An English translation by Lambert appeared in 1805. “The zest with which Michaux describes some of the wonders of the West in this brief and discursive journal is as pleasant as his intelligent discussion of economical facts, and puritan domesticity in the East. He gave his countrymen a correct and impressive idea of the products and promise of the great West, but more especially of Ohio and Kentucky” (Thomson). Michaux (1770-1850) was a French botanist and silviculturalist, long resident in the USA.
On the half title is a very interesting note in ink: “les notes au crayon qui sont dans cet exemplaire sont de M. de la Haye habitant a St. Domingue… et notaire au port de paix [in Haiti], refugié à qu’il a habité longtemps. Mer a ecrite[sic] pour moi à Paris.” A M. l’abbé de la Haye is described as priest at Dondon, again in Haiti, in Moreau de St. Méry, Loix et constitutions des colonies françaises de l’Amérique sous le vent, Paris, [1784] i, xxiv, and this may indicate that the family was established there.
The pencilled notes (which are faint) are mainly on 3, 8, 10, 45, 71pp. 76-77 and again at p. 87, with a few elsewhere, but there are small crosses marking paragraphs through the rest of the volume. That on page 10 concerns the burning of coal in Charleston imported from England: “Ce n’est pas pour l’économie, c’est pour luxe, car on n’en fait usage que dans la Drawing Room” (This is not done for economy but for luxury, as it is only made use of in the Drawing Room). The two long notes on pp.76 and 77 concern the use of the river in Ohio. Michaux (p.77) writes that people abandon themselves “au fil de l’eau” without knowing where they will stop. The annotator writes that they do not abandon themselves but make use of a large steering oar or rudder.
Provenance: at foot of the spine are the letters S.M.
Sabin, 48703; MacPhail, 4; Thomson, 822; Goldsmiths’-Kress library of economic literature, no. 18816.12.
