CENTRAL ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC, FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI TO CALIFORNIA: JOURNAL OF THE EXPEDITION OF E.F. BEALE.IN 1853.

E.F. Beale and Gwin Heap were greatly influenced by Senator Benton in their choice of a route across Colorado and Nevada. The party travelled from Westport (Kansas City) southwest on the Santa Fe trail to Bent's Fort, then to the short-lived Fort Massachusetts, the Rio Grande Valley, the Grand River, and then to the Uncompahgre. They returned to Taos for supplies, then continued southwest via Utah to California. The map, which is present here, was issued with only a few copies. Wheat lauds the map and spends several pages discussing the journey, saying that it has received less attention than it deserves. He notes that it is the earliest published map to show the middle Rocky Mountain region, through what is now southern Colorado; the first to depict several streams and rivers; and the first attempt to chart a route through Death Valley. This book is one of the first detailed examinations of the "Central Route" from Missouri to the Pacific and a basic piece of Western Americana. This scarce issue of the first edition with the addition of a London imprint on the titlepage below the Philadelphia one, evidently intended for export, is unrecorded by Wagner-Camp and others. COWAN, p.273. HOWES H378, "b." MINTZ 562. SABIN 31175. WAGNER-CAMP 235. FLAKE 3934. RITTENHOUSE 290. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 808. STREETER SALE 3177. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 133. Original green publisher's cloth, spine gilt, boards stamped in blind, publisher's patterned endpapers with advertisements. Corners a bit worn, boards slightly rubbed. Map with a few minor creases and an occasional faint fox mark. Light tanning, but overall internally clean. Very good plus.…