William Bartram: Travels and Other Writings (Hardcover)

~ William Bartram (Author), Thomas P. Slaughter (Editor) "AT the request of Dr. Fothergill, of London, to search the Floridas, and the western parts of Carolina and Georgia, for the discovery of rare..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mount Royal, Upper Creeks, John Bartram (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Library of America takes a walk on the wild side with the latest installation to the series. Bartram was one of our nation's earliest nature writers, and his travels through the Southern American wilderness in the 1770s yielded a number of writings and illustrations of flora and fauna. This volume offers the first collection of his works and includes the largest number of his drawings-16 color and 32 black-and-white-ever assembled.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Artist, writer, botanist, gardener, explorer, and ethnographer, William Bartram was the most significant American nature writer before Thoreau. This volume includes "Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida" (1791), as well as Bartram's report to his English patron, scientific and ethnographic papers, and extensive gathering of Bartram's beautiful drawings, many in full color, and an index, a glossary of flora and fauna, and a map.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 734 pages
• Publisher: Library of America; 1st edition (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883011116
• ISBN-13: 978-1883011116
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #236,252 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Botanist, Explorer, "Philosophical Pilgrim", September 3, 2007

By	Wiltrud Goldschmidt (Pennsylvania, United States) - See all my reviews

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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.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best collection of Bartram's writings., April 23, 2006

By	Sean Busick (Athens, Alabama) - See all my reviews

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trip Through Paradise Lost, November 22, 2008

By	Strawgold (Wyoming) - See all my reviews

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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.