Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark: Coues, Elliot, editor:

$5,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

HISTORY OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF LEWIS AND CLARK...A NEW EDITION, FAITHFULLY REPRINTED...WITH COPIOUS CRITICAL COMMENTARY...BY ELLIOT ... One of 800 sets on "fine book paper" from an edition limited to 1,000 sets. The first "modern" edited scholarly edition of the Lewis and Clark account and manuscripts, reprinting the official text of 1814, but with extensive notes by Coues based on his examination of the surviving manuscripts and maps of the expedition. This was also the first of a series of landmark publications by Harper on western exploration, and the first editing project of the prolific Elliot Coues. "[Coues'] edition of 1893 ranks second in importance only to the original journals. His lengthy annotations, based on first-hand knowledge of the territory, are highly informative, and his bibliographical essay is a major contribution" - Wagner-Camp. A landmark work in the history of western historiography, ushering in modern scholarship the same year as the Turner thesis.

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