Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains,; Under the Direction of the A. B. C. F. M. containing a Description of the Geography, Geology, Climate, Productions ... with a Map of Oregon Territory [1838 map, same as First Edition] [In the years 1835 to 1838]

Ithaca: Andrus, Woodruff, and Gauntlett, et. al, 1844. Fourth Edition. Very Good. 12mo [8x5in]; xvi, [1]; 18-416, one map of the Oregon Territory 1838 [13.5x22.5in], one plate of Basaltic formations on Columbia River, appendix of meteorological table and languages; Dark brown cloth covers with gilt lettering on spine, blind stamped designs and borders on front and back, all edges trimmed; Some shelf wear to covers, edges and spine, light soiling to covers, small dent on upper front edge, spine missing 1/4in of bottom and 3/4in split to front top joint with an old repair, map on thin paper with archival repair of closed tear at hinge with a few stain spots, age toning to text with occasional foxing spots. [Wagner-Camp 70:4, Graff 3194, Wheat Trans-Maps 438]. Samuel Parker (1779-1866) was a Presbyterian missionary to the Pacific Northwest and operated under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.). Parker traveled with Marcus Whitman, a physician and missionary, as part of the annual American Fur Company resupply to the Oregon Territory. Whitman returned east from the Green River rendezvous and Parker continued on to Forts Walla Walla and Vancouver on the Columbia River. While in Vancouver, as a guest of the Hudson Bay Company, he explored the Willamette and lower Columbia Valleys for missionary sites and preached to the natives. In 1837 he returned to the east coast by ship through the Hawaiian Islands and around Cape Horn. He made detailed personal observations and published a Journal of his three year tour in 1838. He was also a keen observer of the landscape and sketched one of the earliest reliable maps of the interior of the Oregon Territory. Wagner-Camp quotes from Field's "An Essay towards an Indian Bibliography", that "... commends Parker's journal: 'In all the qualities which a historian would require, it has few equals' ". This fourth edition has been revised, corrected and enlarged from the 1838 edition

From Wheat, Samuel Parker's "Map of the Oregon Territory" of 1838 [M. M. Peabody, Engvr, Ithaca, NY] represented a real advance, and was made from personal observation." and "...[the] map had wide circulation, and was a notable achievement." From Wagner-Camp, "Parker's map was one of the earliest to circulate widely and to provide reliable information about the interior of Oregon Territory." Along with Parkers personal observations, the map's "... westerly portion was taken from Vancouver's chart, the middle part after Parker's own observation, the north from sketches of Samuel Black, and the south from those of Jedediah Smith." This map was important to the start of the Oregon trail emigration in the 1840's. Along with the Wilkes 1841 map, it was used to support the United States border claim of the Oregon Territory much farther north (the rally cry of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight") than the 1846 treaty established it at 49th parallel.