Click for full-size.
Commerce of the Prairies
by Gregg, Josiah
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Henry G. Langley, 1844. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 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. Convinced that a journey west was necessary to restore his health, Josiah Gregg, in 1831 set out from Missouri on the first of what was to become eight journeys across the prairies. An acute observer, Gregg took careful notes of the geography and geology of the Southwest, and the attitudes and culture of the people (including particularly valuable insights into the Indians of Texas and New Mexico). Over a decade later, "Gregg began compiling his travel notes into a readable manuscript and in the summer of 1843 went to New York to secure a publisher. His Commerce of the Prairies, which came out in two volumes in 1844, was an immediate success. It went through two new editions in 1845, later a fourth and fifth edition, and in 1857 appeared in a sixth edition under a different title. The book, which also had a large sale in England and was translated into French and German, remains the cornerstone for all studies of the Santa Fe Trail" (H. Allen Anderson, Handbook of Texas Online).
New York: Henry G. Langley, 1844. Octavo, original gilt-stamped brown cloth. Two volumes. 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, 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, bindings unusually clean and bright.
New York: Henry G. Langley, 1844. Octavo, original gilt-stamped brown cloth. Two volumes. 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, 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, bindings unusually clean and bright.
Synopsis
Josiah Gregg was a sickly intellectual who decided to travel the Santa Fe Trail in order to restore his health. He ended up journeying back and forth along the trail four times in the next nine years, and he compiled Commerce of the Prairies from the experiences of these years as an explorer and trader. It is considered one of the most valuable and interesting chronicles of early American history, and covers a wide range of topics, from buffalo hunting and Indian fighting to gold mining and Mexican agriculture. While this book is used for reference by historians of the old West, it is highly entertaining as an adventure story as well: "...imagine our consternation and dismay, when, upon descending into the valley of the Cimarron, on the morning of the 19th of June, there suddenly appeared before us an imposing array of death dealing savages! There was no merriment in this! It was a genuine alarm -- a tangible reality! These warriors, however, as we soon discovered, were only the vanguard of a 'countless host,' who were by this time pouring over the opposite ridge, and galloping directly towards us..."Along with his own adventures, Gregg relates historical information he has gathered, as well as stories he has heard about other groups of travellers, some of which are quite horrifying:"The forlorn band were at last reduced to the cruel necessity of killing their dogs, and cutting off the ears of their mules, in the vain hope of assuaging their burning thirst with the hot blood. This only served to irritate the parched palates, and madden the senses of the sufferers. Frantic with despair, in prospect of the horrible death which now stared them in the face, they scattered in every direction in search of that element which they had left behind them in such abundance, but without success…[they] would undoubtedly have perished in those arid regions, had not a buffalo, fresh from the river's side, and with a stomach distended with water, been discovered by some of the party, just as the rays of hope were receding from their vision. The hapless intruder was immediately dispatched, and an invigorating draught procured from its stomach."When not in the midst of some exciting exploit, the author is very conscientious about recording the details of custom and costume in the lands he travels through, some of which can be quite entertaining as well as informative.While the author’s observant nature is beneficial to historians and to us as readers, it was not so well appreciated by the members of his expeditions. It is purported that Gregg drove everyone nuts by constantly stopping to take measurements and record observations. The members of one of his parties considered murdering him and depositing his body and his instruments in the river so they could make it to their destination before they ran out of supplies. However, he survived and continued to lead groups of emigrants until he died in 1850 guiding a prospecting party across the Coast Range in winter.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- The Manhattan Rare Book Company
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 313
- Title
- Commerce of the Prairies
- Author
- Gregg, Josiah
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Publisher
- Henry G. Langley
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1844
- Bookseller catalogs
- History, Culture & Ideas;
Terms of Sale
The Manhattan Rare Book Company
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
The Manhattan Rare Book Company
Biblio member since 2010
New York, New York
About The Manhattan Rare Book Company
The Manhattan Rare Book Company offers fine books in all fields, specializing in the important, beautiful, and hard-to-find.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
Collecting food and drink books
Nothing quite whets the appetite for rare and collectible books like old and vintage cookbooks. Be sure to check out our cook books and food section of our rare book room.
How to tell if a signature is genuine
Author's signatures can undoubtedly increase the value of a rare book or first edition. The more scarce the book is, the more an autograph adds to its value. But how to tell if the signature is real? Find out how you can avoid common pitfalls in identifying an author's signature.
