The Pacific Coast scenic tour from southern California to Alaska the Canadian Pacific Railway Yellowstone Park and the Grand Cañon by Henry T. Finck ... With illustrations. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890. 20.2x15.2 cm, pp. [i-vii] viii-xiv [xv-xvi] 1-309 [310-312: blank], 20 inserted plates with illustrations from photographs, 1 map, original decorated gray green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold. First edition. Finck's detailed and observant account of his trip to Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa grove of Big Trees is found on pages 81-107. "The present volume is an attempt to give a general and impartial view of the whole Pacific Coast, from San Diego to Sitka. Covering such a vast territory, it cannot, of course, make any pretensions to exhaustiveness, but is simply an endeavor to reproduce the local color of each State, by describing a few typical and important locations in each ... I have seen parts of four continents, but am still looking for a tour equal to the one outlined in this volume ... It includes the grandest water-falls, the largest lakes, the finest river scenery and geysers, the most stupendous glaciers, and some of the most superb snow-peaks and ranges in the whole world; while the Yosemite and the Grand Cañon are absolutely unique and without rivals anywhere" (preface). Henry Theophilus Finck (1854-1926), American journalist, had a long career as a music critic. He became musical editor of the New York Evening Post in 1881 and was on the editorial staff of the associated journal, The Nation. He was connected with them for forty years. "Music critic Henry T. Finck spent his childhood on an apple orchard near the Christian agricultural colony of Aurora, in the lower Willamette Valley. The first Oregonian to graduate from Harvard, Finck was a prolific writer and critic of contemporary music. He also wrote about horticulture, romantic love, travel, food, and his Oregon boyhood" (Richard Engeman, oregonencyclopedia). Smith, Pacific Northwest Americana, p. 104. Norris 1138. Cloth rubbed at edges, light wear at spine ends and corner tips, and a bit dust soiled, several light damp spots on front cover, a sound, good copy. (#166851).
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