PBA Galleries

[4], xii, 13-496 pp. Illustrated with 28 "photo-typo" plates by Britton & Rey (including frontispiece "In the Heart of the Sierras"); numerous wood-engravings, including plates after photographs and paintings; plate of a snow plant printed in red; plus 2 maps (1 folding). 9x6¼, original full morocco gilt, all edges gilt.

Deluxe issue in full leather. Hutchings, a pioneer of the tourist industry in Yosemite and one of the first to visit there in winter, was Guardian to the Valley & the Mariposa Big Tree Grove from 1880-1884. According to Farquhar, In the Heart of the Sierras was Hutchings' crowning publishing achievement and "...contains a great deal more... than an account of Hutchings' personal experiences; it covers more fully than any other work of its day every aspect of Yosemite Valley and the Big Trees that could be considered of general interest to visitors." This copy with a couple of ownership signatures of Mrs Reynolds of Bozeman, Montana, one dated 1897. Cowan p.299: Currey & Kruska 175; Farquhar 18d.