L. W. Currey, Inc.

Garcés, Francisco. ON THE TRAIL OF A SPANISH PIONEER[:] THE DIARY AND ITINERARY OF FRANCISCO GARCÉS (MISSIONARY PRIEST) IN HIS TRAVELS THROUGH SONORA, ARIZONA, AND CALIFORNIA 1775-1776[.] TRANSLATED FROM AN OFFICIAL CONTEMPORANEOUS COPY OF THE ORIGINAL SPANISH MANUSCRIPT, AND EDITED, WITH COPIOUS CRITICAL NOTES BY ELLIOTT COUES. New York: Francis P. Harper, 1900. 22.5x15.5 cm (octavo), two volumes: pp. [i-vi] vii-xi [xii] xiii-xxx [1] 2-312; [i-v] vi-vii [viii] 313-608, 18 inserted plates with maps, facsimiles, and illustrations from photographs, one folded and inserted map, one facsimile in the text, original blue cloth, spine panels stamped in gold, top edges plain, other edges untrimmed. First edition. Limited to 950 copies, this copy not numbered. "The Garcés DIARY, as translated from the Spanish and edited by Dr. Coues, contains considerable material bearing upon the missionary's route over the Southern California deserts ... This work is a desert item of importance" (Edwards). "Garcés is the first of the great figures whose life and work touched intimately and continuously the waters of the Colorado. For a dozen years he worked to establish a mission on its banks and to acquaint himself with the region and its inhabitants. He visited the Havasupai and the Grand Canyon and was finally slain on the banks of the river by the Indians whom he had sought to help" (Farquhar). Cowan (1933), pp. 228-229. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.57-58. Farquhar, The Books of the Colorado River & the Grand Canyon 6. Howes C801. Wagner, Spanish Southwest, p. 507. A bright, nearly fine copy. (#167034).

Price: $350.00