New Travels Among the Indians of North America; being a compilation, taken partly from the communications already published, of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the President of the United States.

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12mo (7 1/8 x 4 5/8 inches): dual wood-engraved frontispiece portraits of Lewis and Clark (a bit spotted). Bound in library binding (browned and spotted throughout). PROVENANCE: contemporary pen trials to frontispiece. First edition. So-called "apocryphal edition" of Lewis and Clark, bearing the name of compiler William Fisher on the title page. According to Paltsits, "In most copies the second title page is lacking," as here. "Another surreptitious account, allegedly written by William Fisher, Esquire, was published by James Sharan and printed in Philadelphia by James Mawell in 1812. It sold for $1.25. The title, 'New Travels Among the Indians of North America; Being a Compilation, Taken Partly from the Communications Already Published, of Captains Lewis and Clark,' admitted that the book was a compilation and was 'taken partly from other authors.' The contents included the one paragraph 'Recommendation' of Thomas Jefferson and an 'Introduction' that was a paraphrase of that in the surreptitious volumes published in 1809 in Philadelphia and London. Fisher wrote with the same gratuitous but hollow language of Hubbard Lester: 'The advantages, that arise from the discoveries of unknown regions, are too numerous to be mentioned,' he noted. 'They arise one after another in continual succession. Geography, Civilization, Humanity, and the Arts and Sciences, received aid from them.' The 'New Travels' included Clark's letter from Fort Mandan of April 2, 1805; Clark's letter from St. Louis of September 23, 1806; data on the tribes that was identified as taken from the pen of Alexander Mackenzie; the 'Statistical View'; and the irrelevant fillers about Master Neddy and George Washington. The volume was little more than a reprint of the book of Hubbard Lester with a new author and a more honest title.William Fisher and Hubbard Lester were probably the convenient pseudonyms of a wily publisher" (Beckham, pp. 125-126). REFERENCES: Stephen Dow Beckham, "The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays." Wagner-Camp 8:6. Sabin 24509. Howes F153a, "aa." American Imprints 26261. N° de ref. del artículo 72MMS205

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