1857 Exploration for Railroad Route from the Mississippi the Pacific Ocean Vol 8

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1857 Exploration for Railroad Route from the Mississippi the Pacific Ocean Vol 8 Search This is a Report to United States Senate by Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian in 1857. The full name is, "Report of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the most Practical and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean". This is Volume VIII of the report and this section is titled, "General Report upon the Zoology of the Several Pacific Railroad Routes." Although the Congressional Commission was carried out largely by Military personnel, the actual consolidation of the raw data, execution of the artwork and the construction of the final report was done by the staff of the Smithsonian Institution and represents a fusion of data from various proposed routes. This final version of this report was dated April 7, 1857. It is based on surveys done between 1853 and 1856. This is a quarto volume measuring roughly 12 by 9 inches and just over 2-1/2 inches thick. It was printed by the Government Printing Office at Washington, D. C. for the Senate in 1857. It has black cloth boards. It is titled in gilt on the spine but the coloring is almost totally absent. There are sixty full page black and white plates and 35 in-text figures from wood cuts. Overall I find the condition on of this book to be just good. This binding and spine are quite tight and straight but the front and rear hinges are intact but loose and there is a full-length split between the text and the explanations of the plates and wood cuts. The pages are tight and all of the heavy stock plates are present and attached to the binding. There are several points of significant damage to the spine and the back board corners. There is foxing on pages in several areas, mostly at the beginning and end of the book, and a few spots of mold. The leaves are clean for the most part and quite bright with no extraneous markings of any kind. The plates are all affected by foxing and the 47th page of the listing of species is mis-cut with damage to the edge of the page. Another leaf was folded when the pages were cut. In all, close enough for Government work, I suppose. This important, and quite scarce and very interesting piece of Americana is offered with a very reasonable opening bid bound to attract some interest among both antiquarians, zoologists, western envronmentalists and collectors of railroadiana. We offer free Priority Mail shipping and handling to any address in the United States, including all U. S. APO and FPO addresses. We use the PayPal payment system (including echecks and credit card payments). Please allow time for your echeck to clear to be sure you are protected by PayPal's buyer protection program. Payment should be received within 3-5 days. Please contact us within 48 hours of the sale if you would like us to consider an extension. To avoid delays in shipping, please be sure that the address associated with your PayPal account is current. The majority of our items are shipped within 24 to 48 hours of the time payment is received (or echeck clears). In the rare event that there is a small delay, we will notify you immediately.We ship primarily via USPS. For your convenience, shipping confirmation is always included for all shipments when that service is available from the USPS. Tracking of domestic shipments by First Class letter and large envelope rates and shipment by International First Class is not available from the USPS. If we expect an item to take extra time to ship due to packaging or other concerns, this will be clearly stated in the listing. International Bidders PLEASE NOTE: Proper and accurate customs declarations will be attached to all shipments. Any claims and fees by customs offices for duties fees or local postal authorities for collecting those fees are the responsibility of the buyer and are not considered shipping costs. Please be aware of the rules and costs in your area and keep them in mind while placing your bid. All prices quoted in t... read more

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