[JANSON, CHARLES WILLIAM]. The Stranger in America: Containing Observations Made During a long Residence in that Country, on the Genius, Manners and Customs of the People of the United States; with Biographical Particulars of Public Characters; Hints and Facts Relative to the Arts, Sciences, Commerce, Agriculture, Manufactures, Emigration, and the Slave Trade. London: Albion Press: Printed for James Cundee, 1807.
FIRST EDITION. Leather-bound; hardcover; quarto (27.5 x 22 x 4 cm.) pp. 499, [1]. Page 499 erroneously numbered 49. English text. Beautifully bound in contemporary tree calf; spine gilt with four raised bands and red morocco lettering-piece. Initial and terminal blanks; half-title; engraved additional title-page with vignette depicting the White House; letter-press title-page; 9 sepia-toned aquatint plates by M. Marigot (including frontispiece); plan of Philadelphia; tail-piece vignette; tables in the text; rear index in double columns. Condition: VERY GOOD. Collated complete. Binding tight and secure. Very slight rubbing to extremities. Some light toning and offsetting. Leaf 3H4 with a closed tear. Very occasional spots. Without previous ownership markings. A most handsome copy.
Notes: First edition, of "a petulant view of U.S. life" (Howes). A "handsomely produced book … the view on the engraved title page is the earliest known published image of the White House, and the Mount Vernon plate is one of the earliest of Washington's home. The appendix to the book contains what appears to be the first British printing of Thomas Jefferson's December 1806 message announcing the completion of the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well as other western explorations. This seems to have been unnoticed by bibliographers" (Federal Hundred). The author was an Englishman who lived in America from 1793-1805 and did not like what he saw. "Janson draws a picture of unrelieved black, but one worthy of attention because of the length of his stay and the breadth of his interests. He covers an astonishing variety of subjects" (Clark), from bear attacks and the ungovernable bees of the Carolinas to the American church and other "Yankee notions". [Abbey Travel 648; Federal Hundred 100; Howes J-59; Sabin 35770; Bobins 53].
