12 volumes in 13. Extensively illustrated with color lithograph plates of scenic views, black & white lithographs of geological, botanical & zoological subjects (including some hand-colored lithographs of birds), graphs & charts, folding maps, etc. 28.7x22 cm (11¼x8¾") original cloth, lettering in gilt. A full set of the Senate issues.
Believed to be complete (but not collated) set of the Quarto Edition of the massive compilation of surveys and reports undertaken under the aegis of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in the largest concerted effort to map the western frontier of the United States to that time. Four major routes were surveyed, from a northern route terminating at the mouth of the Columbia River to a southern route running through Texas to San Diego. Among the principal contributors were A.A. Humphreys, G.K. Warren, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, J.G. Parke, A.W. Whipple, J.C. Ives, W.H. Emory, Spencer F. Baird and others. The important series of lithographic views of the West, from drawings by Richard and Edward Kern, Tom Mix Stanley, Charles Koppel and others, presented to the world some of the first depictions of previously unexplored regions of the West, and some of its newly civilized regions including Los Angeles in vol. 5. Wagner-Camp notes, "Despite their flaws, these volumes contain a monumental collection of scientific information, geographical, zoological, botanical, geological, of the still mysterious American West. Upon first examination, the volumes seem forbiddingly disorganized... however these faults are amply compensated by the richness of the material within." Howes P3; Wagner-Camp 262-267. Inscribed "with compliments of" in vol. 1 by Captain Edward Griffen Beckwith, a union soldier who would earn the nickname 'Explorer of the Central Rockies'
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Condition:
Varying degrees of wear to cloth, tender and cracked joints, spine labels to vol. 7 & 11 loose with loss, others starting, flaking and rubbing to ends of spines and edges of boards; a few tender and cracked hinges, some dampstaining in some volumes, marginal foxing and toning intermittently, vol. 6 title leaf loose, long horizontal tear to folding map in vol. 3, no paper loss; volumes generally good or better.