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2 parts in 1. [2], 217 pp. With original albumen photograph frontispiece portrait of William Gilpin, governor of Colorado; 3 folding lithographed maps hand-colored in outline. 10¾x8¼, original gilt-lettered cloth. First Published Edition.

Elaborate promotional work published to coincide with the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which opened the central United States to prospective imigrants. There was a privately printed edition produced earlier the same year. The number of plates and maps varied among the various copies of both editions, with as many as 12 photographs having been seen in the privately printed edition. Howes calls for five plates and three maps for the published edition, but the present copy has just the frontispiece and the three maps, apparently as issued. The maps are of the United States, showing the planned railroad routes and with Colorado highlighted; Colorado Embracing the Central Gold Region; and the Trenchara and Costillo Estates in San Luis Valley, Colorado. Adams Herd 272; Graff 218; Howes C607; Sabin 14735.