Astoria; or, Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains.
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1836.
8vo, 3 vols: [2], viii, xi-xvi (as issued), 317,[1], [2, ads]; ix, [1], 320; vii, [1], 294 pp. Half-title in first volume. Original cloth backed boards, printed labels. Early signature of A. Leapingwell on each front pastedown and shelving numbers in ink on backstrips. Boards toned and worn, labels chipped, some spotting particularly to endpapers, but overall a sound and unsophisticated set.
§ First British edition, issued shortly after the American edition. "This is one of the best-known works of Western Americana, written by the leading American writer of the day. It describes John Jacob Astor's Pacific Coast fur trading enterprise, based in part on the journals of Robert Stuart, Wilson Price Hunt, and Ramsay Crooks, along with extracts from Captain Bonneville's notes on the western Indians. Irving also had Astor's full cooperation." (Reese)
The book is also of significance to Hawaiiana collectors. Forbes includes a long note begining "an important text on trade in the Pacific from 1810-1814. Astor's ship, teh Tonquin (Capt. Thorn), sailed for the Northwest Coast in 1810, making a stop en route at the Hawaiian Islands."
BAL 10296; Howes I-81; Sabin 35129; Forbes Hawaii 1004; Reese, The Best of the West #67 "Classic work on the fur trade" Item #126153
Price: $795.00