Through the Brazilian Wilderness

London: John Murray, 1914. Hardcover. Near Fine. Hardcover. First English edition of this fascinating work by Roosevelt recounting his expedition through the Brazilian hinterland that he called a zoogeographic reconnaissance. The official title of the expedition, as given it by the Brazilian government was Expedicão Scientifica Roosevelt-Rondon. This relatively scarce book has 39 illustrations and 2 maps. The illustrations were from photographs by Kermit Roosevelt and other members of the expedition. Roosevelt writes that in the spring of 1913 he accepted invitations conveyed through the governments of Argentina and Brazil to address certain learned bodies in those countries. It then occurred to him that instead of making a conventional tourist trip purely by sea around South America, that after he finished his lectures he would come north through the middle of the continent into the valley of the Amazon. And thus he did and this informative and interesting book relates the adventures and experiences he and his party had during this expedition. He writes of the wild animals, fish, and birds that would be encountered, most notably piranhas.

Bound in dark green cloth with titling to spine in gilt and to front cover in black. The covers have rubbing and light bumping and a crease to the upper right edge of the front cover, and small split to top of spine. Front hinge is slightly cracked but text block is quite firm. Top text page edges are trimmed but the fore-edge and bottom page edges are untrimmed. Text pages are clean and bright, and the black and white photographs are also bright. There is offsetting to the title page from a tissue guard. A very nice copy in near fine condition. Measures 6 x 9 inches. 374 pages including index. TRAVEL/071625.