Beschreibung:

Title: The Prairie Traveler. A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions, with Maps, Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes Between the Mississippi and the Pacific Author: Marcy, Randolph B. Place: New York Publisher: Harper & Brothers Date: 1859 Description: 340 pp. Illustrated with wood engravings, some full-page on plates included in the pagination; 2 maps, 1 of them folding. (12mo) 16.7x10 cm (6¾x4"), original blindstamped brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt. First Edition. Handy little guide to a West being ever more penetrated. "After half a lifetime spent on the western plains and in the Rocky Mountains, Captain Marcy was well qualified to advise the prospective emigrant, and he ably summarized his experiences in this book. By 1859, the routes of overland travel had been well established, and Marcy set out twenty-eight of them, including one to the Pike's Peak gold region which had recently been discovered..." - Wagner-Camp. Wheat notes that the folding map, "though rather crude... affords an excellent general view of the routes of travel just prior to the railroad building era..." The folding map, apparently a woodcut, is titled "Sketch of the Different Roads Embraced in the Itineraries." It measures 23.3x28 cm. The other map is "Sketch of the Country in the vicinity of the Gold Region near Pikes Peak and Cherry Creek," 11.3x7.3 cm. Wheat calls it "one of the best that appeared that year, though Denver City and Gregory's Diggings are the only placenames shown in the gold region..." Provenance: Brick Row, 12/83 References: Cowan p.414; Graff 2676; Howes M279; Rader 2347; Sabin 44514; Smith 6509; Wagner-Camp 335:1; Wheat Transmississippi 984 and 985. Lot Amendments Condition: Some chipping at spine ends and along the joints; very good, internally quite clean. Item number: 265795