Catalog Archive
Auction 183, Lot 160

"[Map and 2 Volumes] Sketch of the Routes of Hunt & Stuart [in] Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains Vol. I [and] Vol. II", Irving, Washington

Subject: Western United States

Period: 1841 (published)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
17.9 x 9.7 inches
45.5 x 24.6 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

Describing an expedition launched just a few years after Lewis & Clark's epic journey, this map covers the same region - from the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri, up the Missouri, across the Rocky Mountains and through the Pacific Northwest, extending to well below Lake Bonneville Salt Water. The southern portion of the map is mostly blank except for a long, straight Colorado of the West with many tributaries originating in the Rockies. The Great Basin region has three lakes and a few land-locked rivers. The routes of the two explorers are delineated with dotted lines with Stuart's party reaching all the way to Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia River. The map is the result of a commercial exploration directed by John Jacob Astor. The expedition was sent in 1811 to seek an overland route to the Pacific. Washington Irving was commissioned by Astor to write the account of his company's effort to create a settlement in Oregon. Wheat says "for what it purports to be it is an excellent map."

The account and map were not published until 1836. It was reportedly engraved by Carey, Lea & Blanchard, but no attribution is given on the map. Here it is bound into the front of volume one of the 1841 edition (volume 1 - 285 pages, volume 2 - 279 pages). Hardbound in brown cloth with gilt titles on the spines.

References: Wheat (TMW) #419; Howes #I-81.

Condition: B+

The folding map is very good with light offsetting, minor toning at top right, and a few spots of foxing. Text has scattered foxing throughout. Covers have light wear and a few abrasions and the spines are sunned.

Estimate: $300 - $375

Sold for: $500

Closed on 6/9/2021

Archived