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Catalogue 256 Western Americana |
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Section V: Lewis to Noyes |
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Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
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The Beginning of Lewis and Clark 112. [Lewis and Clark Expedition]: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES, WHO WERE INSTRUCTED, BY A RESOLUTION OF THIS HOUSE, OF THE 18th ULT. "TO ENQUIRE INTO THE EXPEDIENCY OF AUTHORISING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO EMPLOY PERSONS TO EXPLORE SUCH PARTS OF THE PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA, AS HE MAY DEEM PROPER." Washington. March 8, 1804. 7pp. Dbd. Fine. An important report authorizing President Jefferson to employ persons to survey and explore the recently acquired Louisiana Territory. Reference is made in the text to the western expedition already underway: "The two enterprising conductors of this adventure, captains Lewis and Clark, have been directed to attempt a passage to the western shore of the South Sea; from them on their return in 1805, a narrative full of instruction may be expected." The present report stresses the need for additional geographical and scientific information concerning Louisiana, specifically detailed surveys of the Arkansas and Red rivers. This authorization led to Zebulon Montgomery Pike’s expeditions of 1805-7. The final paragraph of the report provides for a financial authorization for the expedition, but the dollar amount has been left blank. "This is an interesting report, illustrating as it does how little was known at this time about the Red River above Natchitoches and how ‘obscure and undefined’ were the limits of newly acquired Spanish Louisiana. The report...is the earliest official advocacy of the exploration of the Red River by the United States that I have seen" – Streeter. Scarce and important. LITERATURE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 2a.4. STREETER TEXAS, 1032. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 7611. OCLC 18926771. $2500. A Famed Series of Indian Portraits 113. Lewis, James Otto: [THE ABORIGINAL PORTFOLIO]. [Philadelphia: Printed by Lehman & Duval, published by the author, 1835-36]. Seventy-two handcolored lithographic plates after Lewis, by Lehman & Duval, bound without the three letterpress broadside prospectus "Advertisement" leaves to parts 1-3. With blue upper wrapper to original part 8 bound as title-leaf. Folio, 18¼ x 11 inches. Bound to style in dark green half morocco over contemporary patterned cloth-covered boards. Occasional expert repairs. Very good. First edition. Scarcer than McKenney and Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes..., Prince Maximilian’s Reise in das innere von Nord-America or Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio, Lewis’ work records the dress of the Potawatomi, Winnebago, Shawnee, Sioux, Miami, Fox, Iowa, and other tribes at treaties of Prairie du Chien, Fort Wayne, Fond du Lac, and Green Bay. Publication of the work was costly and time consuming. It was originally issued in ten parts with eight plates per number, in printed wrappers. The publisher was forced into bankruptcy while part 9 was in the press, however, reducing the edition and forcing part 10 to be just barely finished and sparsely distributed. A projected eleventh part would have contained "Historical and Biographical Description of the Indians," but was never completed. The title and three advertisement leaves are therefore the only text in the work, excluding that on the wrappers. Copies are found with seventy-two plates (as here, being the first nine numbers), others with seventy-seven and occasionally eighty. A list of the plates is available upon request. BENNETT, p.68. EBERSTADT 131:418. FIELD 936. HOWES L315. SABIN 40812. REESE, STAMPED WITH A NATIONAL CHARACTER 23. $100,000. The First Edition of Lewis and Clark, 114. Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark: HISTORY OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAINS LEWIS AND CLARK, TO THE SOURCES OF THE MISSOURI, THENCE ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND DOWN THE RIVER COLUMBIA TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. PERFORMED DURING THE YEARS 1804-5-6.... Philadelphia: J. Maxwell for Bradford & Inskeep and Abm. H. Inskeep of New York, 1814. Two volumes. xxviii,470; ix,[1],522pp. plus large folding map and five charts. Contemporary sheep, the flat spines divided into six compartments by double horizontal rules, red morocco lettering piece with titling in gilt in the second, volume number tooled in gilt in the third. Expert small repairs to joints, spine ends, and corners. Occasional small expert repairs to the folding map, overall toning and light spotting as usual. Occasional small marginal tears, most of them expertly repaired. Small blank sections torn away from the margins of Ss1, Qq4, 3C3 in the first volume and N1 and 3K2 in the second volume. The map facing p.31 in the second volume with small section of lower blank margin torn away. Overall very good. Provenance: United Philosophical Society (Hartland, early inscription in the first volume). A fine, largely unsophisticated copy of the first edition of the "definitive account of the most important exploration of the North American continent" (Wagner-Camp), here including the very rare large folding map at the front of the first volume. The work is a cornerstone of any collection of Western Americana, including essential information on the geography, natural history, science, and ethnography of the area explored. The book describes the government-backed expedition to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase undertaken from 1804 to 1806 by ascending the Missouri to its source, crossing the Rocky Mountains, and reaching the Pacific Ocean. In total, the expedition covered some eight thousand miles in slightly more than twenty-eight months. They brought back the first reliable information about much of the area they traversed, made contact with the Indian inhabitants as a prelude to the expansion of the fur trade, and advanced by a quantum leap the geographical knowledge of the continent. This official account of the expedition is as much a landmark in Americana as the trip itself. The narrative has been reprinted many times and remains a perennial American bestseller. It is the first great U.S. government expedition, the first book on the Rocky Mountain West, and a host of other firsts. It is among the most famous American books. The large folding map of the West was not issued with all copies, and in fact cost almost as much as the book itself, charged separately. It is often not present. Sets of Lewis and Clark have become increasingly difficult to find, especially as Stephen Ambrose’ excellent book, the Ken Burns documentary, and its bicentennial have further widened the already broad appeal of the book. WAGNER-CAMP 13:1. PRINTING & THE MIND OF MAN 272. GROLIER AMERICAN 100, 30. HOWES L317. TWENEY 89, 44. GRAFF 2477. SABIN 40828. CHURCH 1309. FIELD 928. STREETER SALE 1777. STREETER, AMERICANA BEGINNINGS 52. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 31924. HILL 1017. Lester J. Cappon, A Census of Extant Copies in Original Boards... (New York: Columbia University, 1970). $200,000. 115. [Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark]: HISTORY OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAINS LEWIS AND CLARK TO THE SOURCE OF THE MISSOURI, ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, DOWN THE COLUMBIA RIVER TO THE PACIFIC IN 1804-06. New York: New Amsterdam Book Company, 1902. Three volumes. 416; 410; 382pp. Contemporary green morocco, ornate gilt spine in six compartments, gilt tooling on covers, gilt inner dentelles, t.e.g. Spines gently sunned. Internally bright and clean. Fine, partially unopened and untrimmed. Lacks the laid-in folding map. A lavish reprint of the famous Lewis and Clark narrative, limited to 210 copies, of which this is number 68. A lovely and accessible edition of this Western Americana cornerstone. HOLLIDAY 688. ROBINSON 72-333. BRADFORD 3006. LITERATURE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 5a.10. WAGNER-CAMP 13:1 (ref). $2250. 116. Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark: ORIGINAL JOURNALS OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION, 1804 – 1806...NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME PUBLISHED IN FULL AND EXACTLY AS WRITTEN...EDITED BY REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. New York. 1904-1905. Eight volumes, including atlas volume. Original red cloth, gilt. A very good set. From an edition limited to 750 sets. The set was edited by the noted historian and editor, Reuben G. Thwaites, who worked from the original manuscripts at the American Philosophical Society, and who made this edition a landmark of historical editing. "In its maps and numerous illustrations, the Thwaites edition is an outstanding source of visual materials relating to the expedition" – Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. An important work of exploration and historical scholarship. HOWES L320, "b." LITERATURE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 5d.1 (c). WAGNER-CAMP 13 (note). RITTENHOUSE 366. $10,000. 117. [Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark]: Moulton, Gary, ed.: THE JOURNALS OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-1999. Twelve volumes, including the atlas. Text: Original cloth. In overall fine condition. In dust jackets. Atlas: Folio. Original blue cloth, gilt-lettered cover and spine. Fine. The definitive scholarly edition of the famed Lewis and Clark journals, with copious notes, botanical material, and maps. This set is entirely first editions, including the very hard to obtain first edition of the atlas. $4250. A Landmark Depiction of the West, 118. Linforth, James, ed: ROUTE FROM LIVERPOOL TO GREAT SALT LAKE VALLEY...TOGETHER WITH A GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION OF UTAH...ALSO, AN AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS’ EMIGRATION FROM EUROPE.... Liverpool. 1855. [6],120pp. plus thirty plates. Folding frontispiece map. Large quarto. Contemporary three-quarter calf and cloth, neatly rebacked with original backstrip laid down. Minor staining and wear to cloth, expertly conserved. Very good. One of the most important publications devoted to the Mormon emigration, and a landmark in the artistic depiction of western scenes. The plates are after illustrations by Frederick Piercy. "This elaborately prepared and illustrated book was published as a monument to the Mormon emigration to Utah, and as a means of attracting further emigrants. Piercy made a special trip to America [in 1853] to make sketches for the plates, which are some of the best western views of the period" – Streeter. The outstanding views show New Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, Nauvoo, Council Bluffs, Laramie, Fort Bridger, and Scott’s Bluff. "...One of the most elaborately and beautifully illustrated of western books" – Howes. "...One of the basic sources of illustrated Western Americana of the period" – Taft. "One of the most illuminating maps of the West to appear during 1855...it shows Utah in all its glory. This is not only an important map in the history of Mormons, but is in every sense an important map in the history of the West, giving as it does a carefully drawn picture of that entire area" – Wheat. One of the landmark illustrated books of Western Americana. HOWES L359, "b." WAGNER-CAMP 259. GRAFF 2501. FLAKE 6381. SABIN 41325. STREETER SALE 2296. Taft, Artists & Illustrators of the Old West, p.285. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI IV, pp.40-41. CRAWLEY & FLAKE, A MORMON FIFTY 46. $30,000. Louisiana Granted to 119. [Louisiana]: LETTRES PATENTES EN FORME D’EDIT, PORTANT ESTABLISSEMENT D’UNE COMPAGNIE DE COMMERCE, SOUS LE NOM DE COMPAGNIE D’OCCIDENT. DONNE A PARIS AU MOIS D’AOUT 1717. Paris: Francois Muguet, Hubert Muguet, Premier Imprimeur du Roy, 1717. pp.29-40. Slim quarto. Modern marbled boards, maroon gilt morocco label. Scattered foxing. Very good. A variant issue of this vital document, originally published as part of a larger work. One of the most important documents in the history of the French in the New World and Louisiana, leading directly to the founding of New Orleans. The Compagnie d’Occident, here formed, was granted by this decree of Louis XIV "all the lands, coasts, ports, havens and islands which comprise our province of Louisiana." In addition, the Compagnie was granted exclusive rights of trade and government for a twenty-five year period. It also was given a monopoly on the Canadian beaver trade. The Compagnie, brainchild of financier John Law, soon became the object of rampant speculation and led to the Mississippi Bubble. However, the grant to the Compagnie was also the prelude to the founding of New Orleans. Law restored Jean Baptiste Bienville to the governorship of the province. One of Bienville’s first acts was to lay out the city of New Orleans to accommodate colonists moving to the new colony. Few documents, perhaps only the Louisiana Purchase itself, can be considered more vital to the history of Louisiana and New Orleans. From this royal decree stemmed all of the later development of French Louisiana and the city it brought into being, New Orleans. Wroth locates only one copy of this issue, at The New York Public Library. WROTH, ACTS OF FRENCH ROYAL ADMINISTRATION 602. $10,000. Complex Politics on 120. [Louisiana Purchase]: IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. FEBRUARY 16th, 1803. MR. ROSS SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS WHICH WERE READ, AND IT WAS AGREED THAT THE CONSIDERATION THEREOF WOULD BE THE ORDER OF THE DAY FOR MONDAY NEXT [caption title]. [Washington. 1803]. [2]pp. printed on both sides of a single sheet. Old horizontal fold lines. Trimmed close to the text, but with no loss. Very good. In a half morocco and cloth box. The very rare "slip bill" printing of a Senate Resolution that played an important role in the politics and diplomacy of the Louisiana Purchase. The Resolution was introduced by Senate Federalists as a means of embarrassing the Jefferson Administration, but it also served to demonstrate the feeling of both political parties, as well as the American people generally, that Louisiana and the greater West were meant to belong to the United States. The United States had won the right of free navigation of the Mississippi River through Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain, signed in 1795. In October 1802 the Spanish King (at the behest of Napoleon) announced that, in contradiction of the treaty, he was suspending the American right to deposit goods at New Orleans, thereby raising American fears that they would also lose the right to navigate the Mississippi. At the same time, Spain transferred control of Louisiana to France, further agitating American concerns. In January 1803, Jefferson authorized James Monroe and Robert Livingston to negotiate with France for the purchase of Louisiana. The Federalist position on the matter, most clearly enunciated by Alexander Hamilton in a series of anonymous newspaper articles, was that the United States should take the territory by force and offer to negotiate with France afterwards. This Senate Resolution was introduced by Sen. James Ross, a Federalist from Pennsylvania, on Feb. 16, 1803. Ross was chosen as the sponsor because, being from Pittsburgh, he was considered a westerner from a city with an interest in the western rivers, and a Federalist who could speak for western concerns and sentiments. The Ross Resolution states that "the United States have an indisputable right to the free navigation of the river Mississippi and to a convenient place of deposit for their produce and merchandize in the island of New Orleans." The Spanish action is characterized as an "aggression hostile to [American] honor and interest." It goes on to state that "it does not consist with the dignity or safety of this union, to hold a right so important by a tenure so uncertain...[it] is essential to the union, strength and prosperity of these states, that they obtain complete security for the full and peaceable enjoyment of such their absolute right." The Resolution goes on to authorize Jefferson to "take immediate possession" of New Orleans or the adjacent territories, gives him authority to call up a militia numbering up to 50,000 men drawn from South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi Territory, and sets aside $5,000,000 for these purposes. A lengthy public debate on the Ross Resolutions took place in the United States Senate from February 23 to 25. On the Senate floor Ross argued that American troops should "plant yourselves on the river, fortify the banks, invite those who have an interest to defend it...and leave the event to him who controls the fate of nations" (quoted in Peterson). He went on to argue that "when in possession, you will negotiate with more advantage" (quoted in Malone). Republicans argued that the Federalists had in essence introduced a war resolution to embarrass Jefferson, make him look ineffectual, and show Americans living in the West that the Republican administration was insensitive to their needs and demands. Dumas Malone argues that the Ross Resolution "was a direct attack of indubitable peril on presidential authority" to conduct foreign affairs. Secretary of State James Madison opposed the Resolution for all the assumed reasons, but also because it seemed to take the power to declare war away from Congress and gave "unconstitutional power to the Executive" (see DeConde). After three long days of debate in the Senate, the Ross Resolution was defeated on a strict party-line vote, fifteen to eleven. Soon thereafter, Senate Republicans pushed through a measure giving Jefferson similar authorization to raise troops (up to eighty thousand in number) should he deem it necessary. Ironically, when word of the introduction of the Ross Resolution reached the American negotiators in Paris, Robert Livingston transmitted the text to the French Foreign Minister, Talleyrand, as a warning of what the consequences may be if a successful conclusion was not reached (see Brant). At the end of April 1803, the French agreed to sell Louisiana Territory to the United States. "Slip bills" were printed in very small numbers for the use of Senators and staff while a bill or resolution was being debated on the floor. They are ephemeral documents, and their survival is always a rarity. No copy of this printing of the Ross Resolution is listed on OCLC. Shaw & Shoemaker locates one copy of a printing of this text in a one-page version (at the Library of Congress), but does not list this two-page "slip bill" printing. Very rare, important, and desirable, showing the divisive politics at work in the United States during the negotiations over the Louisiana Purchase, but also demonstrating the strong bipartisan conviction that expansion of the United States westward was its manifest destiny. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 5302 (ref). Arthur Preston Whitaker, The Mississippi Question 1795-1803. A Study in Trade, Politics, and Diplomacy (New York, 1934), pp.209-17. Merrill Peterson, Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation (New York, 1970), p.758. Dumas Malone, Jefferson the President, First Term, 1801-1805 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970), pp.148, 276-81. Irving Brant, James Madison, Secretary of State 1800-1809 (Indianapolis, 1953), pp.118-27. Alexander DeConde, This Affair of Louisiana (New York, 1976), pp.139-40. $6000. 121. Lowman, Al [ed]: THIS BITTERLY BEAUTIFUL LAND. A TEXAS COMMONPLACE BOOK. [Austin]: Roger Beacham, 1972. 54,[2]pp. Illus. Folio. Original cloth, paper label. Overall a fine copy. From an edition limited to 275 copies, with an introduction by Carl Hertzog. Illustrated by Barbara Whitehead. Contributions and passages by J. Frank Dobie, J. Evetts Haley, Tom Lea, and other famous people in Texas history. "Printed on handmade paper molded especially for this volume by the Inveresk Paper Mill in England." ROBINSON 295. $1250. 122. M’Ilvaine, William: [ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR PAINTING BY GOLD RUSH ARTIST WILLIAM M’ILVAINE, TITLED "ON THE WALLS OF PANAMA"]. New York. [1850]. Watercolor on paper, 6¾ x 9½ inches. Matted and framed. Titled in ink on the mat. Some wear to the frame around the edges. The painting itself is in fine condition. A lovely and vibrant watercolor of the Panama coast, painted by artist William M’Ilvaine from a scene he personally observed while on his way to California during the gold rush in 1849. The scene shows the coast and water on the right, with a pair of buildings among palm trees and lush vegetation on the left, with mountains in the far background. The buildings are rather sophisticated two-story structures, painted white, and with balconies and bright red roofs. A person wearing a straw hat crouches before a basket in the left foreground. The sky in the distance is pink with the color of dusk, and a small boat, perhaps back from the day’s catch, is anchored in the water. The coloring and detail of the scene are quite fine, and it is a very fine work. M’Ilvaine trained as an artist in Europe, and was a very accomplished painter, among the best who went to California during the gold rush. The quality of this painting ranks it among the best renderings of 19th-century Central America available. M’Ilvaine sailed to San Francisco from Callao, Peru in the late spring of 1849, reaching San Francisco on June 1. He spent five months in California, making sketches along the Tuolumne, Stanislaus, and Merced rivers, and in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Stockton. He travelled back to his home on the East Coast by sailing to Acapulco and then going overland across Mexico to Veracruz. The scene of a small coastal village in Panama, therefore, would have been observed and sketched by M’Ilvaine during his voyage to San Francisco in the spring of 1849. This finished watercolor painting was created by M’Ilvaine in New York in 1850, but is not included in his book of sixteen views in California and Mexico published that same year. Between 1851 and 1855, he exhibited twenty-five paintings and watercolors of western scenes, including works that were made into lithographs for his book, as well as scenes in England, North Wales, Scotland, New England, Pennsylvania, and Panama (see Cleland). It is likely that this lovely painting of Panama was among those watercolors. William M’Ilvaine (1813-67) was born in Philadelphia and studied art in Europe after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832. He lived in Philadelphia, took up art professionally, moved to New York in 1845, and travelled to the California gold fields and Mexico in 1849. In 1850 he returned to the East Coast and published Sketches of Scenery and Notes of Personal Adventures in California and Mexico, featuring sixteen lithographic plates of his views, some of the earliest published on-the-spot views of the gold region. He worked in New York in the mid-1850s, and painted there until volunteering for the New York 5th Regiment during the Civil War. A fine mid-19th-century painting of Panama, done from the observations of one of the most talented gold rush artists while on his way to California. Who Was Who in American Art, p.2129. HUGHES, ARTISTS IN CALIFORNIA, 1786-1940, II, p.370. Robert G. Cleland (foreword), Sketches of Scenery and Notes of Personal Adventures in California and Mexico (San Francisco, 1951), pp.iii-ix. $3000. 123. Marryat, Francis S.: MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS OR RECOLLECTIONS OF A BURNT JOURNAL. London. 1855. x,[2],443pp. plus 24pp. of advertisements and eight full-page color lithographic plates. Numerous illustrations in text. Original cloth, stamped in blind, spine stamped in (faded) gilt. Cloth quite sunned, especially at spine. Repaired at spine ends, inner hinges strengthened. Two bookplates on front pastedown. Very clean and bright internally. Very good overall. An excellent picture of life at the California diggings, big game hunting in the Rocky Mountains, and life in the pioneer West. Reliable observations are also included on early political and legal affairs in California, such as the Vigilance Committee and other attempts to impose order on the rambunctious populace. "...One of the best descriptions in print of life at the mines and of conditions at San Francisco and the ranchos in the 1850’s..." – Streeter. This London edition is vastly superior to the American edition of the same year, which lacks the extraordinary color plates, variously lauded as "being amongst the finest of early Californian subjects" (Zamorano 80) and "of great beauty and importance" (Wheat). Though there is material pertinent to outlaws, this work is not noted in Adams’ Six-Guns. STREETER SALE 2788. HILL 1089 (note). COWAN, p.416. HOWES M299, "aa." GRAFF 2685. SABIN 44695. ADAMS HERD 1445. WHEAT GOLD RUSH 137. ZAMORANO 80, 52. KURUTZ 429a. $1350. 124. Marsh, James B.: FOUR YEARS IN THE ROCKIES; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF ISAAC P. ROSE, OF SHENANGO TOWNSHIP, LAWRENCE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA; GIVING HIS EXPERIENCE AS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER IN THAT REMOTE REGION.... New Castle, Pa. 1884. 262pp. Frontispiece. Modern three-quarter polished calf and marbled boards, spine gilt extra, leather labels, t.e.g. A near fine copy. "An important addition to the stories of the Wyeth expedition in the history of the early days of the fur trade" – Streeter. Rose, as a lad of nineteen, went west with Wyeth in 1834 and spent the next four years as a fur trapper and trader. STREETER SALE 2115. HOWES M306, "b." GRAFF 2688. WAGNER-CAMP 3rd ed. 75 (note). $1000. First Book on the Western Cattle Trade 125. McCoy, Joseph G.: HISTORIC SKETCHES OF THE CATTLE TRADE OF THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST. Kansas City, Mo. 1874. [6],427pp. plus plate, and including illustrations. Modern red morocco, spine gilt. One leaf torn, with loss, affecting approximately ten words on the recto and the lower right corner of a full-page illustration on the verso. Tide-line throughout, mostly confined to the upper and outer text margins, but intruding into the text of the first twenty pages, and affecting the titlepage and frontispiece as well. Good. One of the "big four" cattle books. "One of the first and most important books on the cattle trade" – Adams. McCoy opened the market for Texas cattle, acted as promoter of Abilene, Kansas, and is noted on the titlepage as "the pioneer western cattle shipper." This work is the first general account of the trade, covering the period from the beginning of the post-Civil War opening of the cattle trade up to 1873. Reprinted many times, McCoy’s work is here in the first edition, binding state "A," containing the many leaves of advertisements not found in all copies. "...One of the pillars of any range library" – Six Score. "...One of the most important sources on ranching in Texas, Colorado and Kansas, and on the Texas cattle drives" – Streeter. ADAMS HERD 1385 ("Rare"). GRAFF 2594. DOBIE, p.111. HOWES M72, "b." RADER 2286. MERRILL ARISTOCRAT. STREETER SALE 2366. SIX SCORE 76. $2750. Crowning Infamy of the Ages 126. Mercer, Asa S.: THE BANDITTI OF THE PLAINS OR THE CATTLEMEN’S INVASION OF WYOMING IN 1892 [THE CROWNING INFAMY OF THE AGES.]. [Denver. 1894]. Preliminary leaf printing ordering information, 139pp. Original black cloth. Slight fraying at toe of spine, inner hinges cracked. Old inscription on front free endpaper, "To Elmer from ‘The Mayor’ Xmas 1909," and similar inscription on rear free endpaper. Overall very good. One of the most famous books on the cattle industry, growing out of the Johnson County War in Wyoming in 1892, which pitted the large, established members of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association against the smaller cattlemen and squatters on the range. In the course of the bloody conflict, Mercer, editor of the Northwestern Livestock Grower, published in Cheyenne, took the side of the small growers and produced this vitriolic work. The book is said to have been suppressed, and may have been to a certain extent, but a fair number of copies exist today, although it certainly remains rare. The book is often listed as being printed in Cheyenne, but Mercer’s children maintain that it was printed in Denver, where Adams agrees it was bound. Its importance is great, chronicling one of the last major upheavals of frontier violence in the wars for the open range against fencing. It has since appeared in many later editions. ADAMS HERD 1474. ADAMS SIX-GUNS 1478 ("exceedingly rare"). DOBIE, p.111. GRAFF 2750. HOWES M522, "b." SMITH 6735. SIX SCORE 79. STREETER SALE 2385. $5250. 127. [Mexican Mining]: VALLECILLO MINING COMPANY. SILVER MINE OF "JESUS MARIA," SITUATED NEAR THE RIO GRANDE, STATE OF NUEVO LEON, MEXICO [caption title]. [New York. 1855]. 46pp. Folding frontispiece map. Original front printed wrapper present but detached (rear lacking). Some soiling, else internally very good. The "Plan of the Old and New Works at Jesus Marie..." shows the layout of the mining operation and buildings, with work projected for 1854 traced in outline. A most unusual piece, detailing an American-backed investment in Mexico shortly after the Mexican War, just across the Rio Grande. $1250. 128. [Mexico]: PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO. SECCION DE GOBIERNO. Num. 107. EL SUPREMO PODER EJECUTIVO ME HA DERIJIDO EL DECRETO QUE SIGUE...[caption title]. [Mexico. July 21, 1823]. [3]pp. on a single folded folio sheet. Light fold lines. Bright and fresh. Very good. An important decree relating to the separation of the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa. The ancient Spanish provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa, vital centers of colonization in the Spanish Southwest, had come to the end of the colonial period as one united province; but as Bancroft writes, there was "a wide spread discontent with the centralized administration which savored too strongly of the colonial system. The idea of a republic embracing a federation of states with distinct local governments had become too firmly rooted during the revolutionary war, especially among the outlying provinces...." This document is a direct result of that discontent, for it was drawn up by a hastily convened body of legislatures anxious to disunite Sonora and Sinaloa. In twelve articles they broke up the departments, arranged the boundaries, provided for military protection, set up the government, and otherwise disposed of all the affairs of the state. The document was actually drawn up at Fuerte but was published in Mexico City, as the deputies were obliged to abandon Fuerte in light of vicious Yaqui attacks. This decree preceded another "official" separation of Sinaloa and Sonora by seven years, which indicates the division was not easily achieved. Quite rare. Bancroft, North American States II, p.636. $1250. 129. [Mexico]: EL CIUDADANO JOSE MARIA TORNEL, GOBERNADOR DEL DISTRITO FEDERAL...EL VICE-PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS-UNIDOS MEXICANOS, EN EJERCICIO DEL SUPREMO PODER EJECUTIVO, USANDO DE LA FACULTAD QUE LE CONCEDE LA LEY DE 6 DE ABRIL DE 1830, Y PENETRADO DE LA NECESIDAD DE SOCORRER Á LA MULTIDUD DE PERSONAS CUYA SUERTE HA SIDO Y ES DESGRACIADA POR ERRORES POLITICOS...[caption title]. Mexico. Feb. 6, 1834. Broadside, 12 x 16½ inches. Minor fold lines. Quite clean. Very good. "Bando" or proclamation printing of this important decree by vice-president and temporary acting president of Mexico, Valentin Gomez Farias, for the relief of oppressed citizens and unemployed soldiers. This act reiterates the intentions of a similar April 6, 1830 decree which stated the government’s wish to relieve suffering caused by the country’s disorganized administration by helping citizens take up government lands in Coahuila and Texas. This February 1834 act was in turn reinforced by an April 11, 1834 act which clarified the administration of such new colonies as might appear. Quite rare. "A highly interesting decree...Here we learn that preference will be shown to soldiers and politicians thrown out of work by the termination of the revolution" – Eberstadt. STREETER 812 (ref). ARRILLAGA, p.47 (ref). EBERSTADT 162:330 (ref). EBERSTADT 162:331. $850. 130. [Minnesota]: Chapman, Silas: CHAPMAN’S SECTIONAL MAP OF MINNESOTA. Milwaukee: Dyer & Pasmore, 1856. 29¾ x 23½ inches, with contemporary color, backed by linen. Small bits of loss at several of the old fold points. Good overall. A slightly later version of this important Minnesota map, drawn by Silas Chapman. The present incarnation, published by Dyer & Pasmore, differs from an earlier version published by Chapman himself, also in 1856. The present copy reflects the boom in Minnesota’s population and economy brought on by the lucrative logging trade. The newest western and northern counties are named and drawn, and the logging region along the north shore of Lake Superior is shown in greater detail than in an earlier state of the map. This version is not in Rumsey, nor in Phillips’ Maps. Rare. CHECKLIST OF PRINTED MAPS OF THE MIDDLE WEST TO 1900 (MINNESOTA), p.124. $1000. 131. [Missouri]: Curtius [pseud]: TORCH LIGHT. AN EXAMINATION OF THE ORIGIN, POLICY, AND PRINCIPLES OF THE OPPOSITION TO THE ADMINISTRATION, AND AN EXPOSITION OF THE OFFICIAL CONDUCT OF THOMAS H. BENTON, ONE OF THE SENATORS FROM MISSOURI. [St. Louis?]: Published originally in the Missouri Republican, 1826. vi,[blank leaf],88pp. Half morocco. Old stamp on titlepage and a few other pages. Overall very good, untrimmed. A rare compilation of eight articles, apparently printed in Missouri, mostly relating to the controversy surrounding the presidential campaign of 1824 and other political debates of the day that would be of interest to Missourians. No majority was reached in the 1824 presidential election, and Henry Clay, who was running for president, was compelled to cast the deciding ballot by virtue of being House Speaker. He chose John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, and much controversy ensued over an alleged "corrupt bargain" between Clay and Adams. These articles reveal something of the popular opinion in Missouri regarding these events, as well as the state of national politics at the time, especially the changing political attachments of Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton. Benton had first supported Clay for president, then opposed Clay’s choice of Adams, and later aligned himself with Jackson, an erstwhile enemy. These articles first appeared under the pseudonym of "Curtius" in the Missouri Republican. Quite rare, Howes accords a "b" rating to this work and lists it under "Benton." The Eberstadts describe the issue offered here, of eighty-eight pages, as the "original edition of this daring and important expose...." American Imprints Inventory for Missouri describes an edition of this title, containing seventy-one pages, printed on a larger format, and with an index added. HOWES B370, "b." EBERSTADT 136:431. SABIN 96190. AII (MISSOURI) 83 (71pp. ed). $1250. 132. [Missouri]: [COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN GENERAL ORDERS ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI DURING THE CIVIL WAR]. Springfield & St. Louis, Mo. 1862-1865. Fifteen general orders, mostly single-sheet, some signed in manuscript by a commanding officer. Overall very good. A good collection of original general orders issued by the Department of the Missouri during the Civil War. Fourteen of them were issued from Springfield (headquarters for the Southwest District of Missouri), with the other one coming from the state headquarters in St. Louis. These Orders document the military responses to Confederate raids in Missouri, as well as military actions against the raging bushwhackers and "marauders" infesting southwest Missouri during the war. Other orders relate to militia organization, boundaries of the Missouri military districts, what to do about murders and robberies, and jayhawkers, etc. Many of the orders were issued under the command of Brig. Gen. E.B. Brown. These ephemeral army general orders, printed on small handpresses under difficult wartime conditions, are of much historical interest. Very scarce. $1500. A Major Western Map 133. [Mitchell, S. Augustus]: ACCOMPANIMENT TO MITCHELL’S NEW MAP OF TEXAS, OREGON, AND CALIFORNIA, WITH THE REGIONS ADJOINING. Philadelphia. 1846. 46pp. text plus colored folding map, 22½ x 20¾ inches. 18mo. Original gilt morocco binder. Gilt on binder especially bright. Old bookseller’s label on front pastedown and signature obliterated. Near fine. In a cloth clamshell case, morocco label. A major western map, with accompanying text. The detailed "New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining..." shows the western portion of the U.S. to the Pacific, with Indian Territory, Missouri Territory, Iowa, and portions of the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wisconsin, as well as northern Mexico and part of British Columbia, illustrating in detail the trans-Mississippi region on the verge of the Mexican War. Texas is elaborately depicted, with the Rio Grande as its southern border; Oregon is shown to extend to 54° 40"; and the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail are both detailed, the latter with a table of distances published in the lower corner of the map. "This map represents a great step forward, in that it is among the first by a commercial cartographer to utilize the recent explorations that had bounded and determined the nature of the Great Basin...because of its popularity, this map of the West exerted great influence, not only with the public but on other commercial cartographers" – Wheat. The text describes each territory or state in turn, with notes on Lewis and Clark and other early explorers, and more historical material. Howes also mentions an issue with thirty-four pages of text, but Sabin lists only the present collation. HOWES M685. SABIN 49714. MARTIN & MARTIN 36. WAGNER-CAMP 122b. COWAN, p.433. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 520. STREETER SALE 2511. PHILLIPS MAPS, p.844. WHEAT GOLD REGIONS 29. $15,000. 134. [Montana]: RAND, McNALLY & Co’s INDEXED MAP OF MONTANA [cover title]. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1883. Pocket map, 13¾ x 20½ inches, with original color. Map backed by linen and folded into original 16mo. green cloth binding, stamped in gilt. Old stain in upper right corner, wear along folds and small holes at seven intersections. Several instances of early notes in red or brown ink. Good. A nicely detailed map of Montana Territory, published just six years before statehood. It shows the counties, towns, military forts, Indian reservations (including the Crow and Blackfeet), mining districts, stock ranges, railroad lines, rivers, and mountain ranges of the region. This copy is especially interesting due to the early manuscript notes, most likely in the hand of G.H. Robinson, whose name is on the verso. The notes carefully record land claims in the east-central part of the territory, including the several "Gallagher claims," the "town claims," "Miles City Land District," and "Helena Land District" (much further east than the actual town of Helena). The boundaries of several of the claims are also sketched out. A very informative map, rendered unique by the contemporary annotations. $1500. With the Moran and Holmes Views 135. [Moran, Thomas, and William Henry Holmes, illustrators]: Dutton, Clarence E.: TERTIARY HISTORY OF THE GRAND CAÑON DISTRICT.... [with:] ATLAS TO ACCOMPANY THE MONOGRAPH ON THE TERTIARY HISTORY OF THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT. Washington: [text:] Government Printing Office, [atlas: Julius Bien & Co. of New York (for the Government Printing Office)], 1882. Two volumes. Text: "Department of the Interior...Geological survey" title. Forty-two plates, plans and maps (including two chromolithographed views by Sinclair after Holmes, seventeen wood-engraved views [eight after Thomas Moran, nine after Holmes], four "Heliotype" plates), ten double-page. Atlas: Mounted on guards throughout. 1p. letterpress text, otherwise lithographed throughout. Title, twelve double-page map sheets after Dutton (eleven printed in colors), ten double-page sheets of views after Holmes (nine) and Moran (one) (five chromolithographed and five printed in tints), all printed by Julius Bien & Co. Quarto (11 1/2 x 9 inches) and folio (19 7/8 x 17 1/2 inches). Expertly bound to style in deep burgundy morocco over contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, spine in six compartments with raised bands, the bands flanked above and below by gilt rules, lettered in the second compartment. Very good. A fine set of "one of the grandest publications of the scientific expeditions in the American West...[depicting] the Grand Canyon in a series of magnificent panoramas" (Reese & Miles). The work includes illustrations by arguably the two greatest American topographical artists to record this era of westward expansion: William Holmes and Thomas Moran. The atlas includes eight beautifully executed maps of the region on twelve sheets, as well as the ten sheets of views. The views include a number of images that are designed to form larger continuous panoramas. The greatest of these is Holmes’ view from Point Sublime in the Kaibab: the three chromolithographed sheets (numbered XVI-XVII), if joined, would form a single panoramic view with an image area measuring approximately 17 x 90 inches. It is interesting to note that the first of these sheets includes what may be a self-portrait of Holmes and a portrait of Dutton: two figures are visible at the edge of the canyon, one is seated and clearly sketching (Holmes) while the second figure bends down to examine his companion’s work (Dutton). William Goetzmann calls W.H. Holmes "the greatest artist-topographer and man of many talents that the West ever produced...his artistic technique was like no other’s. He could sketch panoramas of twisted mountain ranges, sloping monoclines, escarpments, plateaus, canyons, fault blocks, and grassy meadows that accurately depicted hundreds of miles of terrain. They were better than maps and better than photographs because he could get details of stratigraphy that light and shadow obscured from the camera...his illustrations for Dutton’s Tertiary History of the Grand Canon District are masterpieces of realism and draftsmanship as well as feats of imaginative observation." The team assembled to carry out this geological survey of the Grand Canyon included some outstanding talents: C.E. Dutton, the scientist; Jack Hilliers, the photographer; and Holmes and Moran as artist-topographers. The intention of the survey was strictly scientific, but as Dutton writes in his preface: "I have in many places departed from the severe ascetic style which has become conventional in scientific monographs." This is also true of Moran and Holmes: both were clearly inspired by their subjects. The overall result is of a quality that would not be possible today. As Wallace Stegner wrote in his introduction to the 1977 reprint: "Later specialization has eliminated from scientific publications most of the elements that make The Tertiary History so charming. No report written as this one is written would now be published by any government bureau. No illustrators like Moran and Holmes would be permitted to illustrate it...A great book... The Tertiary History has kept its value precisely because it does not specialize." FARQUHAR 73. Goetzmann, Exploration and Empire, pp.512-13. REESE & MILES, CREATING AMERICA 40. $17,500. 136. [Mounted Rangers]: RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE MOUNTED RANGERS. [Washington. 1832]. 23pp. Dbd. Bit tanned, else a fine copy. In the early 1830s the various Indian troubles along the American frontier, particularly the Black Hawk War, and the difficulty of the small United States Army in coping with them, led to the creation of an auxiliary force called the "Mounted Rangers." Authorized by an act of Congress in June 1832, the Rangers were to consist of six companies of one hundred men each. These were assigned to various frontier posts. When Washington Irving undertook his celebrated tour of the prairies in the fall of 1832, he was escorted by the Ranger company stationed at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. The same company was part of the party with which Washington Irving’s nephew, John Treat Irving, travelled the following year, as recorded in the latter’s Indian Sketches. In 1833, Congress replaced the Mounted Rangers with a regular army unit, the First Dragoons. This pamphlet was thus in use for the single year of the Rangers’ existence, and was probably printed in a very small number. It sets forth rules particularly suited to an irregular frontier force in which "celerity of movement" was a paramount consideration. Since the Rangers were to operate exclusively on the frontier, this is the first military guide intended entirely for the trans-Mississippi. The noted collector and bookseller, Jeff Dykes, long a devoted bibliographer of western Ranger material, owned the only previously known copy of this pamphlet, which he purchased from Edward Eberstadt in the late 1930s. In 1989 it was reprinted by Texas A&M Library, where Jeff left his extensive collection. We have handled this item only once before. The present copy would seem to be only the third surviving copy. $1750. 137. [New Mexico]: [Lopez de Santa Anna, Antonio]: MINISTERIO DE GUERRA Y MARINA. SECCION CENTRAL. MESA 1.A EL EXMO SR. PRESIDENTE INTERINO DE LA REPÚBLICA SE HA SERVIDO DIRIGIRME EL DECRETO QUE SIGUE...[caption title]. [Mexico. April 22, 1839]. Broadside, 8 x 12 inches. Faint fold lines. Quite clean. Very good. "Establishes the Department of New Mexico as separate ‘Commendancia General,’ it being particularly liable to Indian incursion and depredation" – Eberstadt. An important decree for the protection of the lucrative Santa Fe and Taos trade, issued while Santa Anna was serving as acting president of Mexico. Quite rare. Not on OCLC. EBERSTADT 163:406. Handbook of Texas 5, pp.881-82. $1250. Home of the Buffalo Soldiers 138. [New Mexico]: Gast, August: [ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWING OF FORT BAYARD, NEW MEXICO]. Fort Bayard, N.M. 1869. Pencil drawing on paper, 12 x 15 inches. Three vertical and one horizontal fold. Archivally repaired along the folds on verso. Old stains in far right edge and lower right corner, a few scattered fox marks. Good. An original and highly informative pencil drawing of Fort Bayard, New Mexico, showing the remote army fort just after its construction. Fort Bayard was an important outpost against Apache raids, and was home to a large contingent of black "Buffalo Soldiers," a small group of whom seem to be shown in this drawing. The sketch is signed in the lower left corner, "Aug. Gast, 1869" and has a pencil caption reading: "Fort Bayard, N.M." Gast, a German emigrant, came to the United States in 1848-49, likely as part of the gold rush. He established the August Gast Bank Note Company in St. Louis, and also attained some prominence as a publisher of lithographic maps of the American West. This drawing descended through the family of Sergeant James F. Williams, a veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars who also participated in the so-called Victorio War in New Mexico in 1879. A pencil note on the verso of the drawing reads: "My grandfather Williams’ drawing, Fort Bayard, New Mexico." It is quite possible that this drawing was given to Williams by Gast. Fort Bayard, established in August 1866, was a large and significant southwestern military outpost. Built in the southwest corner of New Mexico, near the base of the Santa Rita Mountains, it was created to protect the Pinos Altos mining district against the Warm Spring Apaches. Black army soldiers, popularly known as "Buffalo Soldiers," were instrumental in its construction and were stationed there in large numbers. The fort closed in 1900. This bird’s-eye view of Fort Bayard shows the installation’s buildings, barracks, tents, cannons, and large central yard. In the foreground three soldiers, who appear to be Buffalo Soldiers, are depicted making bricks, which are then being set out to dry in the sun. Monroe Lee Billington has noted that "black infantrymen made major contributions to the construction of the first buildings at the newly established Forts Selden and Bayard." Several other soldiers are shown on horseback and on foot. The Santa Rita mountains are pictured in the background. Surely among the earliest original views of a western frontier army fort where black soldiers were stationed. Monroe Lee Billington, New Mexico’s Buffalo Soldiers, 1866-1900 (Niwot, Co. 1991), pp.26, 91. Robert Frazer, Forts of the West, pp.95-96. $6750. Beautiful Photogravures 139. Nordenskiold, Gustav: RUINER AF KLIPPBONINGAR I MESA VERDE’S CANONS. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt, [1893]. [6],193,iv pp. plus map and seventeen plates. Numerous in-text illustrations. Folio. Original half morocco and green cloth, stamped in gilt and blind, spine gilt, t.e.g. Spine sunned, slightly chipped at head. Else a bright, near fine copy. An extraordinarily interesting and visually beautiful work on the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde and environs, distinguished by twelve outstanding photogravure plates (on nine sheets, one double-sheet) of the cliff dwellings, evidently by the author, including views of Mountain Sheep Canyon, the Cliff Palace, the Balcony House, etc. These views are supplemented by several full-page tinted maps, and numerous other plates and illustrations after photos of artifacts, other ruins, etc. Nordenskiold made several expeditions in the late 19th century to the Southwest to study the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde. Without a doubt, this is one of the most important and sophisticated works on this topic ever published. POWELL, SOUTHWESTERN CENTURY 69. HOWES N174. WYNAR 1654. $2500. With the Great Johnson Map 140. [Northern Pacific Railroad]: NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD. MEMORIAL OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY, WITH COMMUNICATIONS FROM LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT...AND REPORT OF THE ENGINEER IN CHIEF. NOVEMBER, 1867. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1868. 39pp. plus color folding map, approximately 23 x 45 inches. Original printed wrappers. A fine copy. In a half morocco and cloth box. Map and reports submitted to the Senate in November 1867, including a lengthy report from Engineer-in-Chief of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Edwin F. Johnson. The large color folding "Map of the Country from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean" (November 1867) encompasses an area including the southern portion of Canada from Vancouver to Windsor and the U.S. from northern California to the northwest corner of Ohio. Wheat devotes four pages to describing this map. The maker, Edwin Johnson, combined his own survey work for the Northern Pacific with the cartography of DeLacy and Raynolds and existing Colton cartography. An important and impressive map, issued as the major work on the Northern Pacific line commenced. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 1169. $4000. A Remarkable Photograph Album of the Northern Pacific Railroad 141. [Northern Pacific Railroad]: [REMARKABLE VOLUME COMMEMORATING THE COMPLETION OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD, WITH MAGNIFICENT HAND-PAINTED ALLEGORICAL FRONTISPIECE AND THIRTY-FIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE GERMAN DELEGATION TO THE EVENT, PRESENTED TO HENRY VILLARD, PRESIDENT OF THE RAILWAY, BY THE DELEGATION TO THE CELEBRATION]. [Germany. nd, but ca. 1883]. Thirty-five photographic portraits, primarily large carte-de-visite photographs approximately 8 x 5 inches, matted on heavy paper board, plus handpainted vellum frontispiece. The volume measures 18 x 15 x 3½ inches and weighs approximately thirty pounds. Original calf, spine and boards elaborately tooled and gilt. Upper board with raised bands, original four brass bosses, large inset (13 x 10 inches) with metal fillet board border, decorative scrolled metalwork over dark red velvet interior background, four finely executed handpainted enamel symbols (one in each corner of inset), elaborate raised monogram of Henry Villard, "HV," in center. Rear cover with raised bands, four (of five) original brass bosses. Two metal clasps, with elaborate scrolled metalwork (one catch missing, one clasp detached), a.e.g., with leather tabs attached to foredges, gilt inner dentelles. Blue silk moire front and rear pastedowns and facing front and rear free endpapers. Vellum frontispiece handpainted, lettering partially in gilt, in elaborately decorated mat. Each photograph matted on elaborately decorated heavy paper board, with finely cut opening for image. All but three photographs signed by subject of photograph. Every two boards pasted together to create one leaf, each leaf attached to spine with richly gilt leather guard, and leather tab on gilt foredge. Condition: Edges of spine and raised bands on boards slightly worn. Frontispiece removed from volume, minor staining at margins from mat. Leather torn that attaches front pastedown and front free endpaper. Verso of front free endpaper torn near gutter. Photographs in fine condition. One photograph missing from signed mat board, one portrait a photographic print rather than carte-de-visite, smaller than average (5½ x 3¾ inches). Mounts in fine condition, excepting lower margin on one mat broken (edge still present). Overall, in near fine condition. A magnificent volume commemorating the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883, presented to Henry Villard, president of the railroad, by the German delegation to the celebration. Villard, a German-born industrialist, author, and publisher, obtained a controlling interest in the railroad in 1881, a decade after construction began on this second great transcontinental railway. Various managerial and financial problems had delayed progress throughout the 1870s, but Villard was able to secure the financing needed to complete the project, in part through his German and British business contacts. This extraordinary volume celebrates the event, and memorializes the German contribution to the successful project. The production of this massive volume is remarkable for the attention to detail and craftsmanship in all its physical aspects: the superior workmanship of the decorative binding, the fine print quality of the photographs, the mats securing the portraits, and particularly the handpainted vellum frontispiece. A striking allegorical painting by Carl Emil Doepler, perhaps best known as the set and costume designer for Wagner’s famous Ring Cycle. The painting is dominated by a Northern Pacific Railroad steam engine leading a half dozen passenger cars over a trestle bridge. The engine is decorated with United States flags and fir boughs. A shield on the smokestack reads "N.P.R.R. St. Paul Minnesota to Portland Oregon" and an eagle flying overhead holds the shields of both the United States and Germany. Various images of the American Midwest and West are portrayed, including an Indian couple with a child, a snow-covered mountain, the edge of a wheat field, a fir forest, and a raging river. A trace of European mythology is included, with male and female deities in waves (at the edge of the ocean?) surrounded by a cornucopia of harvested fruits and vegetables. In red and gold letters are the captions (in English translation) declaring: "To the person who completed the Northern Pacific Railroad, Henry Villard...His thankful guests from Germany." The book consists of thirty-five photographic portraits of the members of the German delegation. Primarily businessmen, a few individuals are portrayed in military costume. The photographs, all but one large cabinet cards, are matted on custom decorated boards with cutouts for the individual images. The portraits of the delegates, all high quality studio photographs produced in Germany, represent the upper echelon of German finance at the time. Complementing the volume contents is the album’s extraordinary binding. A testament to late 19th-century German craftsmanship in the book arts, the finely gilt volume is decorated with scrolled metalwork over velvet, four handsome, handpainted enamel lozenges (with symbols of Germany, the United States, the Union, and the North), Henry Villard’s monogram, and brass bosses. A remarkable, massive, commemorative volume presented to Henry Villard by his German associates in celebration of the successful completion of the northern transcontinental railroad. $19,500. Large Atlas of the Boundary 142. [Northwest Boundary Survey]: JOINT MAPS OF THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE LAKE OF THE WOODS TO THE SUMMIT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. [Np. 1872]. Twenty-four map leaves plus lithographic titlepage and index map. Oblong folio. Later cloth, spine gilt. Cloth a bit soiled. Ex-lib. with bookplate on front pastedown and small ink stamp on verso of each map. Titlepage remargined and mounted on a large sheet, with perforated library stamp in outer margin. Maps reinforced at inner gutter. A few maps lightly soiled, mostly in margins. Three maps with small chip at lower outer corner. Overall, about very good. An important atlas of the joint United States and Great Britain northern boundary survey. The fine lithographed maps detail the region surrounding the forty-ninth parallel. Archibald Campbell was commissioner of the United States organization, while D.R. Cameron headed the British crew. The maps begin in northern Minnesota and run west to the continental divide. $1000. 143. Noyes, Alva J.: THE STORY OF AJAX LIFE IN THE BIG HOLE BASIN. Helena, Mt.: State Publishing Company, 1914. [8],158pp. plus thirteen plates including frontispiece. Original gilt cloth. Binding slightly rubbed and soiled, head and toe of spine and corners moderately bumped. Moderate age-toning and soiling, text block slightly sprung. A good copy. A presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "‘Vista’ never felt so pleased in my life and when I ‘buncked’ you out of the price of this little story. Truly yours Al Noyes (Ajax)." "First autobiography published in Montana; by a settler of 1860" – Howes. Noyes went to Montana in 1866, and this is an important and very rare history of early settlement and especially the cattle industry there. A rare book, remarkably difficult to find. HOWES N219, "aa." GRAFF 3051. ADAMS HERD 1691. ADAMS SIX-GUNS 1626. SIX SCORE 82. $2000. |
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