Description
The first edition of Exploration Of The Colorado River Of The West And Its Tributaries, published in 1875.
Quarto, xi, [1], 291pp, [5]. Contemporary three-quarter olive morocco, raised bands, title stamped in gilt over a red morocco label. Maroon cloth boards. Complete with 80 wood engraved views, on 72 individual plates. Includes the two fold-out maps at the rear. New endpapers. Bumped fore-edge, with a closed tear from p. 240-248, no impact to text. Clean text throughout, solid text block.
(Sabin 64753) (Howes P528) (Graff 3336)
A near fine example.
John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) was an American explorer, Civil War veteran, scientist, and public intellectual best known for leading the first successful expeditions through the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon in 1869 and 1871-72. Having lost his right arm at the Battle of Shiloh, Powell became a symbol of postwar scientific exploration, combining firsthand fieldwork with rigorous analysis of the American West. As second director of the U.S. Geological Survey and longtime head of the Bureau of American Ethnology, he argued that western settlement should be planned around watersheds and water availability rather than arbitrary political boundaries.
