[MAPPING THE WEST - COMPLETE SET IN PERFECT CONDITION]. Mapping the Transmississippi West, 1540-1861

San Francisco: Institute of Historical Cartography, 1963. First Edition. Near Fine. Together five vols. in six. Large folios (355 x 260 mm). Original publisher's dark green buckram over gray linen, spines gilt-stamped; standard offsetting inside boards from publisher's brown dust-wrappers, now no longer present. Unread copy. ONE OF THE GREAT WORKS OF CARTOGRAPHIC HISTORY -- easily the most important work on Western American maps from 1540 to the Civil War. "Wheat" (as it is known) is the ne-plus-ultra of its genre, and takes pride of place as the preeminent work on this subject, surely never to be surpassed. Comprising more than 1,600 pages and featuring (truncated) more than 300 high-quality reproductions of rare maps and plans (some double-page), plus a "Bibliocartography" describing 1,302 maps, "Wheat" is nothing short of epic.

Howell ("California 50" no. 1655) assigns justifiable praise: "A truly monumental work on the cartography of the West, from the Spanish Entrada to the Geological Survey of 1877. It was the culmination of a quarter-century of research into the historical geography of the vast Transmississippi area by one of California's leading scholars. Beautifully printed and illustrated with over 300 reproductions (several in color) of historically important maps from public and private collections." Designed by Edwin and Robert Grabhorn and beautifully printed on fine paper (vol. 1 by the Grabhorn Press, the others by Taylor, Taylor and James), the edition was limited to 1000 copies. Our set is in such excellent state that it (almost) resembles a facsimile reprint, save for some unimportant brown offsetting on the pastedowns.

CONTENTS: Vol. 1. The Spanish Entrada to the Louisiana Purchase 1540-1804. Vol. 2. From Lewis and Clark to Fremont 1804-1845. Vol. 3, From the Mexican War to the Boundrary Surveys 1846-1854. Vol. 4, From the Pacific Railroad Surveys to the Onset of the Civil War 1855-1860. Vol. 5 (Parts 1-2 in two vols.), From the Civil War to the Geological Survey.

Grabhorn Bibliography 590. Harding, Wheat, 113. Hill, p. 323. Streeter 4416. (Inventory #: 3560)