Report Explorations Surveys Ascertain Practical (2 results)

Softcover. First Edition. Octavo, 9 in. x 5.75 in., pp. 118. Illustrated with three large folding maps. Bound in modern, plain 24 lb. ivory paper wraps. No preliminary pages. Light age-toning to leaves. Maps are delicate, and have several closed tears with tanning along the seam and several chips to edges. One map has two detached panels. Copies of all Reports of Engineers and other Persons employed to make Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. One of the scarcest of all the early railroad reports. the first part reviews the Northern Route, the second part, the Central Route, and the third, the Southern Route. Rare Book Hub lists only onc copy sold, 80 years ago in 1945. Contains twenty-five reports and two letters; the summary report is written by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. Rare Preliminary report on the Pacific Railroad Surveys. Includes fourteen reports on the survey of the northernmost route under the direction of I.I. Stevens; six reports concerning the survey near the 38th parallel under the direction of Captain Gunnison; four reports of the survey near the 35th parallel under the direction of Lieutenant Whipple; three reports of the partial routes on the Pacific side under the direction of Lieutenant Williamson; two reports of the survey near the 32nd parallel under the direction of Lieutenant Parke. Very Good Plus / maps: Good to Good Plus.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Volume X. Very good hardcover, leather spine over marbled boards. Water stain to lower corner of the first several pages. The twenty-eight hand-colored bird plates are bright. A few of the black-and-white plates age darkened. Part Three - Reptiles (1859) by Spencer F. Baird with 13 b&w plates; Part IV - Fishes (1858) by Charles Girard with 21 b&w plates. Followed by Reports of Captain J.W. Gunnison (38th and 39th Parallels) and Lieut. E.G. Beckwith (41st Parallel): Nos 1-3 by S. F. Baird. Mammals with 3 b&w plates; Birds with 7 color plates; Reptiles with 4 b&w plates. No. 4 Fishes by Charles Girard with 6 b&w plates. Followed by Part VI (35th Parallel) Zoological Report: No. 2 Mammals by C.B.R. Kennnerly with 6 b&w plates; Birds by C.B.R. Kennnerly with 11 color plates; Reptiles by S.F. Baird with 3 b&w plates; Fishes by C. Girard with 14 b&w plates. Followed by Lieut. j.G. Parke (32nd Parallel): No. 1 Birds by A.L. Heermann with 3 color plates and No. 2 Reptiles by Edward Hallowell 1 b&w plate. Followed by Part IV Lieut. R.S. Williamson (35th and 32nd Parallels): No. 1 Reptiles by Edward Hallowell with 9 b&w plates; No. 2 Birds by A.A. Heermann with 7 color plates; No. 3 Mammals by S. F/ Baird; No. 4 Fishes by Charles Girard with 10 b&w plates.