Gass, Patrick

A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery, under the Command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke & from the Mouth of the River Missouri through the Interior Parts of North America to the Pacific Ocean, during the Years 1804, 1805 and 1806. ... Second Edition. Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey, 1810



12mo (6 3/4 x 4 in.; 172 x 101 mm). Woodcut frontispiece and 5 crude but evocative woodcut plates, fly-title (A5); frontispiece rebacked, scattered light foxing and browning, lacking terminal blank Y6. Modern half russet morocco gilt.

Graff 1518; Howes G77; Streeter sale 5:3123; Wagner-Camp 6:5;

Second Carey (third American) and second illustrated edition. Gass's Journal, initially published in Pittsburgh in 1807, was the first full account of the Lewis and Clark expedition written by a participant. Mathew Carey acquired the copyright for the work from David McKeehan and issued two editions in 1810, despite the attempt of Nicholas Biddle to suppress them. Biddle, a prominent Philadelphia litterateur, had been engaged to assist William Clark in editing the much-delayed official account of the expedition, which did not appear until 1814.