Commerce of the Prairies: or the Journal of a Santa Fé Trader, during Eight Expeditions Across the Great Western Prairies, and a Residence of Nearly Nine Years in Northern Mexico
by Gregg, Josiah
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Original gilt cloth. Both volumes rebacked, preserving original spines. Volume two binding without gilt pictorial stamp, thus pr
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Gregg was born in 1806 in Tennessee and traveled to Santa Fe for his health in 1831. He traveled the Santa Fe trail several times over the next decade. A keen observer on natural history and human culture, Commerce of the Prairies contains many accounts of not only geography, botany, and geology, but also the culture and artifacts of the native people of the region. Wagner-Camp 108:1; Howes G401; Graff 1659; Sabin 28712; Streeter 378; Wheat (Transmississippi) 482; Streeter Texas 1502a; Dobie p.76; Flake 3716; Rader 1684; Rittenhouse 255
Synopsis
Josiah Gregg was a sickly intellectual who decided to travel the Santa Fe Trail in order to restore his health. He ended up journeying back and forth along the trail four times in the next nine years, and he compiled Commerce of the Prairies from the experiences of these years as an explorer and trader. It is considered one of the most valuable and interesting chronicles of early American history, and covers a wide range of topics, from buffalo hunting and Indian fighting to gold mining and Mexican agriculture. While this book is used for reference by historians of the old West, it is highly entertaining as an adventure story as well: "...imagine our consternation and dismay, when, upon descending into the valley of the Cimarron, on the morning of the 19th of June, there suddenly appeared before us an imposing array of death dealing savages! There was no merriment in this! It was a genuine alarm -- a tangible reality! These warriors, however, as we soon discovered, were only the vanguard of a 'countless host,' who were by this time pouring over the opposite ridge, and galloping directly towards us..."Along with his own adventures, Gregg relates historical information he has gathered, as well as stories he has heard about other groups of travellers, some of which are quite horrifying:"The forlorn band were at last reduced to the cruel necessity of killing their dogs, and cutting off the ears of their mules, in the vain hope of assuaging their burning thirst with the hot blood. This only served to irritate the parched palates, and madden the senses of the sufferers. Frantic with despair, in prospect of the horrible death which now stared them in the face, they scattered in every direction in search of that element which they had left behind them in such abundance, but without success…[they] would undoubtedly have perished in those arid regions, had not a buffalo, fresh from the river's side, and with a stomach distended with water, been discovered by some of the party, just as the rays of hope were receding from their vision. The hapless intruder was immediately dispatched, and an invigorating draught procured from its stomach."When not in the midst of some exciting exploit, the author is very conscientious about recording the details of custom and costume in the lands he travels through, some of which can be quite entertaining as well as informative.While the author’s observant nature is beneficial to historians and to us as readers, it was not so well appreciated by the members of his expeditions. It is purported that Gregg drove everyone nuts by constantly stopping to take measurements and record observations. The members of one of his parties considered murdering him and depositing his body and his instruments in the river so they could make it to their destination before they ran out of supplies. However, he survived and continued to lead groups of emigrants until he died in 1850 guiding a prospecting party across the Coast Range in winter.
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Details
- Bookseller
- James Cummins Bookseller (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 30849
- Title
- Commerce of the Prairies: or the Journal of a Santa Fé Trader, during Eight Expeditions Across the Great Western Prairies, and a Residence of Nearly Nine Years in Northern Mexico
- Author
- Gregg, Josiah
- Format/Binding
- 2 steel-engraved frontispieces, 4 wood-engraved plates, and 2 engraved maps (one folding). Small tear to upper right margin of f
- Book Condition
- Used - Original gilt cloth. Both volumes rebacked, preserving original spines. Volume two binding without gilt pictorial stamp, thus pr
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition, second issue, with a dual New York and London imp
- Publisher
- Henry G. Langley
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1844
- Keywords
- Western
- Bookseller catalogs
- Americana;
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About the Seller
James Cummins Bookseller
About James Cummins Bookseller
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- 12mo
- A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...