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PATTIE, James O. (1803-ca 1833). The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie, of Kentucky, During an Expedition from St. Louis, through the Vast Regions between that place and the Pacific Ocean, and thence back through the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz, During Journeying of Six Years... Edited by Timothy Flint. Cincinnati: John H. Wood, 1831.
8o in 4s (198 x 120 mm). 5 engraved plates. (Some foxing.) Contemporary tree sheep, flat spine gilt ruled and with red morocco lettering piece (very skilfully rebacked preserving original spine); brown morocco folding case. Provenance: John B.C. Wilson (inscriptions dated 1832 and 1833 on title and front free endpaper); Peter Decker (his sale Parke-Bernet, 19 November 1969, lot 395, $3,250); Henry Clifford (his sale Dorothy Sloan, 24 October 1994, lot 60).
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED NARRATIVE OF AN OVERLAND JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. Pattie's Personal Narrative describes the trip which began when Pattie and his father Sylvester Pattie left Missouri with an expedition bound for New Mexico in 1825 (not 1824 as Pattie says in the narrative). "They crossed the plains to Taos, and there joined a trapping party bound for the Gila River in southern New Mexico...They were attacked by Apache and forced to cache their furs and turn back. When they later returned, the cache had been broken into and the furs stolen... Sylvester Pattie gave up trapping and for the next two years served as superintendent of the Santa Rita Copper mines. James Pattie, however, joined another trapping expedition, which again descended the Gila, then ascended the Colorado as far as the Mohave villages before turning back toward New Mexico. This time Pattie lost all his furs when, upon his return, they were confiscated by the governor of New Mexico, who claimed that Pattie had failed to obtain a trapping license" (ANB).
In 1828 Pattie and his father joined a band of trappers who descended the Gila River to the Yuma villages at the junction of the Colorado. "There the party divided, one band going up to the Colorado, the other, led by Sylvester Pattie, descending the Colorado and crossing the desert to California. They were ordered arrested by California Governor José Maria Echeandia, taken to San Diego, and jailed. Sylvester Pattie, who had collapsed in the desert on the way to California, soon died" (ibid.).
James Pattie traveled as far north as San Francisco Bay and Fort Ross and in The Personal Narrative he describes California of the 1820s accurately, although he often mixes other people's narratives with his own. In 1830 he left California and returned to Kentucky by way of Mexico. He spent the next three years in Kentucky, then disappeared. Unsold copies of the book were acquired by E.H. Flint, nephew of the editor, in 1833 and issued with a new title-page. This true first edition is very rare, with the Streeter, Holliday-Siebert and Volkmann copies being the only others to appear since the Holliday sale in 1954. Field 186 and Sabin 59150 cite only the 1833 edition. Cowan 476; Graff 3216; Howes P-123; Streeter V:3138; Wagner-Camp-Becker 45:1; Zamarono 80, 60.
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FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED NARRATIVE OF AN OVERLAND JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. Pattie's Personal Narrative describes the trip which began when Pattie and his father Sylvester Pattie left Missouri with an expedition bound for New Mexico in 1825 (not 1824 as Pattie says in the narrative). "They crossed the plains to Taos, and there joined a trapping party bound for the Gila River in southern New Mexico...They were attacked by Apache and forced to cache their furs and turn back. When they later returned, the cache had been broken into and the furs stolen... Sylvester Pattie gave up trapping and for the next two years served as superintendent of the Santa Rita Copper mines. James Pattie, however, joined another trapping expedition, which again descended the Gila, then ascended the Colorado as far as the Mohave villages before turning back toward New Mexico. This time Pattie lost all his furs when, upon his return, they were confiscated by the governor of New Mexico, who claimed that Pattie had failed to obtain a trapping license" (ANB).
In 1828 Pattie and his father joined a band of trappers who descended the Gila River to the Yuma villages at the junction of the Colorado. "There the party divided, one band going up to the Colorado, the other, led by Sylvester Pattie, descending the Colorado and crossing the desert to California. They were ordered arrested by California Governor José Maria Echeandia, taken to San Diego, and jailed. Sylvester Pattie, who had collapsed in the desert on the way to California, soon died" (ibid.).
James Pattie traveled as far north as San Francisco Bay and Fort Ross and in The Personal Narrative he describes California of the 1820s accurately, although he often mixes other people's narratives with his own. In 1830 he left California and returned to Kentucky by way of Mexico. He spent the next three years in Kentucky, then disappeared. Unsold copies of the book were acquired by E.H. Flint, nephew of the editor, in 1833 and issued with a new title-page. This true first edition is very rare, with the Streeter, Holliday-Siebert and Volkmann copies being the only others to appear since the Holliday sale in 1954. Field 186 and Sabin 59150 cite only the 1833 edition. Cowan 476; Graff 3216; Howes P-123; Streeter V:3138; Wagner-Camp-Becker 45:1; Zamarono 80, 60.