[20], 543, [1] pp. Illustrated with 2 folding copper-engraved maps; 4 copper-engraved plates. (8vo) 8¾x5¼, period calf, rebacked with modern calf in contemporary style, raised bands, morocco labels. First Edition.

Scarce first edition of this important account of exploration into the interior of North America by an Englishman seeking a transcontinental waterway. Carver penetrated farther to the west than any English explorer before the Revolution. Notwithstanding the lack of substantial contributions to geographic knowledge, Howes notes that "his book...stimulated curiosity concerning routes to the Pacific, later satisfied by Mackenzie and Lewis and Clark." According to Carl Wheat, Carver was the first to use the name "Oregon" or "River of the West," the great river thought to exist west of the great mountains, eventually emptying into the Pacific, and a sought-after water passage across the continent. There are two folding maps in this first edition, well-engraved and on heavy paper. The first is "A Plan of Captain Carver's Travels in the Interior Parts of North America," showing Lakes Superior and Michigan, the headwaters of the Mississippi, etc., of which Wheat notes that while "this map does not extend west of the upper Mississippi...it is one of the earliest to show actual results of British exploration in the interior." The other is "A New Map of North America," anonymous, which Wheat describes as "the same as that of Thomas Kitchin of 1787." The plates are of the Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi, Indian artifacts including a peace pipe, and two of Indian men and woman. The plates and maps are lightly colored at a later date. With old armorial bookplate; old ink name on the title-page. Field 251; Graff 622; Howes C215; Sabin 11184; Streeter 1772; Wheat Transmississippi 175 & 210.