Notes of a Military Reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth in Missouri to San Diego, in California, Including parts of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila Rivers

Washington: Wendell and Van Bethuysen, 1848. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. Senate issue, with Emory's rank given as Brevet Major and plates in the preferred state (with attribution to Edward Weber, per the Volkmann Zamorano 80 catalogue). 416 pp in original brown cloth with paper spine label, complete as described in Wagner Camp, with 43 plates (including 3 sketch maps) and large folding map (Military Reconnaissance of the Arkansas Rio Del Norte River and Rio Gila) in rear pocket. Foxing, cloth chipped at spine ends and split along rear joint. Map in very good condition, with light toning along folds, a few small splits at intersections. Wagner-Camp 148: The country west of Santa Fe had been crossed by occasional herdsmen and trappers. Parts of it were sketchily known to the Navajo and to wandering bands of Apache, but none of it had received a systematic examination by a trained observer.... [Emory's] report was a major contribution to the geographical knowledge of North America. His map...is still regarded as one of the landmarks of American cartography. The report included sections on the plants and animals, as well as on the geology and the prehistoric town sites and other archeological remains. Emory's descriptions of the various Indian tribes that he encountered were steps toward the newly-forming discipline - Anthropology - concerned with primitive man." Graff 1249; Howes E-145; Wheat Transmississippi 544; Zamorano 80 #33.