Current Auction
Lot 154
Current Auction

"[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: 1836 (published)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
17.8 x 9.8 inches
45.2 x 24.9 cm
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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 two of the 1836 first edition (volume 1 - 285 pages, volume 2 - 279 pages). Rebound in brown cloth with much of the original cloth and spine backstrip pasted on top.

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

Condition: B+

The folding map has faint offsetting and a 1.75" fold separation at bottom right that has been closed on verso with archival materials. Text is bright with light scattered foxing. Modern binding is pristine.

Estimate: $400 - $475

Sold for: $300

Closed on 6/18/2025

Closed