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Catalogue 256 Western Americana |
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Section VII: Taylor to Yosemite |
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Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
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Rare German Edition of an "Un-excelled gold-rush days," with Maps Not Found in Other Editions 181. Taylor, Bayard: EL-DORADO. SCHILDERUNGEN EINER REISE UBER PANAMA NACH CALIFORNIEN.... Weimar. 1851. viii,176pp. plus plate and two folding maps. Contemporary three-quarter calf and paper boards. Binding rubbed and lightly worn, bookplates on front pastedown. Quite clean internally. A very good copy. The rare first German edition of Bayard Taylor’s famed work on California during the gold rush, following the first edition of the year before. This German edition is the first edition with maps – one shows nine harbors and ports in California and Mexico, including San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Pichilingue, as well as a map of the Sacramento region. The other map is a detailed and attractive map of all of California (encompassing Nevada as well), including Baja California, and with an inset map of North and South America showing sailing routes from Europe and the east coast of the United States. The plate depicts a gold-washing machine. Obviously this German edition was meant as a guide of sorts for potential immigrants to the gold fields. Taylor, a newspaper correspondent who travelled to California to cover the gold rush, produced one of the best books about the epochal event. "He succeeded in producing one of the really significant books of the period" – Wheat. "Unexcelled description of California’s gold-rush days by a professional traveller and trained observer" – Howes. Kurutz locates only three copies of this German edition – at the Bancroft Library, UCLA, and Yale; and OCLC adds only the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This is the first copy that we have had. Rare. HOWES T43. COWAN, p.630. KURUTZ 618h. OCLC 11007410, 25891126. ZAMORANO 80, 73 (1st ed). WHEAT GOLD RUSH 204. CLARK III:423. SABIN 94440. $3500. What to do With the Sioux 182. Taylor, James W.: THE SIOUX WAR: WHAT HAS BEEN DONE BY THE MINNESOTA CAMPAIGN OF 1863: WHAT SHOULD BE DONE DURING A DAKOTA CAMPAIGN OF 1864, WITH SOME GENERAL REMARKS UPON THE INDIAN POLICY, PAST AND FUTURE, OF THE UNITED STATES. St. Paul: Office of the Press Printing Company, 1863. 16pp. printed in double-column format. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers bit dust soiled. Very good. "The title of this pamphlet would indicate that it related primarily to Minnesota, but it also has much about the Black Hills, and it is perhaps the earliest separate printing of a project for the creation of a territory, the Territory of Upsaroka, for the region out of which later Montana and Wyoming Territories were formed" – Streeter. Taylor had printed a similar pamphlet the year before in which he called for offensive measures against the Sioux in order to remove them from their threatening positions on the Minnesota frontier. Taylor was secretary of the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad, but he also worked as a journalist. In 1870 he became American consul at Winnipeg. AII (MINNESOTA) 528. DAB XVII, p.330. STREETER SALE 2104. $3500. Original Manuscript Report 183. [Texas]: [Arispe, Ignacio de]: MEMORIA DEL GOBERNADOR DE COAHUILA Y TEJAS PRESENTADA Á SU LEGISLATURA EN 1827...[caption title]. Saltillo. Jan. 23, 1827. [13]pp. in a secretarial hand, followed by fourteen folding tables. Folio. Dbd. Several official stamps of Coahuila y Tejas throughout. Signed at end of text by Texas vice-governor Ignacio de Arispe. Minute edge wear. Clean and bright. A near fine manuscript survival. This document is the original manuscript for the annual governor’s report for 1827, later printed in Mexico City. A work of profound importance to the study of Texas history for many reasons; Eberstadt highlights a few of them when he writes: "This is the first of the governor’s reports to contain the indispensable tables, one of which (No. 7) is a schedule of sales of land by Austin and others. On page 9 Arispe takes up the Fredonia revolution in Nacogdoches, promoted by the troublesome Americans, and the means taken to suppress it." Beyond the tables and discussion of the Fredonian Rebellion, the document details a broad cross-section of nearly every aspect of the state’s administration. Arispe’s report is divided into five parts: a lengthy introduction, followed by segments on agriculture and manufactures, commerce, and population, all followed by the series of tables. Much of the introduction discusses the economics of the tobacco crop and the Alcabala, an internal tax left over from Spanish rule, originally designed to support the royal navy. The Alcabala would play an important role in the Anglo-American settlement of Texas, and in colonization laws passed in 1824 and 1825, the state suspended the tax for a period of ten years to attract settlers to the area. In the agriculture and manufactures segment the chief crops of the territory are listed, along with the region’s primary livestock, including horses and mules. The Indian wars along the northern frontier are cited as a primary hindrance to commerce. Of greatest interest is the report on population. After a brief summation of the number of families who have come to settle in Coahuila y Tejas, the population report discusses the recent events of the Fredonian Rebellion. The Fredonian Rebellion represented an early indication of the dissatisfaction with the Mexican federal government felt by the region’s Anglo-American settlers. Mexico’s reversal of a key election for the office of alcalde (a municipality’s chief executive, with limited judicial powers) of Nacogdoches prompted a series of events that led to Halen Edwards and Martin Palmer declaring the region independent from Mexico. Joined by the Cherokee Indians in their revolutionary effort, they declared independence on Dec. 21, 1826, and called their infant nation Fredonia. In the present document reference is made to the rebellious "facciones anglo-americano" and their Indian counterparts. The report mentions that a force is on the way to subdue the revolutionaries. That army was under the command of Lieut. Col. Mateo Ahumada, who had left Bexar with a substantial force on Dec. 11, 1826, as soon as Mexican officials received word that discord was brewing. Ahumada (joined, incidentally, by members of Austin’s colony) arrived in Nacogdoches on Jan. 31, eight days after this report was submitted. Faced with a far superior force, the revolutionaries fled across the Sabine River. The tables appended to the document record in great detail numerous official expenditures and tax revenue, often broken down by locality. Revenue for Saltillo, Montclova, and Bexar are each delineated by year. Numerous statistics regarding tobacco crops are included, as are yearly listings of government expenditures. Of tremendous interest is a population chart for all of Coahuila y Tejas, organized by both age and sex, providing population totals for Saltillo, Bexar, Nacogdoches, Alamo, and many other municipalities, all based on numbers gathered between 1824 and 1825. However, the most important table located here is that which records an empresario grant to "Estevan Austin" for three hundred families. This was the second in a series of three grants (1825, 1827, and 1828, respectively) that enabled Austin to settle a total of nine hundred families in the territory surrounding his original grant. In all, this document comprises a virtual "state of the state" report. Almost every component of the region’s administration is touched upon, making this a work of paramount interest to the study of early Texas history. Streeter locates only five copies of the printed version of this report. A wonderful piece of Texana. This manuscript was offered by Edward Eberstadt & Sons in 1963 for $1500. EBERSTADT 162:29. STREETER TEXAS 717 (ref). EBERSTADT 162:28 (ref). HANDBOOK OF TEXAS (online). ANB 1, p.767. $25,000. 184. [Texas]: ADDRESS TO THE READER OF THE DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE GALVESTON BAY & TEXAS LAND COMPANY, WHICH ARE CONTAINED IN THE APPENDIX. New York. 1831. 37,[1]pp. Gathered signatures, stitched as issued. Some dampstaining. Significant gnawing in upper gutter region of final ten leaves, affecting several words on five leaves. Else a good, unsophisticated copy in original state, untrimmed and partially unopened. In a half morocco box. "When in the fall of 1830 the Galveston Bay Company was organized to colonize its Texas land grants on a large scale, the colonization of Texas thus far had been very largely carried on by Stephen F. Austin...the Galveston Bay Company is the first of such companies which actually sent colonists to Texas...The Address to the Reader, giving an account of Texas and its opportunities for emigrants, is well done and is one of the earliest accounts of Texas in English. It refers, though a little disingenuously, to the prohibition against immigration in the law of April 6, 1830, and later refers to it as ‘occasional and temporary,’ but it does give the complete text in the appendix...Many years ago Mr. Winkler suggested to me that the law of April 6, 1830, appeared in English translation here for the first time..." – Streeter. STREETER TEXAS 1123. RADER 1521. CLARK 43. SABIN 93710. $1750. 185. [Texas]: ULTIMAS COMUNICACIONES ENTRE EL GOBIERNO MEXICANO Y EL ENVIADO ESTRAORDINARIO Y MINISTRO PLENIPOTENCIARIO NOMBRADO POR EL DE LOS ESTADOS-UNIDOS, SOBRE LA CUESTION DE TEJAS, Y ADMISION DE DICHO AGENTE. Mexico. 1846. 22pp. Modern half morocco and marbled boards. Very good. This pamphlet discusses the Slidell mission to Mexico and its attempt to improve the situation between Mexico and the United States, especially as relates to Texas. "The Mexican nation does not recognize the American flag on Texas soil...and shall never permit new territorial advances by the United States...." PALAU 212780. STREETER SALE 245. $1500. 186. Tilden, Bryant P., Jr.: NOTES ON THE UPPER RIO GRANDE... EXPLORED IN THE MONTHS OF OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 1846, ON BOARD THE U.S. STEAMER MAJOR BROWN, COMMANDED BY CAPT. MARK STERLING, OF PITTSBURGH. BY ORDER OF MAJOR GENERAL PATTERSON.... Philadelphia. 1847. 32pp. Antique style three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Titlepage a bit foxed, slight stains. A very good copy of the text. This copy lacks the nine folding maps. An important and rare account of a mission undertaken during the Mexican War to determine the feasibility of opening steamboat communications with Presidio Rio Grande, which was a point of intersection on the Rio Grande for traffic between Monclova and San Antonio. Tilden and his party started from Camargo, at the mouth of the Rio San Juan, on Oct. 1, 1846, less than one week after the Battle of Monterrey, and travelled almost 300 miles up the Rio Grande to the Presidio. From Laredo it was necessary to travel by horseback. This pamphlet gives an account of the journey, with descriptions of the region and many towns along the route, including Laredo, Mier, and Presidio de Rio Grande. Not in Tutorow. GRAFF 4151. RAINES, p.206. HOWES T264. SABIN 95817. GARRETT, p.144. $1500. The English Edition of Tonti 187. Tonti, Henri de, Chevalier: AN ACCOUNT OF MONSIEUR DE LA SALLE’S LAST DISCOVERIES IN NORTH AMERICA. PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH KING, AND PUBLISHED BY THE CHEVALIER TONTI, GOVERNOUR OF FORT ST. LOUIS, IN THE PROVINCE OF THE ILLINOIS...ALSO, THE ADVENTURES OF THE SIEUR DE MONTAUBAN, CAPTAIN OF THE FRENCH BUCCANEERS ON THE COAST OF GUIANA, IN THE YEAR 1695. London: J. Tonson, S. Buckley, and R. Knaplock, 1698. [2],211,[1],44pp. Late 19th-century three-quarter red morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Two bookplates on front pastedown. Contemporary ownership inscription on front fly leaf, contemporary ink marginalia on first text leaf. A near fine copy. This is Tonti’s relation of La Salle’s final expedition, here in the first English edition, after the Paris edition of 1697. This is the first issue, with "Grown" instead of "Crown" in the imprint. La Salle was the first to descend the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and this account by his second in command describes La Salle’s search for the mouth of the Mississippi River and his intention to ascend it for the purpose of establishing a colony. La Salle was murdered by a mutinous band before his plans could come to fruition. "Tonti disclaimed authorship of this narrative, but it was probably based on his letters or memoirs with help possibly from Le Clerq’s Premier établissement de la foi which had appeared in 1691" – Howes. A work of primary importance in regard to the early exploration of the Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Texas, and the Mississippi. Tonti’s work is far rarer than the other primary account of La Salle’s expedition, by Joutel. This English edition is particularly difficult to acquire. SABIN 96171. WING T1890. GRAFF 4163. HOWES T294, "c." EUROPEAN AMERICANA 698/2. WAGNER, SPANISH SOUTHWEST 67a. HARRISSE, NOUVELLE FRANCE 178. $20,000. 188. Turner, Charles Quincy: YOSEMITE VALLEY THROUGH THE STEREOSCOPE. New York: Underwood & Underwood, [ca. 1908]. 70pp. plus twenty-four stereoscope views and a folding map. Text: Narrow 12mo. Original cloth stamped in gilt. Map loosely laid in at rear. A near fine copy. The stereoscopes are clean and absolutely sparkling. In original plain dust jacket and original cloth slipcase, spine stamped in gilt. The second edition, after the first of 1902, and designated "fourteenth thousand" on the titlepage. An exceptionally beautiful and, despite its popularity at the time, very rare stereoscopic tour of Yosemite, with accompanying text and map. The text includes a brief history of Yosemite, instructions on using the stereoscope, and extended captions for each view. The stereoscopes were produced by Sun Sculpture Works and Studios of Arlington and Westwood, New Jersey. Each card is captioned on the verso in English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, and Russian, and several cards contain long explanatory text on the verso as well. The map at the rear of the text volume, copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood, is keyed to the number on the views, allowing the user to pinpoint the location of the scene in the greater context of Yosemite Valley. OCLC locates only six copies of this edition, five in California universities and one at the Sacramento Public Library. Rocq also notes the Los Angeles Public Library copy. An important early visual record of one of the American West’s great natural wonders. Rare and very desirable. A detailed list of the views is available upon request. ROCQ 5290. OCLC 19715402. $1250. 189. Turnley, Parmenas Taylor: REMINISCENCES OF PARMENAS TAYLOR TURNLEY. FROM THE CRADLE TO THREE-SCORE AND TEN. By Himself. FROM DIARIES KEPT FROM EARLY BOYHOOD. WITH A BRIEF GLANCE BACKWARD THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AT PROGENITORS AND ANCESTRAL LINEAGE. Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, [1892]. 448pp. plus six plates including frontispiece portrait, and inserted leaf of contents (found only in some copies). Publisher’s cloth, boards stamped in blind, spine gilt. Boards and spine slightly worn and soiled, old library shelf label at bottom of spine. Institutional bookplate of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion on front pastedown. Inscription on recto of front fly leaf: "Limited to 250 copies and privately distributed." Additional half-page advertisement for the book, printed (carbon copy?) on recto and verso, tipped onto verso of frontispiece portrait. Slight age-toning in outer margins. A very good copy. A presentation copy, with the author’s half-page gift inscription on the verso of the front fly leaf: "To my respected friend and comrade Colonel Charles W. Davis... Chicago...January 18, 1894." An important work, printed for the author. Turnley led an extremely active life during which he travelled through a good part of the western portion of the continent. After graduating from West Point, he served in the Mexican War in New Orleans, Veracruz, Monterey, and Mexico City. He spent a considerable time in Texas in the 1850s at Fort Brown, Austin, San Antonio, and along the Rio Grande. He accompanied Harney’s Sioux expedition, went overland to Fort Bridger, Salt Lake, and points west. During the Civil War he was active on the Union side, politicked a bit, and went on a special commission to Denver. HOWES T429. GRAFF 4217. $1250. 190. Twiss, Travers: THE OREGON QUESTION EXAMINED, IN RESPECT TO FACTS AND THE LAW OF NATIONS. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1846. ix,[4],391pp. plus two folding maps (one with a few handcolored lines) and 32pp. of publisher’s advertisements (dated October 1845). Original publisher’s cloth, covers stamped in blind, spine gilt. 19th-century bookseller’s label on front pastedown. Corners and top and bottom of spine bumped, inner hinges beginning to separate but still solid. Occasional moderate foxing. A very good copy. One of the most important works on the subject, arguing in favor of the British claims, in an attempt to refute Greenhow’s argument as stated in his 1840 Memoir...on the Northwest Coast of America. In regard to lucidity and competent referral to authorities, Twiss is cited by some as the more adequate of the two works, though not necessarily the best historical account. Twiss includes some account of the voyages of Drake, Vancouver, Gray, Broughton, et al. The two maps support the British view of the Oregon question. The large one of North America shows a boundary including all of Oregon, although the more detailed map rather belies the argument by being based on a U.S. survey, evidently by Hood. HOWES T442, "aa." COWAN, p.234. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 530, 531. SABIN 97544. TPL 2812. $1500. Overland Twice 191. Udell, John: INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL TO CALIFORNIA, ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS; TOGETHER WITH THE RETURN TRIPS THROUGH CENTRAL AMERICA AND JAMAICA.... Jefferson, Oh.: Printed for the author, 1856. 302pp. plus errata. Portrait. Original patterned cloth, spine richly gilt. Spine ends worn away, worn at corners, cloth splitting along hinges. Scattered foxing. Contemporary pencil ownership inscription on a front fly leaf. A good copy. In a cloth clamshell box, spine gilt. This copy contains the portrait, which Howes notes is not present in all copies. Udell has signed this copy below his portrait: "Your friend, John Udell." An important overland narrative. Udell, a Baptist minister, travelled via South Pass in 1850, home by Nicaragua in 1851, to California again in 1852, back by Panama in 1853, out again in 1854, and home in 1855. The book describes his overland experiences in detail, including a trip through Salt Lake City and observations of Mormonism, as well as giving details of his life in California, including mining for gold. COWAN, p.648. HOWES U3. MINTZ 473. FLAKE 9068. STREETER SALE 3180. GRAFF 4230. KURUTZ 644. SABIN 97663. WAGNER-CAMP 281. MATTES 995. NORRIS CATALOGUE 4042. WHEAT GOLD RUSH 213. HOLLIDAY SALE 1112. $2000. 192. [United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]: GENERAL CHART OF ALASKA...COMPILED FROM UNITED STATES AND RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES.... Washington, D.C.: "Transferred to stone and printed by Andrew B. Graham," 1897. Large folding pocket map in full period color, approximately 31 x 51½ inches. Bound into contemporary 12mo. cloth, cover titled in gilt. Cloth worn at extremities, frayed at head of spine. Map backed in linen. Map worn at one fold, with minor loss along approximately five inches, and at three additional meetings of folds, with minor loss. Mapseller’s contemporary small ink stamp and label on front pastedown; same ink stamp near legend on map. A very good copy. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey map of Alaska, first published in 1890, and issued in the present form as "Rand, McNally & Co’s Map of Alaska" (cover title). The comprehensive map and sailing chart includes a large portion of the Siberian coast and a detailed view of the Alaskan interior, naming several forts and mining posts. $1250. 193. Vance, David H.: MAP OF THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA.... Philadelphia: Anthony Finley, 1828. Wall map, 60½ x 50 inches, with contemporary color, plus map insert, 19 x 20 inches, statistical table, and mountain elevations. Expertly restored, backed with modern linen, trimmed in maroon cloth, on contemporary rollers. Occasional minor soiling, heavier towards top edge. Color bright and clean. Overall very good. Later edition, after the first of 1825. A striking map of the United States, among the last joint efforts of a key early American cartographic partnership. Anthony Finley’s lasting contribution to American cartography undoubtedly rests with his famous atlas first published in 1824. All of the maps in Finley’s ambitious production were drawn by one D.H. Vance, making him a significant contributor to American map-making in the antediluvian days before Mitchell and Colton reinvented commercial cartography. Vance continued to draw for Finley at least until Mitchell began re-issuing Finley’s atlas under his own imprint. When Vance’s name was dropped from the Mitchell issues, he appears to have faded from the cartographic scene. Nonetheless, his present effort is a delightful display of his talent, showing the United States as far west as Missouri Territory, with county grids applied where relevant. A large inset of North America shows the vague West as Mexican territory, with the most basic attempt made to place rivers and mountains. An attractive United States map, and a forerunner of a greater age in American cartography. Rare. Not in Rumsey nor on OCLC. RISTOW, pp.303-04. STREETER SALE 3820 (ref). PHILLIPS MAPS, p.883 (ref). $7500. Primary Exploration 194. Vancouver, George: A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN, AND ROUND THE WORLD; IN WHICH THE COAST OF NORTH-WEST AMERICA HAS BEEN CAREFULLY EXAMINED AND ACCURATELY SURVEYED...PRINCIPALLY WITH A VIEW TO ASCERTAIN THE EXISTENCE OF ANY NAVIGABLE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE NORTH PACIFIC AND NORTH ATLANTIC OCEANS; AND PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1790...[–]1795, IN THE DISCOVERY SLOOP OF WAR, AND THE ARMED TENDER CHATHAM, UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN GEORGE VANCOUVER. London: John Stockdale, 1801. Seven volumes consisting of six octavo text volumes plus quarto atlas volume. 28, [33]-410; [2],418; [2],435; [2],417; [2],454; [2],412,[2]pp. including [2]pp. of publisher’s advertisements at end of sixth volume, plus two folding engraved maps and seventeen engraved plates. Uniformly bound in modern three-quarter calf over marbled boards, spines richly gilt. Light age-toning and occasional instances of light foxing. First folding map lightly soiled, with small old repair in inner margin. Second folding map lightly foxed, plates lightly soiled at edges. A very good set. The second English edition, with corrections, following the first English edition of 1798, of "one of the most important [voyages] ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge" – Hill. Vancouver, who served as a midshipman on the voyages of Cook, was placed in command of an expedition to the Northwest Coast to determine England’s rights under the Nootka Sound convention of 1790. The ships of the expedition reached the Northwest Coast in 1792 and spent two years surveying the coastline, resulting in the most precise maps of the Northwest produced up to that time, or for many years thereafter. Vancouver remained on the coast until 1794, returning to England in 1795. The expedition visited Hawaii several times as well. An extremely important work, here in the second corrected English edition and the first English edition issued in a convenient octavo format. The maps and plates are bound here in a separate atlas volume with two engraved charts folded and the remaining seventeen engravings unfolded. The advertisement on pages 7-8 of the first text volume contains the following statement: "The Publisher finds it necessary only to state, for the information of the Purchasers of this new Edition, that the copper plates of the charts contained in the folio volume, which accompanied the first Edition, were all stolen, and may therefore be considered as irrecoverably lost. The whole of the Views, except the [six views of the] headlands...are retained. The general chart, and that of the New Discoveries, &c. are re-engraved, and will, it is conceived, completely satisfy the majority of his Readers...No work has maintained a higher character in the public estimation than this Voyage, and the expence of the quarto Edition could alone have prevented its being universally read." Forbes notes that the "National Library of Australia has a separate quarto-sized atlas of plates without a title, probably issued contemporaneously with the second edition, and intended to supply the remainder of copies of the [first] quarto edition (after the announced theft of plates)." The 1801 quarto atlas in the present set includes the maps, charts, and plates as described by Forbes, with the republication statement on the maps dated Sept. 25, 1801. The most important British voyage to the West Coast after Cook, Vancouver’s Voyage... is also a basic early California and Northwest Coast work, and one of the primary early Hawaii books. The last several first editions at auction have fetched in excess of $70,000. HILL 1754. HOWES V23, "b." WAGNER NORTHWEST COAST I, pp.239-50. SABIN 98444. FORBES HAWAII 335, 336. 1798 edition: STREETER SALE 3497. LADA-MOCARSKI 55. COWAN, p.655. TWENEY 78. $16,500. "The foundation 195. Venegas, Miguel: A NATURAL AND CIVIL HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA: CONTAINING AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THAT COUNTRY...THE CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS... Translated from the original Spanish.... London. 1759. Two volumes. [20],455pp. plus folding map and two plates including frontispiece; [8], 387pp. plus two plates including frontispiece. Modern three-quarter morocco and marbled boards, spines gilt. An occasional hint of light foxing or tanning, but quite a nice set, in very good condition. The first English edition of this classic history of California, originally published in Spanish in 1757. Wagner states that the work "contains more on Lower California than almost any other book that had been published in one hundred and fifty years." Cowan states, "This work is considered the foundation of a library of Californiana" and notes for the London edition: "four plates appear to have been issued with but a few copies of the work, as two is the number usually found." The folding map shows California, while the plates depict coyote, deer, Indians, and the martyrdom of several Jesuits. HOWES V69, "b." WAGNER SPANISH SOUTHWEST 132a. HILL 1768. STREETER SALE 2435. COWAN, pp.237-38. GRAFF 4471. SABIN 98845. BARRETT 2536. ZAMORANO 80, 78. EBERSTADT 133:255. DNB XVIII, pp.467-68. $4500. Important Alaska Indian Linguistics 196. Veniaminov, Ivan: OPYT GRAMMATIKI ALEUTSKO-LISEVSKOGO JAZYKA [ESSAY ON THE GRAMMAR OF THE ALEUTIAN-FOX LANGUAGE]. St. Petersburg: Printing Office of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1846. iv,xv,[1],87,[1],iii,[1],120,vi pp. plus two folding tables. Original blue printed wrappers. Early 20th-century pencil inscription and institutional stamp on front cover and titlepage. Spine completely abraded, gatherings loose, threads still extant. Occasional light foxing, but generally clean and fresh internally. Old folds at some corners, some edges uncut. A very good copy. In a half morocco box. A rare grammar of the Aleutian-Fox language compiled by Ivan Veniaminov, a missionary who lived for more than three decades in the North Pacific, including Alaska. He returned to continental Russia in 1857 and the following year became the Metropolitan of Moscow under the name Innokentii. In addition to this grammar, he produced a series of reports on Russian Alaska and studies of other native languages. The present volume includes Aleutian-Fox vocabulary translated into Russian, cardinal and ordinal numbers, Russian words with Aleutian equivalents, and ten Aleutian songs translated into Russian. The two folding tables provide additional information and examples of Aleutian verbs. "As regards the Aleutian-Russian vocabulary, the author believed that it was the largest in existence; yet he candidly states that it was by no means complete, as it lacked the names of the plants and insects known in Alaska. He also points out other lacunae. Nevertheless, it is a serious and competent work which was translated into French...and German...The preface is most interesting as it gives an insight into the life and beliefs of the Aleutian-Fox people as they existed before the appearance of the Russians and before their being Christianized" – Lada-Mocarski. A rare mid-19th-century indigenous language grammar. OCLC records a single copy at Universiteit Leiden; Yale online catalogue adds one copy at the Beinecke Library. LADA-MOCARSKI 125. OCLC 67111507. $6500. 197. Veniaminov, Ivan: ZAMIECHANIIA O KOLOSHENSKKOM I KAD’IAKSKOM IAZYKAKH...[REMARKS REGARDING KOLOSH AND KADIAK LANGUAGES AND PARTLY REGARDING OTHER RUSSIAN AMERICAN (LANGUAGES), WITH THE ADDITION OF THE RUSSIAN-KOLOSH VOCABULARY, CONTAINING MORE THAN 1,000 WORDS, SOME OF WHICH HAVE ADDITIONAL EXPLANATIONS. COMPILED BY IVAN VENIAMINOV AT SITKA]. St. Petersburg: Press of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1846. 81,[1],ii pp. Original green printed wrappers. Front and rear wrappers slightly worn and soiled, spine partially chipped. A very good copy, lacking the folding table found in some copies. In a half morocco box. A study of various Alaskan languages, particularly Aleut and Tlingit, produced by Ivan Veniaminov, a missionary who lived for more than three decades in the North Pacific, including Alaska. He returned to continental Russia in 1857 and the following year became the Metropolitan of Moscow under the name of Innokentii. In addition to this publication, he produced a series of reports on Russian Alaska and a grammar of the Aleutian-Fox language. The present work "is much more than mere remarks at random. Veniaminov speaks about different Alaskan languages and their subdivisions; he also gives a brief but adequate description of these languages’ grammar. Finally, he indicates the number of Alaskan natives speaking each language or its subdivisions. This is a very valuable work" – Lada-Mocarski. LADA-MOCARSKI 126. OCLC 33368144, 18847362. $3500. 198. Vilaplana, Hermenegildo de: VIDA PORTENTOSA DEL AMERICANO SEPTENTRIONAL APOSTOL, EL V.P. FR. ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS, FUNDADOR, Y EX-GUARDIAN DE LOS COLEGIOS DE LA SANTA CRUZ DE QUERETARO, DE CHRISTO CRUCIFICADO DE GUATEMALA, Y DE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE GUADALUPE ZACATECAS, RELACION HISTORICA DE SUS NUEVAS, Y ANTIGUAS MARAVILLAS... DEDICALA AL REY NUESTRO SEÑOR DON CARLOS III. Madrid: Juan de San Martín, 1775. [16],335pp. plus engraved plate. Small quarto. Contemporary mottled calf, spine finely gilt, gilt leather label. Top of spine bumped and abraded. 20th-century bookplate on front and rear pastedowns. Lacks front free endpaper. Moderate foxing in margins. Half of lower margin of plate (below plate mark) lacking. A good copy. Second edition. An essential work relating to the earliest Texas missions. In 1716, Father Antonio led a group of Franciscans across the Rio del Norte to establish new missions in Texas. The French repeatedly attacked these settlements, compelling Antonio to withdraw. He returned in 1721 and re-established Guadeloupe, built the mission of San José on the banks of the San Antonio, and began a convent on the site of La Salle’s Fort overlooking Espiritu Santo Bay. With a finely engraved plate of Father Antonio preaching to a group of Indians, all depicted in reverent positions, one with the words "Si Creo" (I believe) lingering above his mouth. An excellent early Texas item. PALAU 365781. SABIN 31498. WAGNER SOUTHWEST 142a. MEDINA (MEXICO) 4862 (another ed). HOWES V98, "b." $2850. One of the Greatest Western 199. Warre, General Sir Henry James: SKETCHES IN NORTH AMERICA AND THE OREGON TERRITORY. BY CAPTAIN H. WARRE, (A.D.C. TO THE LATE COMMANDER OF THE FORCES). [London]: Dickinson & Co., [1848]. Lithographic map, handcolored in outline with routes marked in red and blue, twenty handcolored lithographed views on sixteen sheets, by Dickinson and Co., after Warre. Folio, 21 x 14½ inches. Contemporary green half morocco over green pebble-grained cloth-covered boards, titled in gilt on upper cover, the flat spine tooled in gilt with fillets and decorative flourishes at head and foot, and a large centered lettering panel titled in gilt and bordered with a triple fillet with decorative arabesque tooling above and below, glazed endpapers. In a half morocco and cloth box. First edition, handcolored issue of a work which contains the "only western color plates comparable in beauty to those by Bodmer" (Howes). An important record of the American west before it was touched by western civilization. This is evidently a family copy, inscribed on the upper right corner of the inside front board: "H. Warre, Fyne Court, Bridgewater." Captain Warre and Lieut. Mervin Vavasour, of the Royal Engineers, left Montreal on May 5, 1845. They initially accompanied Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson Bay Company, who was making a tour of inspection of the Company’s outposts. On reaching Fort Garry (plate 1) at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, they teamed up with Peter Skene Ogden (1790-1854), a Company chief trader who had vast experience of the West in general and the Columbia River and the Rockies in particular. Travelling mainly on horseback, the journey from the fort over the Rockies to Fort Colville took them from June 16 to Aug. 12. This section of the journey is illustrated by five plates. They left Fort Colville in boats and made their way down the Columbia River, arriving at the Pacific on Aug. 25 (3 plates). They then spent the winter exploring Oregon Territory and the Pacific Coast, visiting the Company settlement on the Willamette River (2 plates), exploring the Columbia River (1 plate), visiting Fort George on the Columbia River (2 plates), Vancouver Island and Fort Vancouver (1 plate), Cowelitz River, and Puget’s Sound. Once the weather started to improve, Warre and Vavasour and a party of about thirty began their westward journey on March 25, 1846, again by boat, but this time against the current. Warre made sketches of Mount Hood (2 plates) during this journey. They arrived at Fort Walla Walla, after travelling a distance of about two hundred miles, on April 3. They then took to horses again, and taking a shortcut of about two hundred fifty miles, made for Fort Colville across a desert landscape (1 plate). From Fort Colville they went up the Columbia by boat for about two hundred fifty miles, setting off to cross the Rockies on foot. After seven days their food ran out, but fortunately a search party sent out from the Company station at Jasper’s House found them and guided them to safety. The station was on the Athabasca River, and from here they again took to boats and swiftly descended a distance of nearly four hundred miles in two and half days to Fort Assiniboine. On horseback they travelled one hundred miles in three days to Fort Edmonton on the Saskatchewan River. Then by boat five hundred miles down the river to Fort Carlton. Again on horseback, they crossed the prairie to Red River in ten days, a distance of about four hundred fifty miles, arriving back at Fort Garry on June 7. There they met up with Sir George Simpson and together returned by boat to Montreal, arriving on July 20, 1846. The background to the journey was semi-official and semi-secret: Warre and Vavasour were to undertake what amounted to a military reconnaissance of Oregon Territory. American expansionists were making it clear that the uneasy joint occupation of Oregon by the United States and Great Britain was not equitable and were demanding that a northernmost frontier be established. The two officers, with the enthusiastic support of the Hudson Bay Company, were sent to gather information that would be of use in the negotiations. As Howes notes, Warre’s dramatic depiction of the scenery, situations, and incidents he encountered has resulted in "the only western color plates comparable in beauty to those by Bodmer." Abbey notes that the work was originally published at two guineas uncolored or, as here, with the plates colored at £3 13s. 6d. Warre continued with his military career after his return to Great Britain, serving with distinction in both the Crimean and the New Zealand wars, he was knighted for his military services and retired with the rank of General. In addition to the present work, he published a series of views in the Crimea (London, 1856), but the present work is his undoubted masterpiece. ABBEY 656. GRAFF 4543. HOWES W114. SABIN 101455. SMITH 10727. WAGNER-CAMP 157. $150,000. 200. Webber, Charles W.: THE HUNTER-NATURALIST. ROMANCE OF SPORTING; OR, WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Philadelphia. 1852. 6,610pp., including several wood-engraved illustrations, plus ten color lithographic plates including frontispiece. Thick quarto. Later three-quarter blue morocco and cloth, spine gilt, raised bands. Morocco rubbed at extremities. Very good. The second edition, after the first of the previous year, with handsome color plates by Alfred Jacob Miller, "the first artist of the Rockies" (Phillips). Almost entirely devoted to hunting large and small game. Includes chapters on John James Audubon and Daniel Boone, friends of the author. With the additional plate of elephants after page 537, not called for by Howes and not found in many copies. PHILLIPS, SPORTING BOOKS, p.397. HOWES W196. $2000. 201. Wells, John G.: WELLS’ POCKET HAND-BOOK OF IOWA; PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTIVE.... New York: John G. Wells, Publishing Agent, 1857. 136pp. plus colored folding map, 11¾ x 15½ inches. 16mo. Modern plain wrappers. Some tanning. Neat, expert repairs to verso of map with no loss. Very good overall. In a marbled board slipcase. Provides excellent information on the preemption laws, forms, claims, description of land exempted, lands subject to government surveys, inducements held out by Iowa to emigrants, resources (soil, climate, crops, timber lands, minerals, fruit trees, etc.), rivers, lakes, creeks, growing wool, raising stock, dairy farming, etc. With information on the railroad system and various institutions (schools, libraries, colleges, lodges, various asylums, banking houses, land offices, etc.), plus a chapter on government, finance, and holding elections. The colorful map of Iowa locates the cities, villages, railroad lines, proposed rail lines, rivers, and creeks. Many of the northwestern counties were still unsettled. An excellent guide to Iowa. HOWES W250, "aa." GRAFF 4583. STREETER SALE 1910. MOTT, IOWA, p.61. $1250. With Important Lithographic Views 202. Whilldin, M., comp: A DESCRIPTION OF WESTERN TEXAS, PUBLISHED BY THE GALVESTON, HARRISBURG & SAN ANTONIO RAILWAY COMPANY, THE SUNSET ROUTE. Galveston: Printed at the "News" Steam Book & Job Office, 1876. [4],120pp. plus twenty-six lithographic plates (including frontispiece) of a usual complement of twenty-seven plates. Colored map on verso of front wrapper, and folding map (15 x 19 inches) tipped to recto of rear wrapper. One plate lacking, but apparently never bound in (see below). Original colored illustrated wrappers. Covers moderately soiled, front cover slightly separating from spine at top and bottom, bottom one-inch of spine chipped (paper still present). Clean tear in folding map repaired with tissue. Bottom two inches of pp.113-114 torn and lacking (affecting text on both pages). A very good copy. In a half morocco and cloth clamshell box, gilt label. An extensively illustrated guide for prospective immigrants to Western Texas, published by the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company. The text provides descriptions of the cities, towns, and counties of western Texas, complemented by additional information on a variety of topics of interest for those considering a move to the region. A prefatory note to the reader states that the compiler researched "the labors of all who have written on Texas. The authorities chiefly consulted and used were Yokum’s, Kennedy’s, Foote’s, and Baker’s Histories, the various numbers of the Texas Almanac, the publications of the Smithsonian Institute, Kinsbury’s Description of Western Texas, Handford’s State Register, Mrs. Holly’s Texas, The Texas Scrap Book...the publications of the State Commissioner of Immigration, General Robertson, and the Parish Registers of the Mission Churches at San Antonio." The black and white lithographic plates are primarily views of cities and towns, with some rural scenes as well. The images of settled areas include Galveston, Weimar, Flatonia, Gonzales, New Braunfels, San Antonio, and various missions. A large part of the book is devoted to San Antonio with views of the town and several of the missions, including the Alamo, and the latter part of the book describes various parts of Texas west of San Antonio. Executed in an accomplished, understated style, the lithographs serve as a marvellous invitation to the region. Other illustrations include a lithographic plate with portraits of four major Texas figures (Sam Houston, Anson Jones, M.B. Lamar, and David G. Burnet); a colored map printed on the verso of the front wrapper showing the Sunset Route and identifying the counties of the region; and a large folding map of Western Texas, with existing railroads and those under construction indicated. The verso of this folding map is an article on the Sunset Route "prepared by an old resident of Western Texas, and may be relied upon as strictly true in every statement made." This copy appears to be a corrected second issue variant of Whilldin’s work. In our copy, the text from page 111 to 112 flows correctly, with no lost content. In other copies that we have examined, the subject heading and first five lines of text on page 112 are lacking, resulting in the absence of text relating the Homestead Laws provisions of the Texas Constitution. Furthermore, our copy has a portion of the bottom part of page 113-114 neatly torn away. A comparison between our copy and another copy of this book shows that our copy does not contain a paragraph of text at the bottom of page 113 that appears in other copies, describing the progress made in the construction of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio road. It seems that this paragraph of text was removed from our issue in order to correct the text at the top of page 112. Also, our copy lacks a plate showing two scenes in San Antonio (of the Military Plaza and Commerce Street), usually found bound between pages 62 and 63. A close examination seems to indicate that that plate was never bound into this copy. "A valuable description of the lands, towns, agricultural prospects, etc., of West Texas, of high interest for the lithographic views" – Eberstadt. A fine, wonderfully illustrated late 19th-century guide for prospective immigrants to Texas. HOWES W338. $10,000.203. Wilkes, Charles: NARRATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION. DURING THE YEARS 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1845. Five text volumes plus atlas. Plates and maps. Quarto. Original gilt cloth, text volumes and atlas expertly rebacked, retaining original backstrips; new endpapers. Occasional minor soiling of boards, several corners and edges worn. Slight age-toning (particularly at outer edges), occasional instances of light foxing and soiling, else internally very clean. Three maps in atlas torn at folds and detached from volume, two other maps with a few clean tears, one map with 1 x 4-inch tear in upper corner (affecting printed area). A very good set. This is the first regularly available trade edition of the narrative of the expedition, preceded only by the extremely rare official edition and the further printing of 150 copies made for gifts. The Wilkes expedition was the first United States scientific expedition by sea, working mainly in the Pacific Ocean. Wilkes sailed along the Antarctic continent and throughout the islands of the South Pacific, visited the Hawaiian Islands in 1840, and explored the northwest coast of America in 1841. The expedition was made up of a number of notable American scientists, and their botanical, natural history, and geological findings are included. HOWES W414, "aa." STREETER SALE 3324. TWENEY 89, 83. HILL 1867. TAXONOMIC LITERATURE 17646. HASKELL 2B. SABIN 103994. FORBES HAWAII 1574. ROSOVE ANTARCTIC 353. FERGUSON 4209. COWAN, p.683. $7500. 204. Williams, Ellen: THREE YEARS AND A HALF IN THE ARMY; OR, HISTORY OF THE SECOND COLORADOS. New York: Published for the Author by Fowler & Wells Company, 1885. 178pp. Original gilt-stamped red cloth. A very good, tight copy. Lacks the frontispiece portrait. A quite rare privately printed personal account by a the wife of a bugler, about the Civil War campaigns on the Plains and in the Rockies, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas, including a unit roster for the Second Colorado Cavalry on pages 161-176. Many of the men of the Second Colorado had been miners before the war. Mrs. Williams gives an interesting view of the little-known southwestern campaigns of the war. DORNBUSCH (Colorado) 166. EBERSTADT 138:171. HOWES W452, "aa." GRAFF 4676. $1750. 205. [Yellowstone Park Photographica]: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK THROUGH THE STEREOSCOPE. New York: Underwood & Underwood, [1904 (the text) / 1905 (the map)]. 68pp. plus folding map, and thirty stereoscope views on individual mounts. Narrow 12mo. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers lightly worn, else a fine copy. The stereoscopes are in fine condition, very clean and bright. All in original gilt cloth slipcase. Second edition, following the first of 1900. An attractive stereoscopic tour of Yellowstone, with accompanying text. The text includes a brief history of Yellowstone, instructions on using the stereoscope, and extended captions for each view. Several geysers are pictured, including three stereoscopes of Old Faithful, as well as other cards showing bison, dramatic vistas, and the approaches to the park. The images are undated, but it is clear that they were taken prior to the construction of Old Faithful Inn in 1903, and they were likely done around 1900, the date the text was originally copyrighted. The stereoscopes were produced by Sun Sculpture Works and Studios of Arlington and Westwood, New Jersey. The Underwood firm had earlier patented a hand-held stereoscopic viewer under the Sun Sculpture trademark. Each card is captioned on the verso in English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, and Russian, and several cards contain long explanatory text on the verso as well. The map, copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood in 1905, is keyed to the number on the views, allowing the user to pinpoint the location of the scene in the greater context of Yellowstone. A detailed list of the view captions is available on request. An important and appealing early visual record of America’s most famous national park. Scarce, and desirable. $1100. The First Published Illustration 206. [Yosemite]: Ayres, Thomas A.: THE YO-HAMITE FALLS [caption title]. San Francisco: James M. Hutchings, Printed by Britton & Rey, [October 1855]. Lithograph, 23¼ x 15 inches, with an additional attached upper margin, measuring 3½ x 15 inches, bearing the words: "Hutching’s’ Panoramic Scenes in California." Half-inch closed tear in right edge, barely intruding into the image; another small closed tear in left edge, not touching the image. Inch-long closed tear in upper left edge, in the blank upper margin just above the border of the lithograph. Some wrinkling. On the whole, in very good condition. Archivally matted, protected with mylar sheet. The first published illustration of Yosemite, a landmark in the iconography of California and the American West. The print was published by James M. Hutchings, one of the earliest white visitors to Yosemite, and one of its most dedicated boosters. The scene shows the great Yosemite waterfall and its two cascades in the distance, with a small party camped in the sparsely wooded valley below. The men and horses in the foreground serve as an accurate scale contrast for the mammoth granite cliffs and powerful falls. James M. Hutchings entered the Yosemite Valley in June 1855, accompanied by a small group of men, including artist Thomas A. Ayres. In California on Stone, Peters says that Ayres’ drawings, "made on the spot, have artistic merit and place Ayres in the front rank of the draftsmen of the period." The group stayed in the area for several days, with Ayres sketching his surroundings. Deak notes that Ayres "captured the magnificence of the cascading falls with great accuracy." When Hutchings returned to San Francisco in the fall of 1855, he had Ayres’ view published, and it appeared for sale in October. It was drawn on stone by Kuchel & Dresel of San Francisco, and printed by the distinguished firm of Britton & Rey. The only text on the print describes the scene thusly: "This magnificent scene is situated in the Yo-Hamite Valley near the source of the middle fork of the River Merced, Mariposa County California. It is the highest waterfall in the world – rushing over the precipice, at one bold leap it falls 1,300 feet, & the whole hight [sic] from valley is 2,300 feet." Thomas Ayres recounted his experience viewing this scene in an article published in the Daily Alta California of Aug. 6, 1856: "The valley is here a mile and a half in width, the river of the valley flowing near the middle, with meadows and groves upon either hand, while the cliff beyond rises to the height of three thousand feet. The water is seen flashing over the cliff at the height of two thousand five hundred feet, and at one bound reaches the granite shelf fifteen hundred feet below – hanging like a fleecy cloud from the precipice, from which dart masses of foam, gleaming like rockets in their perilous fall; gathering themselves upon the immense granite floor, the waters descend by a succession of cascades (the lower one being six hundred feet), finally reach the valley and unite with the river below. Every hour of the day varies the effect of light and shade upon the cliff, which rises with picturesque outlines, surmounted by sentinel pines, dwindled in their majestic proportions to mere straws by the height and distance, while ever and anon comes the roar of the cataract falling upon the ear, now in fitful lower tones – the lonely voice – the solitary hymn of the valley." The print is here in a very interesting format, with an attached upper margin, the same width as the lithograph and adding another 3½ inches in height to the sheet. The margin is blank but for the printed words: "Hutchings’ Panoramic Scenes in California." There are only a very few other copies of this print that contain this additional upper margin, including a copy at The New York Public Library. Hutchings also produced a pictorial letter sheet called Hutchings’ Panoramic Scenes, published in 1854, which featured thirteen woodcut vignettes showing the journey overland to California. The present image of Yosemite Falls is not one of those scenes, however. We believe that this copy of the "Yo-Hamite" print may have been created in order to promote Hutchings’ letter sheet – to be used as a promotional display piece. There are two small pinholes in the upper corners of the print, which correspond to two small pinholes in the lower corners of the upper margin. These holes would have been made if the upper margin were folded behind the print, and then the image pinned up for display. Peters, in America on Stone, calls this spectacular view of Yosemite "an interesting early record of one of the most famous American scenes. Also it is really a most excellent piece of craftsmanship." It is the first published illustration of Yosemite ever produced, and a great work of art in an of itself. It is an essential piece for anyone seriously interested in the iconography and pictorial representation of California and the American West. PETERS, CALIFORNIA ON STONE, pp.45-46, 146. PETERS, AMERICA ON STONE, Plate 22, pp.112, 258. DEAK, PICTURING AMERICA 701. DINNEAN, NINETEENTH CENTURY ILLUSTRATORS OF CALIFORNIA SIGHTS & SCENES 5. CURREY & KRUSKA 4 (note). FARQUHAR 4 (note). $17,500. |
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