Schopf, Johann David; Reise durch einige der mittlern und südlichen vereinigten  nordamerikanischen Staaten nach Ost=Florida und den Bahama=Inseln unternommen in den Jahren 1783 und 1784 von Johann David Schöp..Mit einem Landchärtchen. Erlangen, bey Johann Jacob Palm. 1788. Quarto, pp. 24, 644, errata and xxxii, 551, errata, plus large folded map. Both title pages with engraved vignette. & Beyträge zur mineralogischen Kenntniß  des östlichen Theils von Nordamerika und seiner Gebürge von D. Johann David Schöpf. Erlangen, verlegt von Joh. Jakob Palm, 1787. quarto, pp. 10, 194, errata.

These two rare works are bound as a set with the second work bound at the rear of volume two. The works are in a contemporary calf over marbled boards with gilt titles. The bindings are tight and clean. Text is clean with light toning, map is clean. Ownership signature and stamp of John C. Bucher whose father was the first minister to preach in German west of the Allegheny mountains. A very good set of a major work on early exploration and geology.
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A German physician and naturalist, Schopf (1752-1800) was educated at the Gymnasium in Hof and the University of Erlangen. He was to become the chief surgeon for the Ansbach regiment in service to the British army during the American Revolution. After his discharge, from 1783 to 1784 Schöpf travelled extensively throughout the middle and southern United States, finally returning to Germany by-way of the Bahamas. He opened a medical practice in Bayreuth and wrote the first two notable 18th century accounts of the natural history and geology of America authored by a German. He writes in these works that his intention with regard to mineralogy and geology was to compare the American earths and stones with their European counterparts and describe the similarities and differences between the geology of the two lands. He accomplishes this a text based on first hand observation. Though out his travels he recorded his observations about the flora, fauna and mineralogy of the land. Schopf was a skilled and observant naturalist, and all his details on the botany, mineralogy, geology and customs of America were among the first accurate scientific views of the young nation. The two works are very rare and this is the first set of both works that we have had.