Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, in the Year 1852

$1,150 · Offered by Book Collector Inc

Author: Randolph Barnes Marcy (1812-1887) Year: 1854 Publisher: A O P Nicholson, Public Printer Place: Washington, DC Description: 2 volumes housed in custom enclosure. Text volume: xv+[1]-286 pages. Illustrated with 65 plates including 12 lithographed views; 10 engraved geological sections including 1 hand-colored and folding (numbered 1-11, no No. 2, as issued); 6 lithographed paleontology plates; 18 lithographed zoology plates; 19 lithographed botany plates (numbed I-XX, no No. XVIII, as issued). Atlas volume with the 2 maps Senate issue. Octavo (8¾" x 5½"), original blind-stamped cloth. Executive House Document, 33d Congress, 1st session. Assisted by George B. McClellan. Map folder dark brown blind stamped cloth with same decorations and title "Maps. Marcy's Report" lettered in gilt on the front board. (Howes: 275) First edition, map volume later issue. Five years before the perilous winter march in which he led his troops safely through the Rocky Mountains, Captain Randolph Marcy, who served in Zachary Taylor's army during the Mexican War, commanded a groundbreaking expedition to locate the source of the Red River, which flows across some 1300 miles of the south-central United States. "No American explorer was known to have hitherto explored the headwaters" and all known maps were inaccurate. The annexation of Texas [in 1845], and the consequent necessity of establishing a verified northern border with the Indian territory [i.e., present-day Oklahoma], made the expeditio

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.