Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the Unites States Exploring Expedition, 1845 First edition

A milestone in American science and naval exploration:

Wilkes's Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition

"Although the primary object of the Expedition is the promotion of the great interests of commerce and navigation, yet you will take all occasions, not incompatible with the great purposes of your undertaking, to extend the bounds of science, and promote the acquisition of knowledge."
--Navy Secretary Paulding in his "Instructions" to Wilkes

WILKES, Charles. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1845. Quarto, original gilt-stamped olive cloth; uncut and unopened. Five volumes plus Atlas. In total: Six volumes. $9000.

First unofficial edition, after the virtually unobtainable 1844 set printed for Congress; complete with 64 engraved plates and 14 maps ( 9 in text volumes and 5 very large folding maps in atlas ). Only slight fading to spines and a small ink mark to the cloth of volume 4; interior in remarkable condition with virtually no foxing to maps or engravings. An outstanding set.

Commissioned by the U.S. government in 1836 to promote "the great interests of commerce and navigation" and "to extend the bounds of science, and promote the acquisition of knowledge", the U.S. Exploring Expedition, led by Charles Wilkes, was a monumental naval achievement. With a well-trained crew that included naturalists, scientists, artists, and sailors, the Expedition circumnavigated the globe, resulting in discoveries in anthropology, geology, zoology, botany, and cartography that laid the foundation for much of American science in the nineteenth century. Wilkes has been credited with being the first explorer to confirm the existence of the Antarctic continent and his book, with a profusion of finely detailed maps and engravings, not only charted the oceans (his maps of some of the islands in the Pacific were used by the U.S. government as late as World War II) but gave the United States its first images of the people and cultures of various parts of the world. An obsessive, domineering leader, Wilkes has often been cited as an inspiration for Melville's Ahab in Moby-Dick.