Desirable unsigned book: Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, Connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, During the Years 1850, '51, '52, and '53 (Vol. II only) by John Russell Barlett. First edition. NY: D. Appleton & Company, 1854. Hardcover, 6.25 x 9.5, 624 pages. Book condition: VG/None, with foxing and offsetting to the frontispiece/title page, edgewear and rubbing to corners, trivial chipping at spine head, and the bookplate of Joel Davis Madden, Jr., affixed to front pastedown.
From 1850 to 1853, John Russell Bartlett was the United States Boundary Commissioner responsible for surveying the boundary between the United States and Mexico. During this time he traveled with Henry Cheever Pratt throughout the southwest, and he subsequently detailed his travels in this personal narrative. Volume II primarily covers his journeys and incidents throughout California, including San Diego, Napa Valley, and San Francisco; it is well-illustrated with 60 woodcuts and 10 lithograph plates. An essential book on the American southwest, considered to be one of the finest and most comprehensive such tomes of its era.
Joel Davis Madden, Jr., left Princeton University in 1905 and moved west to make his fortune in the railroad industry. He went on to become an executive with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and died suddenly in 1928 at the age of 41. His book collection, offered by his granddaughter, has not been publicly offered or privately sold in a century.
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