New Book Examines Literature of Lewis and Clark Expedition

Part of the legacy of the Lewis and Clark Expedition is the wealth of printed material original to the expedition and material the journey subsequently inspired. Lewis & Clark College commemorates the expedition's bicentennial with a new book, "The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays," which is the first comprehensive bibliography of expedition publications to be published in a century.

"The literature is part of the expedition legacy. It is an integral part of world travel literature and this book examines it in the context of publishing travel narratives," said Stephen Dow Beckham, Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of History at Lewis & Clark College. "This volume is the result of rigorous research that included probing census records, tracking down printers and publishers, and identifying editors and translators. We tried to learn about the people associated with the expedition literature and set those publications in historical context."

The book is divided into seven sections: the expedition's traveling library of scientific, technical and cartographic materials (1754-1804); related congressional documents and early expedition notices (1803-1807); editions of Patrick Gass's journal (1807-1904); surreptitious accounts (1809-1846); the Biddle-Allen narrative of the expedition (1814-2001); 19th-century publications (1803-1905); and 20th-century publications (1906-2001).

Each section begins with an essay by Beckham to set the literature in historical context by surveying the large cast of characters who contributed to the expedition story. Among those contributors were legislators, scientists, explorers, journal writers, editors, publishers, printers, illustrators, cartographers and collectors.

The bibliography lists all known publications related to the expedition, with fully annotated descriptions of primary texts. The bibliographic sections are by Doug Erickson, head of special collections at Lewis & Clark College; Jeremy Skinner, assistant archivist at Lewis & Clark College; and Paul Merchant, bibliographic specialist.

"The college's motto is to discover and explore and we've done just that in this book," said Erickson. "The strength of this volume is in our meticulous research into the scope of foreign and domestic publications relating to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. No one has done this type of book in nearly a century. We hope we've added significantly to the world's knowledge of literature about the expedition."

The book is illustrated with images from Lewis & Clark College's collection, including title pages, contemporary engravings, maps, contemporary newspaper reports and manuscript journals. The college acquired its unmatched library of expedition-related literature over the past 20 years.

The college's collection includes editions of every journal in English, Dutch, French and German, multiple printings of expedition narratives, maps contemporary newspaper accounts, government documents, broadsides, review notices and secondary literature. The College also owns the only copy of the Coues-Anderson manuscript, which is an exact replica of the original Lewis and Clark journals housed at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Writer and copyist Mary Anderson created the word-for-word, drawing-for-drawing copy in 1892 for Dr. Elliot Coues, historian and scholar of Washington, D.C., and Francis Harper, a New York publisher.

The $75 volume is published by Lewis & Clark College. For more information, call Lewis & Clark College's bicentennial programs office at 503-768-7207 or e-mail [email protected]. Visit the college's expedition Web site at http://www.TheJourneyContinues.org.

BOOK AT A GLANCE:

TITLE: "The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays"

AUTHORS: Essays by Stephen Dow Beckham, Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor History, Lewis & Clark College. Bibliography by Doug Erickson, head of special collections, Lewis & Clark College; Jeremy Skinner, assistant archivist, Lewis & Clark College; and Paul Merchant, bibliographic specialist.

LENGTH: 316 pp. plus 24 pages of color plates. Hardcover, 8 x 12 inches

ISBN: 0-9630866-1-8

PUBLISHER: Lewis & Clark College, 2003

AVAILABLE: Currently available

PRICE: $75, plus shipping and handling

DISTRIBUTION: University of Nebraska Press, 402-472-3584

http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu