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Gregg,
Josiah. Commerce
of the Prairies: Or the Journal of a Santa Fe Trader, During Eight
Expeditions across the Great Western Prairies, and a Residence of Nearly
Nine Years in Northern Mexico. New York: Henry G. Langley, 1844. Octavo,
original gilt-stamped brown cloth. Two volumes. $5500.
"Not
even an attempt has before been made to present any full account of the
origin of the Santa Fe Trade and modes of conducting it; nor of the
early history and present condition of the people of New Mexico; nor of
the Indian tribes by which the wild and unreclaimed regions of that
department are inhabited. " --Josiah Gregg
First
edition, first issue (with only New York in imprint), complete with
large folding map. One of the most valuable and comprehensive
sources for understanding pioneer life in the Great Plains and
Southwest. The large folding map is the first to display the
Staked Plains of Texas. Hailed as a cartographic landmark, it
includes the locations of forts, military roads, and trading posts.
It also identifies the Oregon Trail and Native American settlements, and
traces the routes of the earlier explorers Boone, Long, Pike, and Cooke.
A clean, bright, un-restored copy in the original cloth: text clean with
only light foxing. Scarce and fragile map fine save for one closed
tear at the far right hand side (see below), starting at the main
horizontal crease and continuing for 2" diagonally upward and to
the left; some loss to head and tail of spine of volume I (see left),
bindings unusually clean and bright. |