[LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION]. JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743-1826). Message from the President of the United States, Communicating Discoveries Made in Exploring the Missouri, Red River and Washita, by Captains Lewis and Clark, Doctor Sibley, and Mr. Dunbar; With a Statistical Account of the Countries Adjacent. February 19, 1806. Read, and ordered to lie on the table. Washington, D.C.: A. & G. Way, 1806.
8vo in fours (203 x 121 mm). 2 folding letterpress tables at pages 30 and 34 (full vertical paper repairs at center on verso to both tables, some browning); lacks folding map as usual. (Title-page reinforced on verso, marginal tears at upper margin repaired of title, slightly affecting the “P” in “President”, some occasional browning or spotting). Full modern calf gilt.
FIRST EDITION, ONE OF ONLY 1,000 COPIES, CONTAINING THE FIRST ACCOUNTS OF TEXAS IN BOOK FORM AND THE FIRST OFFICIAL PUBLICATION TO PROVIDE ANY DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION. This is also the first work to provide a good account of the southwestern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. The first section consists of material transmitted to Jefferson by Lewis, including their route, Indians, trade, animals encountered and geography. Streeter notes that “Two letters by Dr. Sibley...one on the Indian tribes of Texas and the other an account of the Red River and the adjacent country, seem to be the first accounts of Texas in book form.” Although it does not contain the rare folding map (often only seen in the Senate copies), it does contain the two folding tables which are often lacking. Graff 4406; Howes L-319; Lewis and Clark Expedition 2b.1; Reese, Best of the West 28; Sabin 40824; Shaw & Shoemaker 11633; Streeter I:290; Streeter Texas 1038; Wagner-Camp-Becker 5:1 (“Read, and ordered to lie on the table”).