(#166211) The Yosemite guide-book: a description of the Yosemite Valley and the adjacent region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the big trees of California. With two maps. CALIFORNIA. STATE GEOLOGIST, JOSIAH DWIGHT WHITNEY.

The Yosemite guide-book: a description of the Yosemite Valley and the adjacent region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the big trees of California. With two maps. [Sacramento]: Published by Authority of the Legislature, 1871. 16x10 cm, pp. [i-v] vi-vii [viii] [9] 10-133 [134: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, 2 folded maps, original orange pebbled cloth, front panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind, brown coated endpapers. Second edition, first printing. At head of title: "Geological Survey of California. / J. D. Whitney, State Geologist." Printer's imprint on page 133: "Cambridge: Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co." The first "pocket edition." New maps were prepared for this edition. They are: "Map of the Routes from San Francisco to the Yosemite Valley Prepared to Accompany the Pocket Edition of the Yosemite Guide Book. (State Geol. Survey.) 1871. Scale 12 Miles to 1 Inch," printer's imprint, "J. Bien, photo lith,"and "Map of the Yosemite Valley Prepared to Accompany the Pocket Edition of the Yosemite Guide Book. (State Geolog.l Survey.) 1871. Scale 1 Mile to 1 Inch," printer's imprint, "J. Bien, photo lith." The most influential publications of the California Geological Survey were the series of Yosemite guidebooks published between 1869 and 1874. These publications were intended to serve as tourist guides to the Yosemite region and various groves of giant sequoia. The first pocket edition, containing two small folding maps but no illustrations, was issued in 1871. This edition was sold at one dollar per copy and was well received by the public "on account both of its cheapness and its portability." The first printing of a thousand copies was followed by a second thousand produced in the spring of 1872. The text of this first pocket edition followed that of the 1869 and 1870 printings of the guidebook. The series of Yosemite guidebooks influenced the literature on Yosemite which followed, becoming the frequent source of quotations in numerous other books about the region. The guidebooks contain information which is still useful and much of the historical material is of interest. "Although these guide-books are long out of date, they have a literary quality that preserves their value" was Francis P. Farquhar's apt appraisal in his essay "The Literature of the High Sierra," The Quarterly News-Letter of the Book Club of California, 2 (December 1934), 8. See Farquhar (1948), title 7. Currey and Kruska 61. Farquhar 7d. Some foxing to cloth on front cover, otherwise a fine copy. Provenance: Gift inscription of a prominent Boston publisher in ink below the imprint on the title page: "From Little, Brown & Co. / Publishers."

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