Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt, First Edition, in Original Boards, 1914

Roosevelt, Theodore. Through the Brazilian Wilderness. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914. First Edition. Quarto. In original brown hardcover boards with gilt embossed titles, top edge gilt. Illustrated with electrotyped halftone photographs and maps. 

This is a first edition printing of Roosevelt’s classic work, Through the Brazilian Wilderness. The book was published in New York by Charles Scribner’s Sons, in 1914. The book documents Roosevelt's expedition into the Brazilian jungle in 1913 as a member of the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition. It is presented in the original brown cloth boards, titled in gilt to the front and spine, with top edge gilt. It includes numerous electrotyped halftone photographs by Kermit Roosevelt and other members of the expedition, as well as two maps. 

During a speaking tour of South America, Roosevelt set his sights on exploring the Amazon and was introduced to Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, a Brazilian Army officer and prominent explorer. Backed by the American Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt traveled to Brazil in October of 1913 with his son Kermit and a team of naturalists. Despite his sponsors' concerns, he and Rondon chose to map an uncharted tributary known only as the Rio da Dúvida, "River of Doubt," whose source Rondon had previously identified.

After documenting wildlife and meeting Indigenous tribes, the expedition reached the River of Doubt's headwaters on February 27, 1914. Traveling by canoe, they faced treacherous rapids, slow portage, dwindling supplies, disease, injury, and violence. Two men died and illness swept through the group; Roosevelt suffered from an infected leg and likely malaria, before the end of the trip. 

Roosevelt published his account of the voyage, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, in 1914. The first edition consisted of 7,500 copies at a price of $3.50.  The book is a romanticized recounting of the scientific discoveries, tropical flora and fauna of the jungle, trials and tribulations, and thrilling human dramas encountered during the expedition. 

Through the Wilderness further contributed to the popular perception of Roosevelt as a bold adventurer and decisive man of action. Reviewing the book for The Geographical Journal in February of 1915, John Evans wrote, “The great charm of this book is that it is instinct with the personality of the author. Everywhere the reader has before him the man himself and his indomitable cheerfulness and courage; but the predominant note is his active interest in the myriad forms of plant or animal existence that are encountered, and there are few routes which could yield a greater wealth of material for the open-air student of life in all its varieties than that traversed by the "Expedição Scientifica Roosevelt-Rondon."

CONDITION:

Good condition. Quarto. Original brown hardcover boards with gilt titles on front board, gilt titles to spine. Binding intact but a little loose, edgeware and bumping to head and foot of spine, fraying at corner of bottom spine front panel with a few small surface scuffs. Top edge gilt. Deckled fore and bottom edges.Lacking dust jacket. Interior pages healthy. With gift inscription on front free endpaper “T. H. Chapman /From/ Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Curtis /Dec 25th - 1914-”. Photographic frontispiece. Illustrated with 85 electrotyped halftone photographs on 49 plates, three maps, one of which folds out. Appendixes and Index. 383 pp. 

Dimensions: 9 3/4" H x 6 7/8" W x 1 7/8" D

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.