Tagebuch einer Reise vom Mississippi nach den Küsten der Südsee...
Leipzig: Hermann Mendelssohn, 1853. First edition. Engraved title vignette of the Colorado River after Möllhausen. Seven chromolithographed plates, mounted on card and six tinted lithographed plates after Möllhausen, folding map after Henry Lange, ten wood-engravings in text. Introduction by Alexandeer von Humboldt. Front hinge neatly repaired. Occasional light foxing and toning, but a very good or better copy, bright and clean. Original brown cloth, decoratively stamped in gilt and blind. Quarto. 12], XIV, [2], 494; [2] pp. Item #16431
Balduin Möllhsudrn (1825-1905), a Berlin-born artist, first visited the American frontier in 1847-1852. After returning to Germany he secured the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt for the post of artist and topographer with Lt. A.W. Whipple's Pacific Railroad expedition, scouting possible transcontinental railroad routes at the 35th parallel. They traveled through central New Mexico and Arizona to the Colorado River, and across the Mojave Desert to California, reaching the coast at San Pedro. The lithographs are famous for their beauty. Möllhausen particularly devoted himself to the study of Native Americans and their antiquities.
Price: $4,500.00