Wesley

Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean Made under the Direction of the Secretary of War in 1853-4. Volume II John Wesley Powell's copy

1855 · 1677 — Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson Printer 1855. First edition. Hardcover. Good. John Wesley Powell's copy of Volume II of these 1853-54 reports with his stamp faintly in purple ink on the title page. A good only copy with dampstaining throughout but collectible in light of its owner who famously would go on to survey and provide his own report on the Grand Canyon. These 1853-54 reports were issued somewhat haphazardly in 12 volumes apparently as they were received rather than by region. Volume II contains the following: 1 "Report by Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith Third Artillery upon the Route near the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Parallels Explored by Captain J.W. Gunnison Corps of Topographical Engineers" Gunnison was killed on the journey; 2 "Report of Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith . . . upon the Route near the Forty-First Parallel"; 3 Report of a Reconnaissance from Puget Sound via South Pass to the Mississippi River by F.W. Lander Civil Engineer"; 4 "Report of Brevet Captain John Pope Corps Topographical Engineers upon the Portion of the Route near the Thirty-Second Parallel Lying between the Red River the Colorado and the Rio Grande"; 5 "Report of Lieutenant John G. Park Corps Topographical Engineers upon the Portion of the Route near the Thirty-Second Parallel Lying between the Rio Grande and Pimas Village on the Gila"; and 6 "Extract from Report of a Military Reconnaissance Made by Lieutenant Colonel W.H. Emory U.S. Army of the Portion of the Route near the Thirty-Second Parallel Lying between the Mouths of the San Pedro and Gila Rivers." Among several of the later reports are botanical sections by Asa Gray and John Torrey. These are replete with nice line-drawing botanical plates. In the first Beckwith report J.M. Stanley provides a series of beautiful vista illustrations in color of the Gunnison route. Near the rear are a fold out map and a fold out geological section depicting the stretch between the Colorado River "Red River and the Rio Grande. A contemporary binding of red cloth and quarter/corner leather with five raised bands and gilt lettering on spine. Red marbled endpapers. Again good only with dampstaining to all corners of the pages top and bottom see photos. The pages have some light waviness to them but turn fine and are readable the text itself mostly free of staining. Mottling on front board wrinkle on rear. Rubbing to board edges and nicks to spine corners as one might expect for a heavy book of this age. Despite its condition still a special copy--Powell's. The inclusion of the Colorado River in the fourth report in the volume would have ultimately been of special interest to him and one imagines the example of these reports would have influenced his own. A.O.P. Nicholson, Printer hardcover