[Rarebooks] FS: Journal Kept by David Douglas During His Travels in North America 1823-1827

[The Prints & The Paper]

FS: Journal Kept by David Douglas During His Travels in North America
1823-1827

Douglas, David.  Journal Kept by David Douglas During His Travels in North
America 1823-1827, together with a particular description of thirty-three
species of American oaks and eighteen species of pinus. With appendices
containing a list of the plants introduced by Douglas and an account of his
death in 1824. William Wesley & Son, London: 1914. Published under the
direction of the Royal Horticultural Society. 8vo (26 cm), dark blue-green
(?) cloth (spine turned brown) with gilt spine title and Horticultural
Society emblem stamped in gilt on top board. 4p, 1. frontis (portrait), 364
pages. [Bradley cites the edition as limited to 500 copies. Whale suggests
that this number is unverified.]

These Journals include Douglas’s expeditions to the United States in 1823,
1824-7, and notes from his final disastrous trip that ended in his somewhat
mysterious death in 1834. The volume also contains the letter describing his
death. A paper titled “Some American Pines” was discovered in manuscript
shortly before publication of this book, and was included herein. The
appendices also include Papers Written by Douglas, and Plants Introduced by
Douglas. Douglas was among the earliest Europeans to explore and describe
the land and native peoples of these areas of North America, and the first
to collect hundreds of previously unrecorded plants. Howes D445, Whale 336

The brief Preface by W. Wilks explains the difficulties of bringing the
nearly 100-year-old manuscript (in 1914) to publication.

This volume is in very good condition, with a small chink in the cloth at
the foot of the front corner, tiny rub-throughs at several tips, light
surface scuffs to top board, spine ends and bottom corners a bit heeled
under. The cover cloth color seems slightly fugitive. The front free
endpaper bears the name of Alexander Baillie, dated 1920, in ink. The free
endpapers have experienced some discoloration offset from the adhesive used
to lay down the endpapers. The book is otherwise clean and tight and
unsoiled.

USD: $1250

David Douglas (1798-1834)

The Scottish botanist, David Douglas, was willful and stubborn from his
early youth.  He left school at the age of 10 to apprentice as a gardener on
the estate of the 3rd Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace, where he worked for
seven years. He then attended college in Perth to learn more about botany,
following which he worked again as a gardener but continued with
self-education until he took employment with the Botanical Gardens in
Glasgow. The eminent botanist, William Hooker, a professor at the University
of Glasgow, took Douglas under his wing and taught him the art of field
collecting and preservation of specimens. In 1823 the Horticultural Society
of London engaged him to collect plant materials in America, where he met
and worked with Thomas Nuttall.  After returning to England in 1824 to
catalog his collections, he again went to America, this time to the Pacific
Northwest where the Hudson’s Bay Company offered sponsorship. He encountered
many hardships and misadventures over the next several years, largely due to
his stubbornness in resisting the best advice of his guides. He also
collected hundreds of previously unrecorded specimens. In 1827 he returned
to England and spent the next two years cataloging and writing up his
journals. In 1830 he again collected in America, focusing his time on the
California area. He went to the “Sandwich Islands” (Hawaii) in 1833, hoping
to catch a ship to England. No ship was readily available so he spent time
gathering specimens. He met his demise in July, 1834, his body found in a
pit trap and his death blamed on a young wild bull that had fallen into the
trap earlier. The condition of his body raised questions about this scenario
at the time, but it wasn’t until decades later that locals who were afraid
to speak up at the time came forward to relate that the death was actually a
murder and robbery. While he made many important discoveries, many of his
classifications were erroneous and were later corrected by experts. His name
is still honored in the Pacific Northwest, where the forests ring with the
name of the Douglas Fir.

Lee Kirk
Cats are composed of Matter, Anti-Matter, and It Doesn't Matter

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