MITCHELL, Samuel Augustus (1790-1868). [Cover title:] Mitchell's Traveller's Guide Through the United States. Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1833.

Gansevoort Melville's copy, possibly inherited by Herman. Inscribed by Gansevoort (1816-1846) on the front inner cover: "G. Melville Albany July 1834." This small guide-book includes an engraved folding map of the eastern United States from the Missouri territory to the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by a folding table of statistical tidbits: an index of towns, steam-boat and canal routes, populations and capitals, area demographics by race, heights of principal mountains and hills, etc. There are light markings in a few places, for example near a mention of Saddleback Mountain in Berkshire County in the table of elevation, as well as a brief ink note on the map and a penciled packing list to the verso of the folding table. The Berkshires were important to Herman Melville. He lived in Pittsfield, Mass. during his the productive years of 1850-1863 with a view of Mount Greylock from his study and he met Hawthorne for the first time whilst on a picnic to another Berkshire summit.

12mo (135 x 80mm). Large folding engraved map, 450 x 560mm, hand-colored in outline (separation along creases, map with numerous tape repairs to verso and small area of loss to upper left quadrant affecting a detail of Kentucky). Contemporary calf gilt (some loss at extremities, rubbing). Provenance: Gansevoort Melville, 1816-1846 – ink and pencil notations in several places.