A TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WESTERN TERRITORY OF NORTH AMERICA; CONTAINING A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF THE CLIMATE, NATURAL HISTORY, POPULATION, AGRICULTURE, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, WITH AN AMPLE DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL DIVISIONS INTO WHICH THAT COUNTRY IS PARTITIONED, AND AN ACCURATE STATEMENT OF THE VARIOUS TRIBES OF INDIANS THAT INHABIT THE FRONTIER COUNTRY. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED A DELINEATION OF LAWS AND GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY, TENDING TO SHOW THE PROBABLE RISE AND GRANDEUR OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND IN ENGLAND.
London: Debrett, 1792. (iv), xv, (1 blank), 247, (1, ad) pp.; with half-title [closed tear expertly repaired]. Attractive three-quarter crimson morocco over red cloth-covered boards, decorated in gilt. Top edge gilt, marbled endpapers; old ownership initials on verso of front free endpaper; "Rosenbach" in pencil at top of half-title; scattered spotting to text.
This is the first edition of Imlay's early and highly influential description of the American frontier [although Clark says the book "must be used with great caution."] Imlay was a captain in the American army during the American Revolution. He became a land speculator in the Kentucky region, where he gathered the observations that make up this work. Clark calls Imlay "a man who left Kentucky without settling his obligations, who seems to have been involved to organize a French expedition to take the lower Mississippi Valley, and who treated Mary Wollstonecraft shamelessly."
The book is in an epistolary format, exchanges from a Kentuckian to his friend in England. Imlay provides one of the most complete descriptions of the trans-Appalachian West up to that time. Its popularity resulted in several editions, including a 1793 New York printing.
FIRST EDITION. Howes I12. II Clark 41. Streeter Sale 1522. Item #40420
Price: $2,000.00