Lot 401
Wilkes, Charles
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 2 September 2015 at 12:00 BST
Description
Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Philadelphia, Lea and Blanchard 1845. Third edition, 6 volumes, imperial 8vo, including the atlas, 29 x 19 cm, publisher's full brown cloth, decoratively stamped in blind, each text volume with a pictorial centrepiece stamped in gilt, spines lettered in gilt and each pictorially gilt-stamped, atlas, lettered in gilt on front board and spine, back board with gilt-stamped pictorial centrepiece, uncut; 64 engraved plates with protective tissue guard and 295 inter-textual vignettes and woodcuts and nine double-page engraved maps, atlas with 5 folding maps, one of which ('Chart of the World') is hand-coloured, a fine set; [Hill.1867; Howes W414; Sabin 103994; Streeter 3324; HBS 64930]
Footnote
Note: Third Edition and first generally obtainable edition, preceded by the extremely rare official quarto edition of 100 copies (of which sixty-three were given to foreign nations and twenty-five destroyed by fire), and the unofficial edition of the same size limited to 150 copies. The present edition is limited to 1,000 copies, which also includes the atlas which was omitted from later editions.