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William Lewis Herndon; Lardner Gibbon : Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon made under Direction of the Navy Department

Robert Armstrong Public Printer, Washington, 1853

recent ¼ morocco with marbled boards, flat spine with title in gilt, each spine has a different shade of morocco, but the marble boards are similar., Occasional mild browning otherwise a very good example., 8vo, Volume 1. P. 1-15, blank (2), frontis, title, blank, 3-414, blank (2), i-iii, plate listing; Volume 2. P. frontis, title, blank, iii-x, (1), 1-339., 52 lithographed plates and 5 folding maps. The folding maps are usually found in two separate volumes but have been inserted into the this example., Volume : 2 volumes

“This American expedition was first proposed by the prominent oceanographer Matthew F. Maury. He urged North American plantation owners to emigrate to the Amazon valley with their slaves to seek their fortunes. He also advocated opening the Amazon to international commerce. Maury was the brother-in-law of Lt. Herndon, a naval officer. The expedition was organized by the U.S. Navy Department and sent out to South America in the Years 1851 and 1852. The Americans traveled to Chile and to Lima, Peru, where Lt. Herndon pushed into the upper Amazon. Lt. Gibbon traveled south through Bolivia and then into the selvas of Brazil. The two groups met in Serpa, Brazil, and then continued down the Amazon River to Para. Herndon was later lost with his ship, “Central America”, off Cape Hatteras, in 1857. The work itself is a minute, accurate, and very interesting study on the aborigines of the Andes and on the geography of the Amazon and its tributaries.” (Hill pg. 284), Sabin 31524; Hill 803

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