Memoirs of the life and travels of John Ledyard from his journals and correspondence. by Sparks, Jared (Ledyard, John) - 1828

First English edition. Henry Colburn. London. 1828. 8vo. Title, xii, 428pp. Full marbled paper covered boards, 19th Century pseudo tree calf papier croisé pattern. Red spine label with gilt lettering and edge rules. Blue endpapers. Title page slightly toned. Lacking half-title. Rubbing to spine edges. A crisp copy of the rarer London first edition.

In making a Papier Croisé, the final step required that the paper be lifted up and carefully moved while still wet. This caused the characteristic knotting in the design.

John Ledyard (1751-1789) American explorer and adventurer. Ledyard accompanied Cook on the third and final voyage 1776-1780. Visiting the Sandwich Islands, Cape of Good Hope, the Prince Edward Islands off South Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Tahiti, and then Hawaii. It continued to the northwest coast of North America, making Ledyard perhaps the first U.S. citizen to touch its western coast, along the Aleutian islands and Alaska into the Bering Sea, and back to Hawaii where Cook was killed. The return voyage included Kamchatka, Macau, Batavia (now Jakarta), around the Cape of Good Hope again, and back to England. (Laughton. 1892.) His 1786-88 exploration of Russia was backed by Thomas Jefferson, Marquis de Lafayette and Joseph Banks. His expedition to Africa was cut short when he accidentally poisoned himself with vitriolic acid. He was buried by the Nile.

Sabin 88993. Howes 5826.