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Sparks, Jared (1789/05/10-1886/0314, President of Harvard College from 1849 to 1853). THE LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, THE AMERICAN TRAVELLER; COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM HIS JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE. Hilliard and Brown | AND BY | HILLIARD, GRAY, LITTLE, AND WILLKINS, AND RICHARDSON AND LORD, BOSTON; G. AND C. CARVILL, NEW YORK; CAREY LEA, AND CAREY, PHILADELPHIA., CAMBRIDGE, 1828.

Price: US$400.00 + shipping

Condition: Fair

Description: 24 x 14.5 cm, xii, 325, [7] pp., Hilliard and Brown, Cambridge, 1828. xii,325 pp. plus [7] pp. of advertisements preceding the text. Half title. Original publisher's binding of half brown cloth and paper covered boards, except that the spine has been replaced with brown mending tape and the writing on it is badly done in white paint. The binding is slightly cracked in the front and broken in the back. On the front fixed end paper someone, perhaps a child, has drawn two human figures in pencil. However, there are no other markings in the book. The end paper at the back has a two inch hole in it. There is moderate foxing throughout. The pages are untrimmed. The front and back boards, which are original are somewhat stained and may have had mold at some point The book does not have any moldy odor however. The book is fundamentally complete. There is no sign that the book is ex-library, no book plates, no blind stamps. Ledyard was one of the first great American explorers. He accompanied Cook's third expedition as a marine. He visited the Pacific, the Northwest Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii. He was one of the oarsmen in the boat which took Cook ashore for the parley at which he was murdered. After the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson (then U.S. minister in Paris) asked him to lead an expedition to the western territories. However Ledyard, in an attempt to get to eastern U.S. from Europe tried going across Russia; he was arrested in eastern Russia on the orders of Catherine the Great and sent back to Siberia and never arrived in the U.S. Later he explored the Nile but died on that trip in 1789. His book was an important source of information about Cook's voyage and other great explorations. The author of this book, Jared Sparks, was a well known historian and also the President of Harvard University. HOWES S818. SABIN 88991. LADA-MOCARSKI 92. WICKERSHAM 6566. TOURVILLE 4252. FORBES 708.

Seller: T. W. Palmer Books, Eugene, OR, U.S.A.

LEDYARD J. (By Jared Sparks).. The Life of John Ledyard the American Traveller; comprising selections from his journals and correspondence.. 1828, 1828.

Price: US$655.09 + shipping

Description: Cambridge: Hilliard and Brown 1828. 8vo. Orig. full old calf (spine extremities and corner points rubbed). (xii 326 pp.). Slight foxing. First edition published in America prior to the English edition produced in the same year. Beddie 4524. NOTE: Ledyard accompanied Capt. James Cook on his 3rd and final voyage when he was slain in Hawaii. A substantial portion of the text relates to Cook's third voyage and contains materials on Ledyard's narrative found nowhere else.

Seller: Berkelouw Rare Books, Berrima, NSW, Australia

SPARKS, Jared. The Life of John Ledyard, the American Traveller; Comprising Selections from His Journals and Correspondence. Hilliard and Brown, Cambridge, 1828.

Price: US$950.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: xii, 325pp. 8vo, original 1/2 brown cloth and brown boards with original paper label, front cover detached, spine worn, edges of boards worn, scattered light foxing, margins uncut, cloth and boards lightly soiled. Cambridge: Hilliard and Brown, 1828. First Edition. John Ledyard, an American marine, sailed with Captain James Cook on Cook's third Voyage. "At Nootka Sound, which was reached in March, 1778, he (Ledyard) began to picture the vast possibilities of the northwestern fur trade and resolved to enter it at the first opportunity." Dictionary of American Biography XI, p. 93. In 1784, Ledyard obtained the support of Thomas Jefferson and John Paul Jones, but his fur trading plans all resulted in failure. In 1787, Ledyard attempted to cross Siberia but was arrested in Irkutsk. In this work, he described the journey with extensive details on Yakutsk and its residents. Howes S-818. Sabin 88991. Eberstadt 119:118.

Seller: Argosy Book Store, ABAA, ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.

[LEDYARD, John] SPARKS, Jared. The Life of John Ledyard, the American Traveller; comprising selections from his Journals and Correspondence. Hilliard and Brown, Cambridge, 1828.

Price: US$974.24 + shipping

Description: Octavo, (7, ads, at front), xii, 325pp. Original boards untrimmed, newly rebacked in cloth with new paper label. First edition of this biography of John Ledyard, the American who sailed as sergeant of marines in the Resolution on Cook's third voyage: 'one of the great American biographies' (Forbes). Ledyard was the author of one of the scarcer - if less reliable - surreptitious accounts of Cook's voyage (published Hartford, 1783). In every sense, this biography is a necessary companion to the original work and a significant addition to the Cook canon as a substantial portion of the text relates to Cook's third voyage, with important original letters as well as critical comments on Ledyard's narrative found nowhere else. In his later life Ledyard travelled to Europe, Siberia and Africa, meeting with figures such as Sir Joseph Banks and Thomas Jefferson. Shortly after his death in Egypt in 1789, his cousin, Dr Isaac Ledyard began accumulating material for a biography. His project never materialised and some years later the material was handed to the American historian Jared Sparks, editor of the North American Review and later president of Harvard University. Sparks used his considerable skill to integrate the original manuscript materials into the present compelling narrative, including additional important original letters relating to Ledyard, Cook and other officers of the Resolution. Forbes notes the considerable historical significance of Ledyard's life and commends the work as 'one of the great American biographies' (Hawaiian National Bibliography, 708). . Inoffensive stain on upper cover, generally very good.

Seller: Hordern House Rare Books, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia

Sparks, Jared. THE LIFE OF JOHN LEDYARD, THE AMERICAN TRAVELLER; COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM HIS JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE. Hilliard and Brown, Cambridge, 1828.

Price: US$1250.00 + shipping

Description: xii,325pp. plus [7]pp. of advertisements preceding the text. Half title. Tall octavo. Original publisher's binding of half brown cloth and paper covered boards, printed paper label. Label rubbed and split, boards rubbed and edgeworn. Front hinge strengthened internally. Institutional bookplate on front pastedown and blindstamp on titlepage, else very clean internally. Very good, in unsophisticated condition. Untrimmed. In a folding cloth box, gilt leather label. Ledyard was one of the first great American explorers. He accompanied Cook's third expedition as a sailor, and so visited the Pacific, the Northwest Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii, where he was one of the oarsmen in the boat which took Cook ashore for the parley at which he was murdered. After the American Revolution, at the behest of Thomas Jefferson (then U.S. minister in Paris), Ledyard attempted to cross over to America by traversing Russia, only to be arrested and sent back in farther Siberia. He disappeared while exploring up the Nile in 1789. An important source for Cook's voyage and other great explorations, and seldom seen in the original publisher's binding. HOWES S818. SABIN 88991. LADA-MOCARSKI 92. WICKERSHAM 6566. TOURVILLE 4252. FORBES 708.

Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.