Recollections of an Ill-Fated Expedition to the Headwaters of the Madeira River in Brazil
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1907. 1st Edition. Very Good / No jacket. Item #13090
A beautiful 1907 1st Edition of the explorations of Colonel George Earl Church in Brazil during the 1870s with six maps, five of them full-color and black-and-white fold-outs.
"Having written on issues associated with Mexico, the United States Government had Church appointed as war correspondent of the New York Herald in 1866. While acting as a correspondent, Church was appointed a principal military adviser of President Benito Juárez. After Juarez had secured his victory, Church unsuccessfully tried to get Washington to intervene in saving the life of Maximilian I of Mexico.
"He then explored the River Amazon from 1868, becoming the leading authority on that region of South America. At this point, he spoke fluent Spanish, Portuguese and French, and was familiar with many Amerindian languages of Mexico, and Central and South America. In 1869, Church was appointed by the Government of Bolivia to find a way to explore a navigation enterprise that linked the Mamoré and Madeira Rivers, to extract raw materials from the Amazon jungle. However, on realizing the difficulty of this undertaking from the Pacific Ocean side of the mountains, in 1870 he gained a concession from the Government of Brazil to explore the construction of a railway to connect the border states of Rondônia and Acre to the navigable Amazon river at Porto Velho. He made two failed attempts to construct the Madeira-Mamoré Railway, one in 1870 and a second in 1878, both through the failure of sub-contractors who were blighted by malaria.
"Appointed United States commissioner to report on Ecuador in 1880, he then advised on railway projects in Argentina in 1889, and was then appointed United States commissioner to Costa Rica in 1895, to report on its debt and railways, with the possibility of improvements to the banana industry. During this period he wrote extensively on South and Central American, its people and its geography, often in partnership with his friend Clements Markham." - Wiki
Frontis portrait of Church. Top edge gilt. Profusely illustrated with black and white plates throughout.
479pp. Blue cloth with gilt titling to front and spine. Square tight binding. Clean interior. Mild rubbing and edge wear to binding, with the spine lightly age toned and gilt a touch faded. Front endpaper with a square discoloration, possibly from a previous bookplate or paste-in, offset to the front pastedown as well. Contemporary 1907 p/o signature to top of title page.
Overall a handsome and desirable edition.
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