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Rare German Edition of Pike's Report on his Expedition from St. Louis to the Rocky Mountains and Map
Pike's map of Texas and the Southwest is the first map of the Southwest to be based on first-hand exploration and is widely regarded as one of the milestones in the mapping of the American West.
Based in part on the maps of Alexander von Humboldt, which were available to Pike in Washington, Wheat notes that the map provides a critical first-hand look at Texas and the West at the opening of the 19th century and offers a remarkable picture of an important stretch of country that had hitherto been known only through the vaguest of rumors.
In 1807 Pike led one of the earliest expeditions to reconnoiter the newly purchased territory of Louisiana.... While similar to Humbolt's map, it provides a significant improvement in rendering the interior of Texas. With the exception of the lower courses of the Sabine and Neches, which are distorted to the East, the Rivers are shown accurately. The Brazos is, for the first time in a printed map, shown in almost its proper length and shape.
Lake Timpanogos still appears, as do several of mythical rivers in Utah. Includes fascinating early notes on the exploration of the west.
The map is offered here in a rare German edition, Reise durch die westlichen Gebiete von Nord=America enthaltend die Tagebucher der Reisen von St. Louis, den Mississippi hinauf bis an die Quellen dieses Flusses; das Innere von Louisiana, und durch die nordostlichen Provinzen von Neu=Spanien gemacht in den Jarehn 1805, 1806 u. 1807 . . . ., published in Weimar in 1813.
Book
Octavo. Later ½ calf over marbled boards. xvi [including series and volume titles], 556 pages.
Early ink stamp "Brem. Museum" on verso of series title.
Rarity
The book and map are very rare. We locate only 3 auction records in the past 100 years (Swann 1983, Parke Bernet, 1954 and Otto Lange 1921).
In 1954, Parke Bernet Catalog noted:
. . . "This seems to be a scarce book; I have not yet been able to find a copy. I presume that, like the French and Dutch, it was modeled upon the London quarto; but with what modifications, if any, aside from translation into another language, I have no idea:.--Elliott Coues's bibliography in his edition of Pike's 'Expeditions, vol. I, p. xliv, New York, 1895.
xvi, 556 pages. 8vo.
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