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39 volumes. Illustrated. (8vo) black cloth, spines lettered in silver.

Massive compilation on the history of the American West and adjacent portions of the continent. Masterminded by the historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, with contributions by many leading scholars, the work is based largely on original source material, interviews with participants in the events, and other first-hand accounts. Cowan remarks poetically, "As time passes and prejudice drifts into obscurity, these works become more and more strongly entrenched each year. For scholars and investigators they will always remain the greatest source of authority." Howes notes the work as "a colossal co-operative undertaking; nothing approaching it has ever been attempted in this country." "[Bancroft's] History of California is the best extant for it contains more material about the state's past than any other historian has succeeded in amassing." (Zamorano 80). Cowan p.33; Howes B89; Zamorano Eighty 3 (all for 1st edition).