[Rarebooks] FS: AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS (1873)

[Kaaterskill Books]

We offer for Sale:

Musters, George Chaworth. AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS: A YEAR'S 
WANDERINGS OVER UNTRODDEN GROUND FROM THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN TO THE 
RIO NEGRO. London: John  Murray, 1873. xix, 340 pp. Illus. with 8 
woodcut plates, 1 drawing, and 2 maps (1 folding). 8vo. 19 cm. Brown 
cloth, blind rules, titles stamped in gilt, illustrations stamped in 
gilt and blind, black endpapers. Allibone 1161. Sabin 51600 (1871 
ed.). Second edition.

George Chaworth Musters (1840-1879), was a commander in the Royal 
Navy, exploring then unknown regions of South America. "After Musters 
was placed on half pay, in 1869-70 he carried out a long-cherished 
ambition to travel in southern South America. He was  one of the 
first Europeans to document the region, living with Patagonian 
Indians, and travelling with one of their bands from the Strait of 
Magellan to the River Negro, and then crossing northern Patagonia 
from east to west, a journey of almost 1400 miles, half of which was 
unknown to  Europeans. His acute powers of observation provided the 
first comprehensive account of the  eastern foothills of the Andes, 
and of the lifestyle of the Tehuelche, Pampas, and Araucanian 
Indians" (DNB). But Musters book marked a new era in travel writing. 
Instead of providing either of the then standard forms -a scientific 
report on one hand or a captivity/escape narrative on the other hand, 
he "signals the emergence of a new kind of journey to the periphery 
of the imperial  imagination, one whose principal if not exclusive 
motivation is the immediate encounter with the  primitive," 
(Gabriella Nouzeilles). A contemporary reviewer noted as much: "The 
enjoyment  which our author found in his free and unconventional kind 
of life makes itself felt in the course of his descriptions... and 
imparts... a spirit of reality and liveliness which never flags," 
Sat. Rev.,  xxxiii, 153. An appendix includes a partial vocabulary of 
the Tsoneca language of the northern Tehuelche.

One at auction in Europe in 2001 and one for sale from Maggs Bros. in 
1989. ABPC shows none at auction in the last 30 years. Spine ends 
worn with small tears to the foot of the spine, faint numerals to 
front board, boards rubbed, institutional stamp to half-title and one 
interior leaf, folding map creased at the edge of the inner fold with 
a few tears at the creases, plates crisp, leaves clean, overall still 
a very good copy.    [28532] $600.00


Regards,

Charles Kutcher
Kaaterskill Books
P.O. Box 122
East Jewett, NY 12424.
Phone: 518-589-0555.
Email: books at kaaterskillbooks.com
Member of I. O. B. A.


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