Octavo, brown cloth (hardcover), gilt letters and decoration to upper cover, ix, 229 pp. Very Good, with neat former-owner signature and date to title, bookplate to ffep; In a Good, mylar protected dust jacket with edgewear that includes light chipping. From Preface: In 1791 William Bartram, a Philadelphia botanist, published an account of his Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Choctaws; Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of these Regions, together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. The book was promptly reprinted in England and Ireland, was translated into German, Dutch and French, and is still interesting enough to be reprinted in our own day (1928) in Mr. Mark Van Doren's American Bookshelf. During its long life the book has made a strong impression upon discriminating readers, and its influence upon the thought and literature of almost a century and a half is a phenomenon deserving the attention of the student of literary history. While Batram himself claimed that he wrote his account primarily as a contribution to natural science, to furnish information on Ôthe various works of Nature,' on Ôwhatever may contribute to our existence... whether it be found in the animal or vegetable kingdoms', it nevertheless has qualities that have appealed to others beside scientists. Literary men especially have been stimulated by it, and their eulogies have largely prevented the work from sinking into oblivion. Coleridge, for example, thought it Ôa work of high merit in every way' and drew from it, for his Biographia Literaria, an analogy to Wordsworth's genius. Chateaubriand borrowed from it extensively for his works depicting the American scene. Carlyle asked Emerson is he had read ÔBartram's Travels' and expressed a belief that ÔAll American libraries ought to provide themselves with that kind of book; and keep them as a kind of future biblical articles.'