Sketches of Louisville And its Environs; Including Among a Great Variety of miscellaneous Matter a Florula Loisvillensis: or a catalogue of Nearly 400 Genera and 600 Species of Plants . . . To which is Added an Appendix, Contain ing an Account of the Earthquakes Experienced Here from the 16th December, 1811, to the 7th February, 1812 . . . . [with:] Map of the Falls of the Ohio, and the Adjoining Countries McMurtrie Antique Maps

McMurtrie / 1819 / Sketches of Louisville And its Environs; Including Among a Great Variety of miscellaneous Matter a Florula Loisvillensis: or a catalogue of Nearly 400 Genera and 600 Species of Plants . . . To which is Added an Appendix, Contain ing an Account of the Earthquakes Experienced Here from the 16th December, 1811, to the 7th February, 1812 . . . . [with:] Map of the Falls of the Ohio, and the Adjoining Countries (Safe 3, 118811) Octavo. Modern polished calf, raised spine bands. Spine and front cover sunned. Endpapers renewed. Scattered foxing. viii, 255 pages plus folding map and folding letterpres table "Estimate for the Ohio Canal." Fold splits on map, expertly repaired at an early date (on verso). Old stamps (on title page) and letterpress book plate of Brooklyn Apprentices' Library laid in (on printer's scrap wove paper watermarked 1822). Bookplate notes gift of book by Col. Alden Spooner, owner of Long Island Star and employer of a young Walt Whitman. "First history of this city and the first important book printed there" - Howes. Ex-Brooklyn Apprentices' Library, with Gift Bookplate of Alden Spooner A Walt Whitman Connection This example of the first edition of the earliest substantial description of Louisville was once in a notable institution: the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library (more below). McMurtrie's book is part gazetteer, part civic survey, and part natural history. Issued by the local printer S. Penn, Jr., the work ranges over geography, climate, commerce, institutions, and notable places, and concludes with the Florula Louisvillensis, a systematic catalogue of the local flora listing nearly 400 genera and 600 species with Latin and English names an important early botanical record for the Ohio Valley. An interesting and valuable history of the Louisville area, with sketches of navigation and commerce, a list and description of steamboats on the western waters (1812-1819), and an appendix (pages 233-255) "Containing an accurate Account of the Earthquakes experienced here from the 16th December, 1811 to the 7th February, 1812, extracted principally from the Papers of the late J. Brookes, Esq." - Coleman. Map of the Falls of the Ohio, and the Adjoining Countries Issued just as Louisville was taking off, the Map of the Falls of the Ohio which accompanies McMurtrie s book (engraver unidentified) captures the strategic bottleneck of the Falls of the Ohio - the only major natural obstruction on the river between Pittsburgh and the Mississippi - which forced transshipment at low water and made the surrounding plats prime objects of land speculation and town-making. The map shows Louisville, Western Extension of Louisville, Shippingport, Portland (with a small Enlargement of Portland ), Clarksville and Jeffersonville, Beargrass Creek, Cane Run, as well as the islands, shoals and reefs of the Falls. Much of the topographic detail is likely based on survey work by Jared Brooks (Louisville surveyor and canal advocate), whose plans and surveys of the site were widely used locally in this period. The sheet visualizes the shoals, islands, and mouths of Beargrass Creek and Cane Run, situating the Kentucky settlements whose boosters were vying for commerce and for a long-planned canal to bypass the rapids (a project first chartered in 1804 and debated for years). By fixing streets, additions, and proposed enlargements on both banks, the map is a promotional cum-topographic document for westward expansion on the Ohio - linking river improvement schemes, real-estate ventures (notably Shippingport and Portland), and the steamboat era s promise that Louisville would become the primary gateway to the interior. Brooklyn Apprentices' Library Provenance - Walt Whitman Connec.