Lewis and Clark in original boards

In 1803 Thomas Jefferson convinced Congress to spend $15 million to buy 828,000 square miles doubling the size of the United States paying less than 3 cents an acre. 

His first action was to send his fellow Virginians (Captains Lewis and Clark) to map the Missouri River, Cross the Rocky Mountains and go down the Columbia River from 1804 to 1806. 

It then took them 8 years to publish their official report in Philadelphia in 1814.  Jefferson had arranged to train them well beforehand and this massive two-volume work was filled with detail of the Native Races, Geography, Botany, Minerals, Animals and most importantly Rivers (catnip to potential farmers looking for a way to get away from their oppressive oldest brother who had full title to the family farm)  

Only 25 examples of the book in its original printed boards are known to exist.  It is of great rarity in this state because most buyers immediately took off and discarded the paper boards and bound the book in calf.  It is such an important issue that Lester Cappon issued a pamphlet listing all the examples in the original boards in 1970.  The reason that scholars like this rare state so much is that it shows what the true first issue actually looked like for Americans keen to know what Thomas Jefferson bought for them - the Empire of Liberty he had been dreaming of for more than 40 years.  It is a work of legend - the essence of Manifest Destiny.

This published work was the guide book for George Catlin (1832,) Bodmer (1833-4,) Alfred Jacob Miller (1837,) and John James Audubon (1843) on their trips up the Missouri River.  Amazingly William Clark gave his original journal to Prince Maxmillian, the Sponsor of Karl Bodmer.  No other book is close to the importance of this masterpiece.

And of course, the price is well under previous auction records.