Schöpf, Johann David:

$7,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

REISE DURCH EINIGE DER MITTLERN UND SÜDLICHEN VEREINIGTEN NORDAMERIKANISCHEN STAATEN NACH OST-FLORIDA UND DEN BAHAMA-INSELN UNTERNOMMEN IN DEN JAHREN 1783 UND ... The first edition of Schöpf's account of his travels along the eastern coast of America immediately following the Revolutionary War. The author was a German-trained physician who served as a field surgeon attached to the Ansbach regimen of Hessian mercenaries employed by the British during the American Revolution. After the war ended, Schöpf stayed an additional two years in America, travelling from New York City south to St. Augustine, Florida. He also spent time in the Bahamas. Howes refers to the work as the "first notable 18th century account of the United States by a German traveller."Schöpf was a careful student of natural history, and was particularly interested in the geology and mineralogy of the region. He was the author of the first significant work on American geology and the earliest materia medica based on plants found in eastern North America. "Among travellers in America it would be difficult to find his equal in combined breadth of interests, accuracy of observation and judgement, wit, and serene good temper...he is one of the best exemplars of the culture of the Enlightenment" - DAB.This is a matched set, judging by the institutional provenance of the second volume, though in matched bindings. Quite scarce in the trade.

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