[Rarebooks] fa: UNITED STATES-MEXICAN BOUNDARY SURVEY 1859 - ZOOLOGY VOLUME
Ardwight Chamberlain
ardchamber at earthlink.net
Mon Nov 10 10:12:06 EST 2008
Listed on eBay now - along with other rare and/or intriguing Western
Americana - auctions ending Sunday, Nov. 9. More details and photos
can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name
arch_in_la.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZarch_in_la
Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.
UNITED STATES MEXICO BOUNDARY SURVEY - ZOOLOGY - 1859
25 HAND-COLORED PLATES OF BIRDS + MAMMALS Reptiles FISH
Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, Made Under
the Direction of the Secretary of the Interior, by William H. Emory,
Major First Cavalry, and United States Commissioner. [The Zoology of
the Boundary]. Washington: 1859. FIRST EDITION. Tall, thick 4to (30 x
23 cm; 11.75 x 9.5 in) bound in full early calf, red leather spine
label stamped in gilt; viiii, 62, 32, [2], 35, 35, 85, [3]; + 133
plates in color and black&white.
This is the ZOOLOGICAL portion of the report (vol. II, part II),
complete unto itself, the rarest and arguably most desirable part of
this landmark early survey of the Southwest, "one of the most
significant of all government reports on western and southern
Texas" (Jenkins, Basic Texas Books 57). Containing:
MAMMALS OF THE BOUNDARY by Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution, with 27 black&white plates.
BIRDS OF THE BOUNDARY by Spencer F. Baird, with 25 hand-colored plates.
REPTILES OF THE BOUNDARY by Spencer F. Baird, with 41 black&white
plates.
ICTHYOLOGY OF THE BOUNDARY by Charles Girard, M.D., with 40
black&white plates.
Front pastedown with the bookplate of the "California Academy of
Sciences : Barton Warren Evermann Bequest" (the only other library
markings are a discreet blind-stamp to title-page and a rough patch at
the foot of spine from a removed shelf label). Evermann (1853-1932), a
prominent icthyologist, was head of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries'
division of scientific inquiry, chief of the Alaska Fisheries Service,
and director of the California Academy of Sciences. Mount Evermann,
the highest peak of the Revillagigedo Islands off the Pacific coast of
Mexico, was named in his honor (Wikipedia). Front endpaper with
Evermann's ownership signature, dated 1882, and the top edge of the
title-page with his penciled note: "Dec. 1 1869 a present from the
Hon. A.G. Catten[?]" (presumably a senator or congressman). Evermann
has also written the Latin names in the margins of the mammal and fish
plates (in pencil and by and large easily removable)...
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