Travels, and Other Writing

Artist, writer, botanist, gardener, naturalist, intrepid wilderness explorer, and self-styled "philosophical pilgrim," William Bartram (1739-1823) was an extraordinary figure in eighteenth-century American life. The first American to devote his entire life to what we would now call the environment, Bartram was the most significant American nature writer before Thoreau and a nature artist who rivals Audubon. He was also a pioneering ethnographer whose works are a crucial source for the study of the Indian cultures of southeastern America. Here is the first collection of his writings and the largest gathering of his remarkable drawings ever published.
Long recognized as an American classic, Bartram's Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida (1791) recounts his journeys through the wilderness from 1773 to 1776 in prose famous for its celebratory intensity and lyrical profusion. In the forests, rivers, swamps, and savannahs of the South, Bartram collected botanical specimens and made wildlife drawings, observing the natural abundance around him with a vision shaped by both science and Quaker spirituality.
Also included is the sparer and more factual original report of Bartram's southern travels that he sent to his English patron, John Fothergill, as well as a comprehensive collection of his scientific and ethnographic papers. Some of the most beautiful are reproduced in full color. Extensive notes, a glossary of botanical terms, a newly researched chronology of Bartram's life, a map tracing the route of his travels, and an index help guide the reader.

Artist, writer, botanist, gardener, naturalist, intrepid wilderness explorer, and self-styled “philosophical pilgrim,” William Bartram was an extraordinary figure in eighteenth-century American life. The first American to devote himself to what we would now call the environment, Bartram was the most significant American writer before Thoreau and a nature artist who rivals Audubon. He was also a pioneering ethnographer whose works are a crucial source for the study of the Indian cultures of southeastern America.

Thomas Slaughter, volume editor, is a professor of history at Notre Dame University. He is the author of?The Whiskey Rebellion?and?The Natures of John and William Bartram.