Description

GASS, PATRICK (1771-1870) . A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery, under the Command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke of the Army of the United States, from the Mouth of the River Missouri through the Interior Parts of North America to the Pacific Ocean, during the Years 1804, 1805 & 1806 . Pittsburgh: Printed by Zadok Cramer for David M’Keehan, 1807. First edition, original leather-backed calf boards, 262 pages, measures 6.5 by 4.25 inches, and in good to very good condition with extensive rubbing to the boards (primarily to the top and bottom right corners of the front board), the front and back flyleaves and half-title page absent, and staining, soiling, dampstaining, creasing, tearing, and handwritten notations to the pages. FIRST EDITION OF PATRICK GASS’S A JOURNAL OF THE VOYAGES AND TRAVELS OF A CORPS OF DISCOVERY, UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPT. LEWIS AND CAPT. CLARKE…FROM THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER MISSOURI THROUGH THE INTERIOR PARTS OF NORTH AMERICA TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN… PRINTED BY ZADOK CRAMER FOR DAVID M’KEEHAN IN PITTSBURGH IN 1807 The first full account by a Lewis and Clark participant to be published. Due to Meriwether Lewis’s untimely suicide, it was the only reference book associated with the expedition to be available to the public for seven years. Lewis ordered the sergeants to write daily diaries as stated in his April 7, 1805 letter to President Thomas Jefferson, “we have encouraged our men to keep journals, and seven of them do so, to whom in this respect we give every assistance in our power.” THE FIRST FULL ACCOUNT BY A LEWIS AND CLARK PARTICIPANT TO BE PUBLISHED According to Wagner-Camp, “Although he had not learned to read and write until an adult, Gass nonetheless complied with Lewis's orders that each sergeant keep a daily journal...Gass became one of the best-known members of the expedition for several reasons: his key role as sergeant brought his name up frequently in the journals of Lewis and Clark; his account was the first to be published; he was the first to have a biography written about him; and finally, he outlived the other members of the Corps of Discovery by decades, dying at the age of ninety-nine in 1870.” A carpenter by trade, Gass helped build Forts Mandan and Clatsop and later provided valuable commentary on these fortifications. First editions of Gass’s Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition are excessively rare and highly desirable with two copies having commanded as much as $45,600 at Christie’s in April 2007 and $21,960 at Bonhams in December 2010. THE ONLY REFERENCE BOOK ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXPEDITION TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC FOR SEVEN YEARS Contains the ownership signature of General William Wirt Humphreys (1836-1893) on the title page. Humphreys was a South Carolina lawyer, editor, and soldier who led the Palmetto Sharpshooters under General James Longstreet’s command at the Battles of First Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Gaines’ Mill, and Frayser’s Farm where he suffered a near-fatal wound. He would later continue to fight at the Battles of Spotsylvania, Second Cold Harbor, Bermuda Hundred, Siege of Petersburg, and Appomattox Court House. After the war, Humphreys served as a probate judge and the mayor of Anderson, was promoted to Major General of the State Militia, and appointed President of the Savannah Valley Railroad. Christie’s. Gass, Patrick (1771-1870). A Journal of the Voyages and Travels…. PBA Galleries. Patrick Grass’s Journal 1807 Lewis and Clark. Under the Kudzu: Hidden, Forgotten, and Lost History. William Wirt Humphreys.