For your consideration is a First Edition of Volumes I and II of "The Journals of the Expedition Under the Command of Capt.'s Lewis and Clark: to the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the river Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, performed during the years 1804-5-6 by order of the Government of the United States", publisher The Heritage Press, New York. This book was edited by Nickolas Biddle, and the introduction was written by John Bakeless. The watercolor and drawing illustrations are by Carl Bodmer and other contemporary artists. John Bakeless has written over a dozen books, including "Lewis and Clark, Partners in Discovery," one of the first and foremost scholarly works on Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. This edition also includes sixteen full-page plates in four, five, and six colors. Thirteen of the plates are from paintings by Carl Bodmer and three paintings are by George Bird King. The books are bound in decorated parchment-toned buckram with a map design in sepia and buckram spine labels, hand-lettered and stamped in pure gold leaf. The condition of the two-volume set is very nice with fading noted to each spine. Intact pages are clean with age tanning observed. The original slipcases are included with slight scuffing to the edges, fading, splitting at the seams but intact. The measurements of these books are 7.875"W x 11.5"L x 1.25"D each, slipcases are 8"W x 11.75"L x 1.5"D. The approximate total weight is 6lb 4oz.