3 volumes. First vol.: 780 pp., errata slip. Illustrated with 38 lithographed plates and maps, most duotone but including 4 in color, and 3 double-page plates, plus 3 large folding maps. Second vol.: xiii, 571 pp. Illustrated with 22 lithographed plates, including 4 double-page plates. Third vol.: 681 pp., errata slip. Illustrated with heliotype frontispiece and 13 plates and maps (6 heliotypes and 7 lithographs), many wood-engraved figures in the text. All volumes 29.2x23 cm. (11½x9¼"), original cloth. First Editions.
First 3 volumes in Wheeler's massive report on the surveys of the West he directed, with many notable lithographed plates, 3 important maps, etc. "Representing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wheeler surveyed some 361,000 square miles of the southwest between 1869 and 1979...Wheeler's primary objective was to prepare a detailed topographic map of the West. In pursuit of this goal he divided the area of the West into ninety-five 'principal' rectangles, each rectangle comprising 2 degrees 45' minutes of longitude and 1 degree 40' minutes of latitude, to be covered in four atlas sheets." (Schwartz & Ehrenberg, pp. 304-306). Wheeler's survey was the most ambitious of the great post-Civil War surveys of the West, in the area covered and in the breadth of attention paid to the natural sciences. Volumes 1 and 3 with Wheeler's printed presentation slip ("With the Compliments of George M. Wheeler, Lieut. of Engineers, U.S. Army") mounted to front pastedown.
Condition:
First volume joints splitting, corners worn, dent to edge of rear board at center; contents shaken, text and plates very clean. Second volume with insect depredation to surface of spine, wear to spine ends; some foxing to contents (mainly endpapers). Third volume both boards detached, spine off and laid in with loss of about ⅓ including portion of title, corners worn; text and plates quite clean. First and third volumes ex-libris Long Island Historical Society with markings limited to a de-accession stamp in first volume and 2 small stamps (to title page and frontispiece tissue guard) in third volume. Overall good to very good and worthy of restoration.