MINNESOTA AND THE FAR WEST. by Oliphant, Lawrence - 1855

Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1855, First edition. . original pictorial gilt cloth, gilt spine title lettering, spine and corners worn, lightly foxed on some pages, lacks pages 193 to 208 and the illustration in that signature, fair copy. . 8vo [23 x 14 cm]; xiv, 306, 16 [ads] pp, tinted lithographed frontis, 5 engraved plates, 9 other illus, folding map (the eastern half of which is lacking). . Part I is on Canada including trade, society, politics, backwoods, travels from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, canoe voyage down the Severin, Indian villages. Part II is Lake Superior including Sault Ste. Marie, the pictured rocks, mineral deposits, city of Superior, Wisconsin. Part III is Minnesota including camping out, the Savannahs, the Mississippi, Indian affairs, the Sauk Rapids, Falls of St. Anthony, St. Paul, train travel, manners, customs, steamboat life, across the prairies, Chicago to Niagara. The missing signature is on the early traders and Sandy Lake. Sabin 57183. Howes O64.… Read More

Edinburgh And London: William Blackwood and Sons. Good. 1855. First Edition. Hardcover. Recased in 19th century binding; full green leather with gilt lettering, all edges marbled, marbled pastedowns and endpapers. Laboris praemium schola Kensingtoniensis in gilt on front and rear boards. All plates and map as called for. Missing publisher's advertisements at rear. Boards have minor chipping, front gutter is cracked; toning from frontis on title page, light soiling to endpapers; text block is remarkably clean with a minor offsetting from plates. Folded map is titled "Map of the North-Western Provinces of America including Minnesota." Oliphant provides details of the conditions and prospects of the Midwest after his journey there in 1854. His journey is divided into three parts: Canada, Lake Superior, and Minnesota. Howes O-64. Graff 3091. ; Plates; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 306 pp .