CARVER (Jonathan).
Voyage dans les parties intérieures de l'Amérique Septentrionale, pendant les années 1766, 1767 & 1768.
The first French edition, taken from the third English edition, considered the best textually. The French edition is enhanced by a very handsome printing of the Carver map, showing the area of the headwaters of the Mississippi, extending north well into Canada and west as far as the Dakotas. Carver went farther west than any explorer of the Northwest before the Revolution, and although he failed in his aim to find the mythical Northwest Passage, he added considerably to geographical knowledge. He also acted as a catalyst to the later explorations of Mackenzie and Lewis and Clark, and his narrative is in many ways a starting point in the literature of western exploration. Contains “Des langues des Indiens, & des signes hiéroglyphiques qui leur tiennent lieu d’ecriture” on pages 315-334. The text contains the first mention of the word “Oregon.”
Bradford 801. Howes C215. Field 251. Pilling 641. Sabin 11188. Vail 670.