Travels of William Bartram

This is the first inexpensive, illustrated edition of one of the most delightful books of the 18th century. A major source work in American geography, anthropology, and natural history, it contains accurate and entertaining descriptions of the area of the New World now embraced by Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

From 1773 to 1778, William Bartram, a trained naturalist, traveled through southern North America, noting the characteristics of almost everything he encountered: the rivers of Florida, the groves of wild oranges, the swamps and lagoons, the fish, the tropical snakes and reptiles, the land and aquatic birds, the Cherokee Indians' march toward civilization, the festivals of the Seminole, the customs of the Creeks. This material now offers a wealth of first-hand information that is not available elsewhere.

And it offers it in a format that still makes for exciting reading. A classic not only of natural science and observation, Bartram's account also served as a source for Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" and "Ancient Mariner" and was held in high esteem as literature by Wordsworth, Carlyle, and Emerson.