Hayden, Ferdinand V.: [Russell, Andrew J., (photographer)]:

$17,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

SUN PICTURES OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCENERY, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RESOURCES OF THE GREAT WEST; CONTAINING THIRTY PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS ALONG ... This impressive and elaborate book, one of the standard pieces of photographically illustrated Western Americana, was prepared by the famous geologist, Ferdinand V. Hayden, most known for leading the first government survey of Yellowstone. Hayden's text takes the reader on a verbal tour of the Union Pacific Railroad from California through Salt Lake City, pointing out notable features of both natural and human invention. Though published by the renowned lithography studio of Julius Bien, Hayden's Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery is most famous for its mounted photographs of the West: in clear acknowledgment of the quality and importance of these images, they are collected at the end of the work so that they can be perused as an album rather than interspersed with Hayden's descriptive text.The photographs, taken by the Union Pacific's official photographer, Andrew J. Russell, appeared in a larger format the previous year in Russell's extremely rare album, The Great West Illustrated. According to Hayden's introduction, "The pictures have been arranged so as to commence with the first range of mountains west of Cheyenne, and to continue thence to the Salt Lake Valley with the view that the book may be used as a guide by those who will avail themselves of the grand opportun

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