PBA Galleries

Vol. III of VII. 681 pp. Illustrated with 14 plates including heliotype frontispiece and 6 heliotype plates by Timothy O'Sullivan, 4 duo-tone lithographs, 2 lithograph maps, and 1 folding geological land profiles plate; tissue-guards, plus numerous figure drawings and charts throughout the text. (11¾x9¼), brown cloth. First Edition.

Presentation copy from Lieut. George M. Wheeler, with his compliments slip tipped-in to the inside of front cover.  Wheeler developed a "comprehensive plan to map west of the 100th meridian, "the main object of this exploration was to obtain correct topographical knowledge of the country traversed." Officially designated the U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, the "Wheeler Survey" became one of four great federal surveys after the Civil War.  The official photographer was Timothy O'Sullivan, who had trained under Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner. O'Sullivan established himself as one of the foremost American photographers during the Civil War and on the King survey before joining the Wheeler survey in 1871. Over the four-year project O'Sullivan created some of the best and most dramatic photographs of the American West ever made. O'Sullivan's pictures were among the first to record the prehistoric ruins, Navajo weavers, and pueblo villages of the Southwest.