In the Heart of the Sierras: The Yo Semite Valley, both Historical and Descriptive and Scenes by the Way
Yo Semite Valley; Oakland, Cal. The Old Cabin; Pacific Press Publishing House, 1886.
First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. First printing in publisher's deluxe full-morrocco binding, with marbled endpapers, gilt inner dentelles, all edges gilt. pp. xii, 13-496 pp, with 28 inserted plates, 3 maps (one folding), and 123 illustrations in the text. Matches all first issue points described by Currey & Krustka (175). This copy does not have an extra plate by Bierstadt inserted at page 470 (present in some first printings, with no priority), but does have the uncommon state of the folding map with the "Heliotype Printing Co., Boston" imprint. Corners rubbed through, partial crack at lower front joint, hinges reinforced, some uneveness to the color of the leather. Binding sound, text clean and bright, with the exception of a few plates that are dampstained at the very top edge -- apparently prior to binding, as the surrounding pages are unaffected -- and a larger area of dampstaining to the portrait of Hutchings. Currey and Kruska comment that this book "covers, more fully than other works of the period, every aspect of Yosemite Valley and the Big Trees that could be considered of general interest to visitors. This work is an important primary source for information on the early human history of the region. Hutchings is still considered an authority on early climbs in Yosemite and his accounts of these ascents are of great value. Some inaccuraies and omissions detract from its overall usefulness, but the work is nevertheless an important contribution to the literature of the Sierra Nevada. Farquhar 18; Rocq 5206; Cowan p. 299.
Item #23301
Price: $650.00