversed the Allegheny Mountains nearly fifty times (Green and Burke, The Science of Minerals in the Age of Jefferson, p. 39). His account of these explorations was published the following year and included the first geological map of the United States. Sabin 23962.