Ives, Joseph C.:

$1,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

REPORT UPON THE COLORADO RIVER OF THE WEST, EXPLORED IN 1857 AND 1858. One of the most important and best illustrated army surveys of the American West. The report describes the activities of the expedition on the Colorado in 1857-58 under the command of Ives. Goetzmann calls the book the best of individual army reports, "a long, carefully written journal, consciously literary but with a maximum amount of attention to scientific observation." Wheat is equally lavish in his praise of the maps, applauding the detail and design of the finished work. The primary work on the exploration of the Colorado and, according to Farquhar, "one of the most desirable books in the Colorado River field, for it is the first that deals specifically with the river itself." Ives's report was issued by the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. This is the Senate issue. All plates are present. This copy lacks the two scarce geological maps, which are rarely present. The eight color plates include seven Indian portraits, depicting representative members of seven different Indian peoples - "Cocopas," "Yumas," "Chemehuevis," "Mojaves," "Hualpis," "Moquis," and "Navajos" - as well as a depiction of the interior of a Moquis House. As Hill notes, "Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen prepared the greater portion of the illustrations, among which are some of the earliest published depictions of the Grand Canyon." A significant book on the Colorado River, wonderfully illustrated.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.