TRAVELS IN THE GREAT WESTERN PRAIRIES, THE ANAHUAC AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS, AND IN THE OREGON TERRITOR

Ploughkeepsie [sic, 1843. 197pp. plus 1p. of advertisements. Contemporary half cloth and boards, paper label. Cloth worn on hinges and head and foot of spine, corners rubbed. Bright and clean internally. Very good. Unopened. In a tan half morocco slipcase, spine gilt. An important early account of the Oregon country, reprinted after the first edition of 1841. An excellent account of the first migration of settlers overland to Oregon. Farnham went overland there in 1839, going to Bent's Fort and then north to the Oregon Trail. After a brief sojourn during which he gathered materials, he sailed for home via the Sandwich Islands. "Thomas Jefferson Farnham, a high-spirited young man, caught the Oregon 'fever' in its most potent form as the result of hearing Jason Lee lecture in his home town. This is the first and most interesting of his several books on the West. It has the freshness of the viewpoint of a young man entranced with early Oregon and its possibilities. It is the best account of the first overland-to-Oregon migration of settlers" - Jones. The book became an effective propaganda piece for proponents of American control of Oregon. WAGNER-CAMP 85:4. STREETER SALE 3351. SABIN 23872. RITTENHOUSE 201. JONES 1044 (note). HOWES F50. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 78 (ref)