LEWIS, Meriwether (1774-1809) and CLARK, William (1770-1838). History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clarke, to the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed during the years 1804-5-6. Philadelphia and Dublin: Bradford and Inskeep, J. Christie, 1817.

2 volumes, 8vo (208 x 127 mm). Folding map, 5 single-page maps, with the plate “Principal Cascade of the Missouri River.” (Lacking 12pp. prelims in vol. II, some spotting or browning throughout, a few short marginal tears, some minor offsetting.) Contemporary calf gilt, smooth spines gilt, red and black morocco lettering-pieces gilt (rebacked preserving original spines, some minor rubbing, wear or soiling).

Scarce Dublin edition, which closely follows the first edition of 1814, and which includes Jefferson’s “Life of Captain Lewis” of 18 August 1813 (pp. vii-xxvii), Paul Allen’s “Preface” (pp. iii-v), as well as other text not found in the first London edition. There is disagreement about the preliminary matter in volume II; Howes calls for 18 preliminary pages, whereas Sabin and Wagner-Camp call for 12 preliminary pages. Volume II of the present copy is without the preliminary leaves, with text starting after the title-page on page [3].

"THE MOST IMPORTANT WESTERN EXPLORATION" (Howes). Nicholas Biddle edited the text of the first American edition with the assistance of Paul Allen, and the first edition was published in Philadelphia in 1814. “This reissue of the Bradford and Inskeep edition of 1814 was printed with larger, clearer type, thirty-two lines to the page instead of the earlier thirty-six, and contained other editorial changes. Coues considered it to be the best of the Biddle-Allen editions” (Wagner-Camp). Field 930; Graff 2482; see Hill, p.180 ("one of the most interesting narratives of North America in existence"); see Howes L-317; Sabin 856; Sabin 40831; Wagner-Camp 13:6.