Report upon the Colorado River of the West by Joseph C. Ives, First Edition, Senate Issue, 1861

Ives, Joseph Christmas. Report upon the Colorado River of the West. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1861. First Edition, Senate Issue. Extensively illustrated with maps, engravings, lithographic plates, panoramas, and woodcuts. In the original cloth covers, with gilt vignette to front, blind embossed back boards, rebacked with spine lettered in gilt.

Presented is a first edition, Senate Issue of “Report upon the Colorado River of the West” by Joseph C. Ives. Preceded only by the shorter 1858 preliminary report, this is the first printing of Ives's complete report, including information on the geology, botany, and zoology of the area by John Strong Newberry, Asa Grey, Spencer Fullerton Baird and others. It is illustrated with folding maps, engraved and lithographed views, color plates of indigenous Americans, folding panoramas, engraved paleontology plates, and numerous woodcuts, by Möllhausen and some of the leading artists of the time. A superb study of the Colorado River, this volume was published by the Government Printing Office, in Washington, DC, in 1861. It is presented here in the original cloth covers with gilt vignette to front ans later cloth rebacking with spine lettered in gilt.

In the mid-19th century, much of the American West was still unexplored and undocumented by the United States. In order to determine whether the Colorado River had potential to become a major shipping route, the United States sponsored the Colorado Exploration Expedition, also called the Ives Expedition. A Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, Joseph C. Ives was eager to explore and document the region. From 1857 to 1858, Ives and his team collected numerous specimens and managed to navigate their steam boat to the entrance of the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately for Ives, his boat crashed and they continued the journey for thirty miles on foot, producing sketches and descriptions of the dazzling scenes. Ives believed that, despite the natural wonders and vast geological features of the impressive area, he would be the last person to visit the Grand Canyon in its harsh, dry environment and much of the Colorado River would remain unexplored. 

In the report, Ives concluded that the Colorado River, which runs through the Grand Canyon, was unsuitable for trading and transportation routes. He ascertained that the only way into the canyon was from the south and once inside, not much by way of navigation could be done. He may have been the first man from the United States to visit the Grand Canyon, but he was far from the last. Lieutenant Ives had never foreseen the immense interest the American people would have in such natural grandeur. 

This report on Ives’ explorations includes the Lieutenant’s observations as well as those of his accompanying scientists. It is divided into five parts: General Report, Hydrographic Report , Geological Report by Newberry, Botany by Gray, Torrey, and Englemann, and Zoology by Baird, plus appendixes on meteorology. William Goetzmann calls the study "the best by far of these individual reports ... It is a long, carefully written journal, consciously literary but with a maximum amount of attention to scientific observation. John Strong Newberry's geological report, which accompanied Ives's narrative, is one of the best of the government geological reports" (Wagner, Camp, Becker).

The highly illustrated book was the first published account in the United States detailing the vast Colorado River, The Grand Canyon, and the scientific specimens found there.

CONDITION:

Good condition. Original cloth covers with gilt vignette to front, later cloth rebacking with spine lettered in gilt. Illustrated with 2 folding maps; 1 engraved profile; lithograph frontispiece; 14 lithographed or engraved views; 7 color lithograph plates of indigenous Americans; 8 folding panoramas; 3 engraved paleontology plates; numerous woodcuts.  This copy without the two additional maps with added geological information, which were not issued in all copies and are often not present. Howes I92; Sabin 35308; Wagner-Camp 375; Wheat Transmississippi 4, pp. 98-101. Some wear to covers; plates offsetting; very good.

Dimensions: 11 3/4" H x 9 1/8" W x 1 1/2" D.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.