MAPPING THE TRANSMISSISSIPPI WEST 1540-1861. - 1957

San Francisco: Institute of Historical Cartography, 1957-1963., 1957-1963.. First edition. First Editions. Folio. Limited to 1000 sets. 5 Volumes in 6. xiv, 264pp.; xiii, 281pp.; xiii, 349pp., xiii, 260pp.; xviii, 487pp. Facsimilies of numerous maps, some color, some folded. Green levant-textured quarter buckram with sage buckram cover. Titles in gilt on spine. Fore-edge and tail left untrimmed. The series was designed by the Grabhorn Press and the first volume was printed by them. Volumes two, three, and four were produced by Taylor & Taylor, and Volume five by James Printing Company, all of San Francisco. The type for all volumes was set by Mackenzie & Harris, Inc.. This five-volume work describes the maps of Western America from the earliest cartographic conjectures to Spanish explorations of the fifteenth century, through early exploration and overland travel up to the beginnings of the great surveys and the Civil War. Dale Morgan's contribution to this classic work was greater than is generally recognized. From the forewords to the individual volumes it seems that Morgan functioned as an unofficial editor and research fellow. Wheat gratefully acknowledged Morgan's liberal contributions of information, footnotes, and editorial work. Of the text itself, Chapter 36 on Mormon maps in the fourth volume, and all of volume five (two books) was Morgan's work. Additionally, because Wheat was victimized by several strokes, about half of the second volume and ninety percent of the third is attributed to Morgan, though he claimed only the complete volume five in his own bibliography in the Morgan papers. A very fine set. All volumes have the original plain, brown paper dust jackets in very fine condition. No off-setting of dust jackets on endpapers. Volumes Four and Five (1) are signed by Wheat in a very shaky hand. Wheat's small bookplates are lightly affixed to the front endpapers in each volume. Laid-in are the original announcement and prospectus for Volume One and Volume Five. Also laid-in are 2 handwritten letters from Wheat's wife, Helen Millspaugh Wheat, to the previous owner of this set discussing purchase of volumes, signature requests, and Carl Wheat's health resulting from his stroke. Lastly, we include a copy of MAPPING THE TRANSMISSISSIPPI WEST,1540-1861: AN INDEX TO THE CARTOBIBLIOGRAPHY, by Charles A. Seavey, issued as Occassional Paper No.3, by the Map and Geography Round Table of the American Library Association, in 1992...a highly desirable supplement.