A VOYAGE UP THE RIVER AMAZON

210 pages, modern half brown calf with cloth sides, a very good copy.

William Henry Edwards (March 15, 1822 – April 2, 1909) was an American businessman and entomologist. He was an industrial pioneer in the coalfields of West Virginia, opening some of the earliest mines in the southern part of the state. He was also a prominent naturalist specializing in the study of butterflies.

In 1846 Edwards travelled to Brazil and journeyed up the Amazon River with his uncle, Armory Edwards. Armory had been the US consul in Buenos Aires and worked in Argentina for the family's leather business. It is possible that the original purpose of their trip was related to family business concerns but for Edwards the focus of this trip became the beauty and untrammelled wilderness he experienced as they explored the huge delta island of Marajo and went upriver from Belem to Manaus.

Edwards took careful note of his experiences and shortly afterwards wrote a book, A Voyage Up the River Amazon, published in 1847. It is credited with sparking an interest in the region among natural scientists; in particular, Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace read Edward's account and were inspired to make the Amazon the destination for their famous expedition. Eventually, Edwards' book was just the first of several works written by naturalists that recorded the growing interest in the scientific exploration of the

Amazon.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Edwards