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6 volumes including atlas. lx, 434; xv, [1], 476; xv, [1], 438; xvi, 539; xv, [1], 558 pp. + atlas. With 64 steel-engraved plates, with tissue guards; text illustrations engraved in steel and wood; 9 double-page copper-engraved maps; atlas with 5 large folding copper-engraved maps & charts, 1 hand-colored. (Large 8vo) 28.7x17.8 cm (11x7"), original blindstamped brown cloth stamped in gilt. Third Edition.

Exceptional set of this official account of the first seaborne scientific expedition of the United States government, with significant provenance. The set was once in the library of the British explorer Julius Lucius Brenchley, with his engraved armorial bookplate on each front pastedown, and his ink signature on each front free endpaper. Brenchley was the author of "Jottings During the Cruise of H.M.S. 'Curacoa' among the South Sea Islands," 1873, and was the co-author (with Jules Remy) of "Voyage au pays des Mormons," 1860. During his travels, Brenchley visited every continent except Antarctica. He was especially active in the South Seas. He was a passionate collector of art, ethnography and natural history. He died in 1873 at the age of 56. This is the third edition of Wilkes' important narrative, following on the "official" quarto edition of 100 copies (of which 63 were given to foreign nations and 25 destroyed by fire), and the "unofficial" edition of the same size limited to 150 copies. The present edition in imperial octavo is the earliest and best that is generally available, printed in slightly smaller type than the two preceding, but including the important atlas that was not issued with subsequent editions. As Howes notes, this was "The first United States scientific expedition by sea. Wilkes sailed along and surveyed the whole Northwest coast and his exploring parties penetrated into the interior at many points..." Hill notes that Wilkes "sailed into the Antarctic Ocean and along the Antarctic Continent from 150° to 97° East, reporting land at a number of points in the region now know as Wilkesland. He visited Tonga, the Fiji group, and the Hawaiian Islands in 1840, and in 1841 explored the west coast of North America. The findings were timely, in view of the dispute with Great Britain over the Oregon Territory, and he also visited San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River...." The numerous engravings and plates include striking depictions of Pacific islands and their natives, Hawaiian volcanoes, Australia, the continent of Antarctica, an early rendition of the outpost at Astoria, an encampment on the Sacramento with Californios relaxing, mountains in the distance, Mt. Shasta, etc., and an important map of the Western half of the present U.S. The atlas volume contains five significant maps: Chart of the World Shewing the Tracks of the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1838, 39, 40, 41 & 42, 59x85.5 cm. (this one hand-colored); Chart of the Antarctic Continent Shewing the Icy Barrier Attached to it..., 59x87 cm.; Chart of the Viti Group or Feejee Islands..., 59.5x86 cm.; Map of the Oregon Territory... with inset of Columbia River from its mouth to Walla Walla, 58x86.5 cm.; and Map of Part of the Island of Hawaii, Sandwich Islands, Shewing the Craters and Eruption of May and June 1840..., 39.5x60 cm. Howes W414; Wagner-Camp-Becker 175a; Cowan p.538; Hill 1867; Forbes 1575.