[Florida] Across the Everglades A Canoe Journey of Exploration by Willoughby, Hugh L. (1856-1959) - 1898

Philadelphia, PA: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1898. First Edition, First Printing. Decorated Cloth Hardcover. Very Good/No Dust Jacket As Issued.

Navy blue cloth with silver gilt titles and front decoration, top edge gilt. Bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Moderate shelf handling wear with minor top gutter dampstain not affecting text through page 15. Numerous b/w period photographs taken by the author highlight the narrative. Folding map has age-toned lightly and is intact. 8vo; 7.5 inches tall; xii, 9-192 p. incl. front. plates (incl. ports.) maps (1 folding) 1898. Includes 18 pages of Seminole vocabulary. First Edition, First Printing.. The Florida Everglades were a mystery to map makers as late as the 1890's. In 1898 Hugh L. Willoughby, the wealthy son of a banker, and who had never held a real job, set out in early January to explore the remote southern part of Florida; uncharted territory, at least to everyone but the Seminole Indians who fled there decades earlier rather than consent to the federal government's forced relocation to Indian Territory.

This account of this exploratory trip across the southern Everglades includes descriptions of places, people, and wildlife.

Throughout the narrative, the author refers to the methods used by the Seminoles for travel, cooking, etc., as well as describing some of their recent history and his encounters with them during this trip. While the book gives a great deal of technical information it is rich in adventure and sporting episodes read like a novel.

Ref: Harris, 1366; AAC, 215; Clark, 503