Who Is the Author of History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark (1814)

Abstract

K K EYSTONE Western Americana, launched by J. B. Lippincott Company in i96i, is a projected series of unabridged editions of outstanding works of Western American history' under the general editorship of Archibald Hanna, Curator of the Yale Western Americana Collection, and William H. Goetzmann, Assistant Professor of History, Yale University. Among the authors listed are Washington Irving, John C. Fremont, Josiah Gregg, Father De Smet, and others whose original texts will be made available in both cloth and paperback. first in the series, however, seems at first glance to be a hitherto unknown work-The Lewis and Clark Expedition, by Meriwether Lewis (3 vols.) and, on examination, arouses misgiving one contemplates the role and responsibility of the historical editor. On the title page, below the author's name, we read: The I8I4 edition, Unabridged; and on page [vi] appears a facsimile of the title page of this i8I4 edition: History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark.... Prepared for the Press by Paul Allen, Esquire.2 Thus we are confronted with what is generally known among historians and bibliographers Biddle's In the Editor's Introduction Mr. Hanna surveys the background and achievements of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and concludes with an ambiguous account of the original records in relation to the published History. After Lewis's death Clark engaged Nicholas Biddle of Philadelphia as editor and