Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America. By Jonathan Carver. First Edition, First Printing. Printed by the Author. London, 1778.

Jonathan Carver was a British colonial subject and an early British explorer of North America. In the 1760s, he traversed much of the Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi River, being the first English-speaking explorer to catalogue the place and its many Native American people. Although it took him many years to receive credit, he eventually published this volume which became a major bestseller in England and drove further interest in westward expansion. In Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America, Carver describes St. Anthony Falls, Ho-Chunk and Dakota tribes, the upper Mississippi River, and Lake Superior. His maps were also quite consequential. They were some of the first English-language maps of what would become Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. Carver’s expeditions ultimately led to more colonial interest in the region, setting the stage for subsequent colonizations by the newly founded United States of America.

This first edition, first printing is in very good condition. In the contemporary tree calf, very good with some rubbing, chipping, and bumping to edges. Creases to spine. Some restoration to foot of spine and back joint. Front joint just starting. Text block about-fine. Speckled edges. Front free endpaper cracked. With the original foldout maps, fine. With the original plates. Some minor offsetting. This copy with the signatures of the Counts von Stolberg dated 1779.

A very good first edition of Carver’s Travels. Scarce.