L. W. Currey, Inc.

YOSEMITE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM. Airplane map of Yosemite National Park compliments of Yosemite Transportation System Yosemite National Park, California [cover title]. Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Transportation System, n. d. [circa early 1920s]. Single sheet, 23.2 x 46 cm, folded to make 4 panels, printed on both sides. 1 illustration, 1 map. Promotional brochure with cover panel and three panels of text headed "Yosemite, the All-Year 'round National Park," on the recto and a four-panel aerial view of Yosemite drawn by W. H. Bull on the verso. The map shows the "view of Yosemite National Park you would get if you were in an airplane thousands of feet above El Portal ..." looking east to Mono Lake and into Nevada. The map shows park accommodations and points of interest reached by automobiles of the Yosemite Transportation System. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is shown on the map but the lake has not formed. The dam was completed in early 1923 and the reservoir was filled for the first time in late May of that year. The text advertises YTS excursions by horseback or motor car, including a one-day motor trip to Hetch Hetchy Valley where a "lecturing escort ... points out all the splendid cliffs and explains the tremendous water and power development in the Valley ... The work is seen in progress and is described by the lecturer in clear, non-technical language." William Howard Bull (1861-1940) was a prolific California artist and illustrator who produced commercial illustrations for magazines, brochures and posters, most notably for the Southern Pacific Company and Sunset, its promotional magazine. Bull's landscape paintings include views of the Valley of the Moon, Yosemite, the southern High Sierra (he was in Kings Canyon in 1893), and other scenic spots in northern California. See Barbara Lekisch, Embracing Scenes about Lakes Tahoe & Donner: Painters, Illustrators & Sketch Artists, 1855-1915 (Lafayette, California: Great West Books, [2003]), p. 35. A fine copy. OCLC reports a single copy at CU-B. (#164489).