The auriferous gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California by J. D. Whitney. Cambridge, [Massachusetts]: University Press, John Wilson & Son, 1880. 29.2x22.8 cm, pp. [i-vii] viii-x [xi] xii-xiv [xv-xvi] [1] 2-569 [570-572: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, 24 inserted plates, some folded, plus two large folded maps in pocket at rear, original green bevel-edged pebbled cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, brown coated endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. First edition. Published as "Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Massachusetts," volume I. The plates comprise 10 maps (3 folded), 1 diagram (folded), 9 sections, a double page engraving of the Calaveras Skull, and 3 Heliotypes from photographs by C. E. Watkins with tissue guards. The two large folded maps in the rear pocket are "Map (in two sheets) of the tertiary Auriferous Gravel Deposits Lying Between the Middle Fork of the American and the Middle Yuba Rivers, Including the Principal Hydraulic Mining Region of the State" and "Map Showing the Extent of the Hydraulic Mining Operations Near Gold Run, Dutch Flat, Little York, You Bet, Chalk Bluffs, Red Dog, Hunt's Hill, and Quaker Hill, on Bear River and Cañon, Steep Hollow and Greenhorn Creek." Some light wear to cloth, a very good copy with tight inner hinges and a fine interior save for a private owner's rubber stamped name at the top right corner of the half title leaf. (#166249).
No statement of printing.