Illustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the Pacific Coast. by SPEARS, John R - 1892

Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007-06-25. Paperback. Good.

Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007-06-25. Paperback. Used:Good.

Kessinger Publishing, LLC. paperback. New. 6x0x9.

Chicago and New York: Rand McNally & Co, 1892 Original illustrated yellow wraps, no markings, NOT ex-lib, binding sound, all edges chipped, panels soiled, front & rear covers detached but present, creases & loss to spine paper, chip from bottom front cover corner, initial page corners turned, contents excellent, pages toned, a nice survival of an essential early book on Death Valley, quite scarce in its inital paper issue in the Rand McNally Globe Library; 8vo; 226pp + ads, illus; map. First Edition. Soft Cover. Fair.

Rand Mcnally & Co. Publishers. Collectible - Very Good. Condition: Very Good; 12mo, 226pgs. Yellow paper wraps with illustration of a wagon train on front cover and black titles on cover and spine. Interior text and black/white photographic plates are remarkably clean. Binding is fragile but NO pages are detached, first couple of signatures are loose. Covers have mild rubbing and a light damp stain at tail edge of front cover, plus a couple of light scuff marks. Tail portion of spine is taped and there is creasing to spine. Covers have a couple of very small chips and creases at extremities. Paperback

Chicago And NY: Rand McNally. Good. 1892. First Edition. Hardcover. Brown cloth gilt. Cloth edges/corners worn, front hinge cracked. PO name. Few pencilled marginalia. Ads at rear. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 226+ads pages .

Chicago And NY: Rand McNally. Good. 1892. First Edition. Softcover. Original wrappers, which are soiled and creased. Spine lightly pulled away from textblock. 226 + [6] ad pp. Illustrations, photos and a map of the Borax fields of the Pacific Coast. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 226+ads pages .

Chicago: Rand McNally, 1892. First printing. Paperback. Very Good. 7.5 x 5.25 inches, publisher's decorated pictorial yellow wraps, about very good, soil soil and light wear to covers, pages toned and with some coal dustiness to corners of outermost pages, illustrated throughout and with full page map, with very early photos of the region. 226 pp plus ads, including on the versos of the wraps. This was Vol. I no. 175 in the publisher's Globe Library, was also issued in cloth (this issue in wraps rarer). Howes S-821.

Chicago: Rand McNally, 1892. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 12mo, 226 pages, original brown cloth, bright gilt, rehinged "Spears favors his readers with an intimate word-picture of Death Valley as it appeared in 1891. ... [It] is noted for its early photographs in almost the same degree as for its textual content. It is conceivable that these may be the first pictures ever published - perhaps ever taken - of the Death Valley region. Maximum importance attaches to them - Edwards, ENDURING DESERT, p.227." [ Howes S821; Cowan p.604; Graff 3926; not in Soliday; Paher 1844]. With a map of the Borax Fields, and 56 photographic illustrations (per Contents pages).

Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally & Company, Publishers, 1892., 1892. First edition. First edition.12mo. Full brown leather, raised bands, titles stamped in gilt on a leather spine label. light green front and rear endpapers, 226 pp. plus 6 pages of advertisements, frontispiece, illustrated, plates, map. Edwards' The Enduring Desert offers high praise for this title as "it is noted for its early photographs in almost the same degree as for its textual content. It is conceivable that these may be the first pictures ever published -- perhaps ever taken -- of the Death Valley region. Maximum importance attaches to them." We learn much about borax, its mining and the chemicals involved to perform the borax test. Also there is a wonderful description of the early freight wagons used in the 20-mule team borax outfits -- those ten sturdy old wagons that were in constant use without a single breakdown during the five years the Works were in operation. Significantly, even after standing… Read More