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First edition. Octavo in 4s (7 13/16" x 4 11/16", 198mm x 120mm). [Full collation available.] 282 leaves, pp. [4] (title-page, Pennsylvania deposit, 2pp. blank), i-iii (dedication, blank, contents) iv-xi (8pp. contents) xi-xii (blank, introduction) xiii-xxxiv, [2] (2pp. blank), 1 2-522 [2] (2 pp. blank). [= lv, 524]. With an engraved portrait frontispiece of "Mico Chlucco the Long Warior or King of the Siminoles", a folding map of the coast of East Florida, a folding plate of the Hydrangea quercifolia and six engraved plates. Bound in contemporary sheep, rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. On the spine, five horizontal gilt fillets. Title gilt to red morocco in the second "panel." Rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. Some wear to the fore-corners and scuffs to the boards. Title-page reinforced at the spine-edge. Internally some offsetting from the plates, and scattered toning. A very good copy with all blanks present. Presented in a cloth slipcase with an olive morocco title-label gilt with a cloth chemise, signed by "J. Desmonts J. Mac Donald Co., Norwalk, Conn." to the upper paste-down of the chemise. With the signed bookplate of Bruce McKinney from his 2010 Bonhams sale (lot 112). William Bartram (1729-1823) was born in Philadelphia, son of the naturalist John Bartram whom Linnaeus so admired. Like his father, William was unsatisfied to observe in his backyard; instead he traveled extensively in the Southeast (from 1773), leaving some of the earliest and most vivid descriptions of that part of the country. His was the great curiosity of the savant, not limiting himself to the flora or fauna, terrain or cultures he encountered, but weaving all into a tapestry of the region. He was the first naturalist properly to explore the thickly forested and swampy terrain of Florida, and it is this for which his writing is now most prized. Nearly as important as the work's scientific pedigree is its influence on literature. Coleridge and Wordsworth certainly read it; Wordsworth cites it explicitly in a note to his poem "Ruth" (Lyrical Ballads (1800) II.106). The novelty of the country and its inhabitants surely sparked great curiosity, but it is surely the immediacy and rhapsody of Bartram's prose that so engaged the Romantic poets. The present volume was purchased at Bruce McKinney's sale (Bonham's New York, 2 December 2010: "The American Experience," lot 122). McKinney founded the Americana Exchange, now Rare Book Hub, the central database of book auction records. McKinney purchased the book from William Reese Co. in 1992. Stevens Catalogue of Rare Books Relating to America 1617; Howes B223; Sabin 3870; Streeter sale 2:1088; Field 94. Seller Inventory # 6JLR0019
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