THE FIELD NOTES OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARK 1803-1805.

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964, 1964. First edition. First edition. Folio. Cloth, xxxv [3], 335 pp., facsimiles of all of Clark's notes, preface by Archibald Hanna, acknowledgment, lengthy 23-page introduction, a note on the text, index. Discovered in an attic in St Paul, MN, in 1953, these notes of Captain Clark became the object of a legal battle for ownership. Upon discovery the owners, failing to recognize what they were, "gave" them to the Minnesota Historical Society, who recognized them as Clark's papers and immediately claimed ownership. Once the news was out, the U. S. Government claimed ownership by virtue of originally sponsoring the expedition. Eventually the judge ruled in favor of the original owners, who then sold the papers to Frederick Beinecke, who in turn donated them to the Yale Library. Dr. Osgood had studied the papers when they were in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. When the papers were received at Yale Library, Archibald Hanna, curator of the library asked Dr. Osgood to resume his editing of the papers. This book, with extensive annotations and an excellent introduction is the result of Dr. Osgood's efforts. Of the introduction, the Lewis & Clark authority Paul Cutright said, "Any way we look at Osgood's introduction, it is a distinguished contribution to Lewis & Clark history." Fine, bright copy in dust jacket with minor edgewear.