Trip to the West and Texas – Amos A. Parker – 1835 | First Edition, Americana

Amos Parker’s Trip to the West and Texas is one of the best and most important early accounts of 19th-century Texas. First published in 1835, this work is filled with descriptions of the Texan landscape with observations on slavery in Texas, hunting (including wild horse catching), and much more from his voyage across the American Midwest. Parker also visited Illinois, the Great Lakes, St. Louis, and the Mississippi River on steamboat to New Orleans.

Bibliographic references suggest

• “Even though quite prosaic in style, it has for a little known new country like Texas the interest that is present in any early contemporary account of travels” (Streeter)

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Trip to the West and Texas
• Author(s): Amos A. Parker
• Publisher: Concord, N.H., White & Fisher
• Edition: First edition, 1835.
• Format: (12mo), single volume
• Binding: Original cloth
• Size:  7.5in x 4.5in (19cm x 11.5cm)
• Collation: 276pp
• Illustrations: 2 engraved plates
• Contents Include:
  • Travel journal across frontier settlements
  • Descriptive sections on early 1830s Texas
• Reference(s): Howes P 74; Graff 3183; Sabin 58643; Streeter Texas 1172; Wagner-Camp-Becker 57a:1; Jenkins Basic Texas Books 159; Rader 2588

Condition:

Good. Original cloth moderately rubbed with secure binding. Text block remains firm. Light age toning throughout. Plates present and complete.

Why Collect This?

• First printing of an early Texas narrative
• Includes original engraved plates
• Noted in all major Americana bibliographies
• Appealing to collectors of pre-annexation Texas or western travel accounts

Item Number: # 29053