During the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, many editions of The Lewis and Clark Expedition by Meriwether Lewis were printed, the volumes becoming increasingly difficult to obtain until this new edition appeared. To keep the cost of each volume low, the publishers of the present edition have chosen to follow the three volume format previously used by publishers in 1904 rather than emulate the original two volume edition of 1814. Although the original edition appears under the name of Paul Allen as editor, we know that the two volumes were prepared for publication in large part by Nicholas Biddle, who was best known as President of the Second Bank of the United States. The present reprint is complete except for the original maps, the lack partially compensated for by the inclusion of a single modern map which traces the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Students and readers will find the most recent reprint more authentic than the often used 1893 edition prepared by Elliott Coues, who added extensive footnotes, an index, and a memoir of William Clark. Unfortunately, however, Coues frequently violated all canons of editorial practice, changing important words and making it difficult to forgive him “for his desecration of original texts.” If the reader does not care to trust Coues’ documentation, he can turn to the copious footnotes of Reuben Gold Thwaites in The Original Journals of Lewis and Clark.
Despite the publication of several other journals kept by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, that of Meriwether Lewis is still the most important and pleasant to read. Nicholas Biddle, attentive to detail and careful in his rendition of the text, enhanced the value of the volumes for the modern student. In these pages we find Lewis often expressing the joy of discovering the unknown, the pathos of hardship and suffering, and the humor of brave men. Many disciplines will find this work useful. The anthropologist can profit from the accounts of Indians and their customs, the naturalists can gain from the descriptions of the flora and fauna, and the topographer from the reports of the water courses and terrain before they were devastated by the white man. The editors are to be commended for the publication of such a useful and important work.
