DANA, RICHARD HENRY, Jr. ]. Two Years Before the Mast. A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea. New York: Harper 1840. 12mo, original printed tan muslin, covers a little soiled, slight wear at heel of spine and three fore-corners, half morocco slipcase. ...

DANA, RICHARD HENRY, Jr. ]. Two Years Before the Mast. A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea. New York: Harper 1840. 12mo, original printed tan muslin, covers a little soiled, slight wear at heel of spine and three fore-corners, half morocco slipcase. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK, FIRST STATE OF BAL'S BINDING B, FIRST PRINTING with the dot over the "i" in the word "in" in the copyright notice and with the running head on p. 9 unbroken. BAL 4434; Cowan (I), p. 62; Cowan (II), p. 156; Adams Herd 642; Reese 28; Graff 998; Howes D49; Hill, pp. 78-79; Zamorano 80, no. 26; Grolier American 46: "One of the first and freshest, because of its plain factual nature, of American accounts of the sea, the book has added importance because...Dana journeyed up into California cattle country, of which he gives us our only trustworthy account before the 1849 gold rush." Provenance : Charles B. Dana (family member and a founder of the Dan Hall School in Wellesley, Mass.), with his ownership signature and date ("Sept. 25th 1840" -- month of publication) and stamped ex libris on front free endpaper.