Lot 83: [STEWART, William Drummond (1795/6-1871), Sir]. Altowan; or, Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains. By An Amateur Traveler . Edited by J. Watson Webb. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1846.

[STEWART, William Drummond (1795/6-1871), Sir]. Altowan; or, Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains. By An Amateur Traveler. Edited by J. Watson Webb. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1846.

2 volumes, 8o (188 x 115 mm). (Some intermittent pale spotting.) Original red cloth, front covers with central gilt ornament of an Indian hunting a buffalo; cloth slipcase. Provenance: Frank O. Smith (gift inscription on titles, bookplates).

FIRST EDITION. The work is based on Stewart's sporting trips of 1832, 1838 and 1842, though it is believed that Webb himself wrote it. Stewart came to America on pay from the British Army in 1832 and traveled west to the Rockies where he remained for several years. While in New Orleans during the winter of 1836-1837 he met A.J. Miller, a young artist whom he took with him on the return to the mountains. This fortunate meeting resulted in Miller's sketches, now in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, which are among the best of the West. Howes S-991; Sabin 91392; Wagner-Camp-Becker 125. (2)