Two Years Before the Mast. A Personal History of Life at Sea. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1840.
12mo (157 x 99 mm). [2] blank, 483 pp. Original tan muslin stamped in black. Custom chemise and slipcase with morocco label. Dampstaining to first dozen leaves, light foxing, pencil annotation to rear free endpaper, light soiling to cloth.
Provenance: Buckminster (ownership signature).

FIRST STATE OF THE FIRST EDITION, with three lists of Harpers' Family Library on back cover numbered 1-105, 1-36, and 1-27. Dotted "i" in copyright line and unbroken running head at p 9. Dana's narrative of a voyage to Alta California in 1834-36 was one of the first to come from a deckhand rather than a ship's officer or passenger, and gives a clear picture of California in the years just prior to the influx of American settlers in the 1840s. It was a best-seller in its day, with over 175,000 copies sold in the first ten years after publication. BAL 4434B; Cowan 1:156; Johnson High Spots 26.