1805 TOUR OF OHIO. Owned by Ohio Abolitionist & Abraham Lincoln Appointee to Supreme Court

A finely provenanced example of one of the foundational early Western Americana travel narratives and a landmark in Ohio cartography and historiography.

It's author, Thaddeus Mason Harris was a Harvard-educated minister and librarian who traveled west in 1803 to recover his health. His publication became the first comprehensive, scholarly geographical and historical account of Ohio immediately following its admission as a state in 1803. 

This example was the personal copy of Noah Haynes Swayne [signed N. H. Swayne to title], demonstrates the significance of emerging Northwest Territory for the struggle over slavery in America.

Born in Virginia to a Quaker family, Swayne strongly opposed the institution of slavery. In 1823, shortly after being admitted to the bar, he chose to leave his native slaveholding state and emigrate across the Ohio River to the free state of Ohio specifically because of his abolitionist principles. Swayne established a prominent legal practice in Ohio, served as local prosecuting attorney, joined the Ohio state legislature, and was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Ohio by Andrew Jackson in 1830.

Swayne's vocal anti-slavery stance and participation as counsel in fugitive slave cases eventually drew him to the newly formed Republican Party in the 1850s. In January 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Swayne to the United States Supreme Court as his very first Supreme Court appointee, choosing him explicitly for his steadfast Union loyalty, anti-slavery record, and Ohio roots. Swayne also holds the distinction of being the first Quaker to serve on the nation's highest court. 

Harris, Thaddeus Mason. The Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the the Alleghany Mountains; Made in the Sprint of the Year 1803. With a Geographical and Historical Account of the State of Ohio. Illustrated with Original Maps and Views. Boston. Manning & Loring. 1805. First edition. 271 + Plates

A good - to fair example in original quarter vellum with old front hinge repair that has now failed. Front board all but detached. Textblock unevenly trimmed and forward in the binding as usual. Four of the five called for plates at the rear present, lacking the large folding map [as usual]. The first folding plate with tears and mis-folds that could be fairly easily sorted. Moderately foxed throughout as shown.