American Travel, Exploration & Expansion
HALL, Basil, Capt. (1788-1844). Travels in North America in the Years 1827 and 1828. Edinburgh: Cadell and Co.; Simpkin and Marshall, 1829.
3 volumes, 8vo. Folding hand-colored map in vol. I. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards (extremities rubbed, chipping to lettering-pieces, spines sunned).
FIRST EDITION. Hall, a captain in the Royal Navy, traveled to North America in 1828. In his southern route, Hall describes visits to various plantations, Creek Indian ceremonies, slavery practices, etc. From that, Hall was not impressed with what he saw. "Accustomed to a better-disciplined society and bred in the exacting traditions of the British Navy, he found difficulty in adjusting himself to the democratic manners and rude accommodations he found in the United States, both North and South. Nevertheless, he was a clear and forceful writer, and his work contains many excellent descriptions of places and conditions that came under his observation" (Clark III:48). Howes H-47; Sabin 29725.
[Tipped in:] Autograph letter signed ("Basil Hall") to Capt. Francis Beaufort, 15 September 1836. DISCUSSING CAPTAIN CHARLES WILKES QUALIFICATIONS. In 1836, The US Congress authorized the formation of a US Navy Exploration Squadron with Charles Wilkes in command. It was an interdisciplinary scientific expedition for exploring and surveying the Southern Ocean between 1838-1842, known as the United States Exploring Expedition. Around the same time, Beaufort helped to obtain funding for the Antarctic voyage of 1839-1843 led by James Clark Ross. Perhaps Beaufort's inquiry to Hall sheds new light into whether he was considering Wilkes for this expedition.
This lot is located in Cincinnati.
