Scenes In The Rocky Mountains, And In Oregon, California, New Mexico, Texas, And The Grand Prairies; Or, Notes By The Way, During An Excursion Of Three Years...By A New Englander.

RUFUS B. SAGE

Publication: Carey & Hart, 1846, Philadelphia

First Edition. Full Calf, with decorated edges, raised bands and gilt imprint on spine. xii, 303pp. Preface. Large Folding Map, inserted before Title Page. One of the most important overland narratives! "An important western narrative in various fields. Sage set out from Westport in the summer of 1841 with a fur trade caravan, later visiting New Mexico and witnessing the disaster of the Snively Expedition and the attempt by Texans to overthrow the Mexican government there. He later participated in the 1843 Fremont expedition. He thus took a personal part in, or traveled with, some of the most interesting figures in the West immediately before the Mexican-American War. The story of the publication of this work and its subsequent sale is told by LeRoy Hafen in the introduction to the most scholarly edition of Sage, issued in two volumes by Arthur H. Clark in 1956. According to Hafen, the publishers of the original edition felt the addition of a map would cost too much, and it was only at the author's insistence that a map was printed and sold with the book, at an additional charge. The map, based primarily on the large Fremont map, is thus usually not found with the book. It is 'one of the earliest to depict the finally-determined Oregon boundary...one of the earliest attempts to show on a map the evermore-heavily traveled emigrant road to California"--Wheat. It adds interesting notes on the country and locations of fur trading establishments. Sage was certainly one of the most literate and acute observers of the West in the period immediately before the events of 1846."--Bill Reese, The Best Of The West,95. This rare work is from the library of Dorothy and Clinton Josey, with their bookplate on the front pastedown endpaper. Full-calf binding shows some soiling and a small scuff to rear cover. Text block is clean and tight. The large folding map shows some expert reinforcement on verso of several folds. An attractive 19th century binding of this rare and important work. Protected in half-leather clamshell box, with title, author, and year of publication in gilt on leather spine.