The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 1 (of 3) / To Headwaters of the Mississippi River Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-6-7. - Zebulon Montgomery Pike

This was followed in 1812 by a French version, the title and collation of which are here given:

Two vols., 8vo. Vol. I., pp. i-xvi, 1-368; Vol. II., pp. 1-373, with 3 maps. In Vol. I. the half title p., backed de l'imprimérie de L. Hausmann, Rue de la Harpe, N^o. 80, is pp. i, ii; full title p., verso blank, is pp. iii, iv; Préface du Traducteur, pp. v-xiv; sub-title, Voyage au Mississippi, backed with errata, pp. xv, xvi; Avertissement de l'auteur, pp. 1-6; Wilkinson's instructions to Pike of July 30th, 1805, abstracted from one of the pieces of App. to Pt. 3 of the orig. ed., pp. 7, 8; main text of the Mississippi Voyage, pp. 9-236, ending Pt. 1 of the orig. ed.; thence the Arkansaw Journey, with separate sub-title, Voyage au Nouveau-Mexique, pp. 237-368, ending Vol. I., with end of Pt. 2 of the orig. ed.—In Vol. II., half title p. backed blank, pp. 1, 2: full title, backed blank, pp. 3, 4; main text, pp. 5-373, beginning at date of Feb. 27th, 1807, when Pike was starting on his involuntary Mexican tour; this tour ending on p. 236, with end of the main text of Pt. 3 of the orig. ed.; thence to end of vol. various matters from the Appendixes of Pts. 2 and 3, including Lieutenant Wilkinson's Arkansaw Report, pp. 325-363, and a piece of padding, pp. 293-324, this last being Remarques Additionelles sur le sol, les productions et les habitans de la Nouvelle-Espagne, of which the editor says that "ces détails sont extraits en partie de l'excellente histoire d'Amérique par Winterbotham, et de l'ouvrage de l'abbé Clavigéro." These 32 pages of padding have no business in the book; I suppose they were wanted to balance the bulk of the two volumes. The maps of this edition are three in number, supposed to belong in Vol. II. They are the Mississippi and the two Arkansaw maps, prepared by Antoine Nau, redrawn and re-engraved, with French names instead of English ones; the size is about the same as that of the original; the execution is rather better. The editor apologizes, Vol I., p. xiii, for not reproducing Pike's two maps of Mexico, because he would not venture "d'attenter à la propriété de M. de Humboldt," i. e., steal Humboldt's thunder. For it seems that Humboldt thought Pike had done so, and he had just previously so expressed himself in a réclamation in Le Moniteur. Humboldt compliments Pike pro formâ, and proceeds to protest: "Mais les cartes du Mexique, publiées sous son [Pike's] nom, ne sont que des réductions de ma grande carte de la Nouvelle-Espagne, sur laquelle le voyageur a tracé sa route de Santa-Fé par Cohahuila à Nacodolhes [Nacogdoches or Natchitoches]."

Humboldt's direct and unqualified charge of plagiarism against Pike, which has never been answered and is probably unanswerable, is reiterated in that one of his works entitled: Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the Years 1799-1804. By Alexander de Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland. Written in French by Alexander de Humboldt, and translated into English by Helen Maria Williams, Philadelphia, M. Carey, 1 vol., 8vo, Dec. 23d, 1815, on p. xxii of which we read: "Mr. Pike displayed admirable courage in an important undertaking for the investigation of western Louisiana; but unprovided with instruments, and strictly watched on the road from Santa Fe to Natchitoches, he could do nothing towards the progress of the geography of the provincias internas. The maps of Mexico, which are annexed to the narrative of his journey, are reduced from my great map of New Spain, of which I left a copy, in 1804, at the secretary of state's office at Washington." In this connection Humboldt also makes the same well-founded charge against Arrowsmith, saying, p. xxi: "My general map of the kingdom of New Spain, formed on astronomical observations, and on the whole of the materials which existed in Mexico in 1804, has been copied by Mr. Arrowsmith, who has appropriated it to himself, by publishing it on a larger scale under the title of New Map of Mexico, compiled from original Documents, by Arrowsmith. It is very easy to recognize this map from the number of chalcographical errors with which it abounds," etc.

Of all forms of dishonesty, literary larceny is the most futile, because the surest of detection. Plagiarism is worse than a crime—it is a blunder. If the matter stolen is worth stealing, the transaction is certain to be exposed, sooner or later. The distinction between the use and misuse of the literary labors of another is so plain and simple that it cannot be misunderstood. It depends solely upon whether acknowledgment be made or not. Plagiarism acknowledged is no plagiarism—one has only to say "by your leave," to appropriate with impunity whatever he desires. But this instant formula is indispensable. Subsequent apology or explanation is impossible. Humboldt took Pike red-handed; this the present biographer deplores; but he can neither discover nor invent a defense. Pike's senselessness in this matter aggravates the offense. To have acknowledged his indebtedness to Humboldt and Bonpland, and then utilized their work to any extent he chose, would have been shrewd policy, as well as honest conduct; for Humboldt's was already a name to conjure with, and the hitherto nameless young writer could not have done better for himself than to cite such high authority in connection with his own work.[M-11] I have reluctantly satisfied myself that Pike's map of New Spain is no other than Humboldt's Carte Générale du Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, with Nau's errors and some little further modification.

The Dutch edition of Pike, 1812-13, is as follows:

Two vols., 8vo. Vol. I., 1812 (notice misprint of date on title page), pp. i-viii, 1-327. Vol. II., 1813, two prel. leaves, and pp. 1-374, with three maps. Printed at Amsterdam by A. Breeman & Co. In Vol. I., title leaf, verso blank, pp. i, ii; Voorberigt van den Vertaler (Translator's Preface), pp. iii-viii, dated Amsterdam, Nov. 7th, 1812; main text, pp. 1-327, of which the Mississippi voyage runs to p. 218 inclusive, and the remainder finishes the Arkansaw journey, these being respectively Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 of the orig. ed. In Vol. II. a half title and a full title make each one unpaged leaf, and the main text runs pp. 1-374, being Pt. 3 of the orig. ed. The three maps belong in this vol.

The general form and style of this version are most like those of the French translation, from which, however, the Dutch differs in various particulars. It appears to have been based upon the English quarto rather than upon the original Philadelphia octavo, and to have been translated independently therefrom, as the French also was. Both the Dutch and the French editions follow the English one in working the matter of the Appendixes into the main text—in fact, no edition that I know of has hitherto followed the awkward and exasperating form of Pike's own book. The anonymous Dutch translator introduces a new preface, and a few short footnotes, not reproducing those of the French translator; the three maps are re-engraved from those prepared by Antoine Nau, as in the French edition, but with lettering of the names in Dutch instead of French.

The foregoing English, French, and Dutch editions were speedily followed by a German version. This seems to be a scarce book; I have not yet been able to find a copy. I presume that, like the French and Dutch, it was modeled upon the London quarto; but with what modifications, if any, aside from translation into another language, I have no idea.