Customer Reviews

William Bartram: Travels and Other Writings

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Imbued by his father, John Bartram, with a love of nature and a passion for learning, William Bartram set forth in 1773 to explore the flora and fauna of the wild frontier country of the American Southeast.
The elder Bartram had established a Botanical Garden on the outskirts of Philadelphia, where he cultivated trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants indigenous to America. He sent seeds, animal and plant specimens to horticulturists and naturalists in England, sometimes including drawings by his son. William had accompanied his father on botanical expeditions to Connecticut, New York, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

The Travels reported in this volume were sponsored by Dr. John Fothergill of England, to whom William sent drawings, specimens, and a 2-part written account of his discoveries.
Publication of his pioneering work was delayed by the intervening Revolutionary War. The American edition, containing numerous errors, was printed in Philadelphia in 1791; a British edition followed in 1792. Irish and German editions appeared in 1793, and a French translation in 1799. The "Travels" had a significant influence on European Romanticism. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Chateaubriand among others drew on their imagery.

William Bartram's travels took him, between 1773 and1776, from Charleston and Savannah to the coastal region and the interior of Georgia, then to Florida as far south as Cape Canaveral and as far west as Pensacola. He ventured into Alabama, visiting Mobile, and journeyed on to Baton Rouge. Sometimes he joined survey crews or traders, but mostly he traveled alone - on horseback, by boat, or on foot. He kept extensive lists of the plants he found, some of them heretofore unknown or unreported. Franklinia alatamaha and Magnolia auriculata are famous examples.

But he also gives vivid descriptions of the wildlife he encounters: alligators, wolves, bears, panthers, turtles, snakes, fishes, birds and insects in great profusion. He examines the soil and the quality of the water, comments on meteorological phenomena - in short, nothing escapes his observant eye. His Quaker spirit fills him with admiration and gratitude for the magnificent design of nature; it might be called Edenic except for the mosquitoes - and he doesn't appear to be too fond of alligators, either. Curiosity wins out over fear, however, when he pokes into alligator nests to see how they are constructed and how the eggs are arranged.
Forty-eight splendid plates and a number of drawings accompany the text and give a lively impression of what he saw and how he saw it.

His gentle disposition renders his encounters with Indian "savages" peaceful and friendly, marked by mutual respect. The Seminoles call him Puc Puggy, the Flower Hunter, and offer him hospitality, protection, and assistance in his quest for medicinal herbs. He gives a highly sympathetic account of the daily lives, customs, social organization and religious beliefs of various Indian tribes. An expanded version of these observations is part of the Miscellaneous Writings included in this volume.
In a philosophical vein, he muses about the "innate moral principles" that guide unlettered and untutored men, and deplores the detrimental effect civilization has on them: commerce with white traders who provide them with luxury goods in great profusion causes the Indians to kill more animals than they would normally need, because the traders take the hides and pelts in exchange for their wares; and the women are beginning to forget the ancient skills of weaving and pottery-making since everything can be obtained ready-made from the white men.
He does not fail to mention the existence of slavery among the Indians as well as among the white planters, but he takes no definite stand on this issue.

After his return to Philadelphia, William devotes his time to reading, writing, teaching, and cultivating his father's garden which is visited by many famous men, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the leading horticulturists and naturalists of the time. It is still there today, "worthy of the attention of lovers of Science and admirers of Nature", as envisioned by its creator.

I probably would never have found this book if it hadn't been for an accidental combination of two occurrences that somehow came together: One, I have developed a great affinity for the Library of America selections; and Two, I had taken a trip to Philadelphia and intervening heavy rain prevented me from finding Bartram gardens, a place I knew I would enjoy visiting because of my dedicated love of all things foliaged, green or flowering. I had slight background on his father, John, and in the search among ancestral treasures of the Revolution, the trip to Philly evolved to reality.

I expected a good read, if slightly staid, stoic and filled with mostly observations about the fauna and flora of early eastern half of the United States, complete with the official latin headings on all. In that regard, it is to be admitted that there is quite a lot of that, due to the very nature of his quest into the wilderness.

It was integral, but a very small portion overall; instead, I also found far beyond what I expected - in a wonderful flowing, articulative narrative regarding travels through the East and South as it was when most of it was yet unspoiled land, the incredible numbers of birds, fish and animals as well as the beautiful descriptions of the forests and meadows decorated with flowers of all denominations; much like the Lewis and Clark Journals brought to us about the journey to the Yellowstone in search of the Northwest Passage, by John Bakeless - one of the books I used to keep handy on my nightstand to read again and again for the sheer wonder of what was once - right in my own corner of the world . I have always been captivated by people who could paint pictures with words; and this beautiful novel is one of that kind.

Two of my favorite spots in this journal involved more than his desire to document and classify: first, his session with a horde of alligators that he inadvertently camped among one evening before he discovered he was in the midst of their favored feeding and fighting haunts. The story he spills about THAT begins on page 114 and by the time the reader has finished with it, they are overcome with laughter and all thoughts of this being a book filled with nothing more than drawings and compositions of foliage have vanished. Without warning, and in the last act of desperation as an alligator is busily and noisily accessing the canoe, Bartram's only means of transportation out of the jungle, this mellow and gentle botanist grabs his gun and dispatches the alligator without remorse; proof positive that even the mildest of spirit will act out of character if the pinch is right.

The second, page 216, details one of the most ingenious plots devised yet by woman to get even with man through his weakness - as one gets over the initial rush of abject astonishment, the next question that comes to mind is "and these are supposed to be "primitive" thought processes?" It involves liquor and the Indian peoples he encounters, the many different facets of their lives, his non-judgmental observations, which is truly a pleasure; and that is all I will reveal about the subject as it's too good to ruin for another reader who may be contemplating it.

For those who have a fond regard for our heritage and for the outstanding individuals who thought enough of it at the time to write of it for us, in and around the fight for survival, the lack of many necessities that might have made it easier to focus on putting it all down on paper, it will be a reminder that the ones who blazed the trail for the rest of us were an unselfish breed apart. I look for such individuals every day and don't see many of them. That we had so many of them once, all in the right place and time, continues to be a wonderment to me. The question and answer section with his peers in the concluding chapters is remarkable.

Highly recommended not only as an excellent source of historical botanical information, but as a tale of high adventure accomplished most often solely alone, his only company being the land as it was, the wild and beautiful animals, birds and fish, the spectacular woodlands, the occasional white trader, and last but certainly not least, the natives that instinctly accepted and recognized him as a remarkable individual too nice to kill.

For those interested in this sort of historical narrative, a splendid companion novel about the Western half of the country - rather than the Eastern half - when it too was young, would be Francis Parkman's "The Oregon Trail", also a Library of America selection.

This is the best edition of Bartram that is available today.
Like all Library of America volumes, it is an attractively designed book with a ribbon marker.

The miscellaneous writings include (among other writings) Bartram's responses to carefully worded questions about Creek and Cherokee Indians. This edition has numerous glossy color and black and white prints. There is a picture on Amazon that shows the book in a slipcover--it doesn't come in a slipcover. Otherwise, a high quality edition.

Living in central Alabama, I've been interested in Bartram's travels through this area for years, and finally bought this book to read about Alabama's earliest documented history. The book is full of details of the Southeast's flora and fauna, river systems, geography, and the Indian civilizations of the time. But part of what keeps me reading is the beautiful writing; his descriptions and reflections of everything he encounters reads like poetry. Even his chronicles of day to day activities evokes images that make one long to be one of his fellow travelers. For example, on page 64, this is how Bartram tells us that it's getting dark out, and it's time to find a place to camp for the night:

"The glorious sovereign of day, clothed in light refulgent, rolling on his gilded chariot, hastened to revisit the western realms. Grey pensive eve now admonished us of gloomy night's hasty approach. I was roused by care to seek a place of secure repose, ere darkness came on."

To me, this book should have been required reading in one of my high school or college classes, either in Alabama History, American History, Biology, or even Literature; but then again, I may not have enjoyed it as much then as I do now.

This volume offers a fine selection of William Bartram's writings, including several short miscellaneous essays, which editor Thomas Slaughter happily included. The illustrations are extremely well-chosen, though due to the volume's small size, some are greatly reduced. For readers who want to track down botanic and place names in "Travels," Francis Harper's "Naturalists Edition" (U Georgia Press) is still the go-to volume.

Bartram wasn't a writer, but this gives a facinating glance into the people, animals, and land in the south during the 1700's. Well, worth reading, especially if you live in the south like I do.

Readers of Andrea Wulf's outstanding "Founding Gardeners" and "Brother Gardners" need no introduction to William Bartram (1739-1823). From his Philadelphia farm, Bartram sparked a revolution in England by exporting all manner of native American plants, shrubs, trees and flowers. So extensive were his exports, that English landscape gardens in the 18th century largely were populated with American plants and trees. Similarly, Bartram was at the center of the vigorous trade within the U.S. involving American and foreign plants and trees. He interacted extensively with numerous of the founders, including Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Adams and Franklin in developing American agriculture.

This handy Library of America volume contains Bartram's accounts of several of his expeditions all over America in search of new plants and trees. Over the years, Bartram evolved from a largely unlettered farmer into a first-class botanist with an unmatched familiarity with American foilage. This volume contains, in addition to two long accounts of his travels, a whole slew of his essays as well. His interests were not limited to plants, for he also wrote on Indians, animals, and other topics. The book is illustrated with a plates drawn from a variety of sources (other than Bartram) which adds important context to his writing.

The 700-page volume manifests the usual Library of America quality. It contains a useful chronology of Bartram's busy life, and illustrates his travels with a helpful map. The editor has included valuable notes to explain unfamiliar references in Bartram's writings. I also found the 50-page plus glossary of plant and animal terms to be much welcomed. A fine index rounds out the volume. As is always the case with LOA books, the production quality is outstanding, with fine paper, excellent typography, and durable binding.

Hopefully, this valuable collection, in conjunction with the Wulf volumes, will move William Bartram and his truly extraordinary contributions out of the dark recesses of history into the bright sunlight he so richly deserves.

I didn't read it , but my son, the Forester has worn out his older copy.