Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$445.21 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES - SUPER COPIES : Here we have the first two volumes :, that eventually rose to the region of 11 by 1905. Vol 1: Narrative, glaciers, natives / by John Burroughs, John Muir, George Bird Grinnell; Vol 2: History, geography, resources / by William H. Dall et al.Alaska.- Burroughs (John), John Muir and George Bird Grinnell. The account of the Harriman Alaska Expedition was first published in eleven volumes between 1901and 1905. They featured numerous photogravures by Edward S. Curtis { see note further down }. A little bit about the inspiration for the expedition, one Edward Henry Harriman, the business executive who controlled a number of transportation companies including the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, organized and financed a maritime scientific exploring expedition to coastal Alaska and Siberia during the summer of 1899. Alaska, purchased from the Russian Empire by the United States Government on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million dollars, was administered as a district beginning in 1884, with a governor appointed by the President of the United States. Harriman asked C. Hart Merriam, a founder of the National Geographic Society, and head of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy at the United States Department of Agriculture, to select the scientific party. Merriam assembled a multidisciplinary team of thirty that encompassed arctic experts, botanists, biologists and zoologists, geologists and geographers, and artists, photographers, and writers. The writer John Burroughs, naturalist John Muir, geologists Benjamin Emerson and Grove Karl Gilbert, artists Frederick Dellenbaugh and Louis Agassiz Fuertes, photographer Edward S. Curtis, the writer, naturalist, and authority on Native American culture, George Bird Grinnell, and zoologist C. Hart Merriam were counted among the party members. Harriman outfitted the steamship SS George W. Elder with a library of over five hundred titles on Alaska, lecture rooms, a stable for animals and a taxidermy studio, and individual rooms for the members of the scientific expedition. The Elder left Seattle on May 31, 1899, and made stops at Vancouver Island, Metlakatla, Skagway and Sitka, Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island, the Shumagin Islands, and Plover Bay in Siberia. On July 26, during the return leg of the voyage, the ship stopped at the abandoned Tlingit village at Cape Fox in Southeast Alaska, where many native objects and totem poles were removed under protest by certain party members. By July 30, 1899 the Elder had returned to Seattle. A little bit about the Photographer: Curtis grew up in the unbridled outdoors of Wisconsin and Minnesota in the late-nineteenth century. After moving to Seattle in the 1890s, Curtis established himself as the city’s premier society photographer. Maybe better known for his life's work, the recording of the lives of regional Native Americans. He became the official photographer for the Harriman expedition. It was the watershed moment in Curtis's professional life, and launched him on his thirty year mission to create "The North American Indian". Without his seminal experiences on the Harriman Alaska Expedition, it is doubtful that Curtis would ever have envisioned or created his masterwork. 2 vol., first edition, half-titles, colour frontispieces, plates, some colour, maps, occasional spotting or light foxing, original pictorial cloth, gilt, 1 corner with a little rubbing, a very good set, clean and securely bound. Volumes continuously numbered 393 pages. The highlights are 39 chromo-lithographs, 85 photogravure plates, [ including 45 by Edward S. Curtis, ] 240 figures and 5 maps. The moment you open these volumes, they reflect the sheer amount of professionalism, with professionals in so many spheres that took part in the expedition. It speaks to you, allows your mind to follow in their footsteps. Wonderful volumes.
Seller: BiblioFile, Cadole, FLINT, United Kingdom
Price: US$925.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 3 volume set. Near fine. Bound in publisher's green cloth. Gilt bordered, with seal and glacier diamond on front of the first two volumes. Handsome bindings and covers. Top edge gilts. Mylar dust jackets. Clean, unmarked pages. xxxvii, [3], 183, [1]; [2], 185-383, [1] pp. Color frontisps. both vols., 37 color plates (some chromolithographs), 85 photogravure plates, 1 large folding color map, numerous text illusts. & maps. V.3 printed in 1910, has original green cloth dust jacket, X, 173 p., 33 plates. Stamp on fep. Note: Penciled inscription states that these books sold for $2990 at Swann's Auction sale 03/12/1997. Name on fep. 45 of the photogravures after photographs by Edward S. Curtis. Contents: v. 1. Narrative, glaciers, natives / by John Burroughs, John Muir and George Bird Grinnell; v. 2. History, geography, resources / by William H. Dallâ v. 4. Geology and paleontology / by B.K. Emerson. Refs: Arctic Bib 6676
Seller: Sequitur Books, Boonsboro, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Description: 2 vols. Illustrated throughout from photographs and engravings. 4to, publisher's gilt green ribbed cloth, t.e.g., in publisher's flexible cloth gilt-lettered wrappers. First edition. Engraved bookplates on each pastedown; a beautiful set.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: In 1899, wealthy railroad magnate Edward Harriman arranged for a maritime expedition to Alaska. Harriman brought with him an elite community of scientists, artists, photographers, and naturalists to explore and document the Alaskan coast. The Harriman Alaska expedition explored the coast of Alaska for two months, from Seattle to Siberia and back again. Two volume set. 39 chromo-lithographs, 85 photogravure plates, including 45 by Edward S. Curtis, 240 figures, 5 maps. Original gilt-stamped green cloth. No dustjackets. Vol 1, 183 pp; Vol 2, 383 pp. All pages, maps and illustrations present; all protected by tissue guards. Bit of shelf wear to the bottom edges of the text block. Two previous owners' book plates present in both volumes, Steve Fossett Collection of Adventure & Exploration, Ladies Library Association, Port Huron (Mi). No library stamps or any indication that the books were circulated. This is a beautiful first edition set of an important book in the history of travel and exploration and has an association with James Stephen "Steve" Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraft. He made his fortune in the financial services industry and was best known for many world records, including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo flight fixed-wing aircraft pilot.
Seller: A Turn of the Page Books, Fishers, IN, U.S.A.
Burroughs, John. Harriman Alaska Expedition, Volumes I & II. Doubleday, Page, New York, 1901.
Price: US$1350.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Two volume set. 39 chromo-lithographs, 85 photogravure plates, including 45 by Edward S. Curtis, 240 figures, 5 maps. Original gilt-stamped green cloth. No dustjackets. Very minor defects. A fine addition to any collection.
Seller: Young & Sons Enterprises, Apache, OK, U.S.A.
Price: US$3125.00 + shipping
Description: Two volumes in publisher's decorated green cloth with the scarce gilt-lettered green cloth dustwrappers. The first volume covers Narrative Glaciers, and Natives; the second History, Geography, and Resources with contributions by William H. Dall, Charles Keller, Henry Gannett, William H. Brewer, C. Hart Merriam, and M. L. Washburn. Beautifully illustrated with 85 photogravures 45 of them from photographs by Edward S. Curtis), 39 chromolithograph plates after paintings by expedition artists, including Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and 3 maps in color (1 folding), in addition to numerous illustrations throughout the text. The 1899 expedition was funded by wealthy railroad baron Edward Harriman and included some of the most famous scientists, authors, and artists of the time launching the career of Edward Curtis and connecting him with Grinnell which would ultimately result in his massive work on photographing Native American tribes. Thirteen volumes about the expedition would ultimately be published, but these first two volumes, published separately, are the only two that recount the expedition; all others were scientific reports. Fine, bright copies in Near Fine, complete dustwrappers and quite scarce in this condition
Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.
CURTIS Edward HARRIMAN Edward H.. Alaska. Narrative, Glaciers, Natives.. , 1901.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Description: (CURTIS, Edward) HARRIMAN ALASKA EXPEDITION. Alaska. Volume I: Narrative, Glaciers, Natives. Volume II: History, Geography, Resources. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1901. Two volumes. Tall octavo, original green cloth, top edges gilt, uncut, original cloth dust jackets. $5000.First edition account of the 1899 Harriman Expedition to Alaska, with 39 color plates (including 16 heliotype plates of coastal birds by Louis Agassiz Fuertes), 85 full-page photogravures (45 by Edward S. Curtis), five maps and numerous in-text illustrations.In 1899, railroad magnate Edward Henry Harriman assembled a team of 26 distinguished scientists and artists, among them C. Hart Merriam, chief of the U.S. Biological Survey, John Burroughs, the best selling nature writer of the day, John Muir, much-admired father of the American conservation movement, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the nation's most notable ornithological painter since Audubon, and Edward S. Curtis, famous photographer of the North American Indian. Harriman took this group on a two-month survey along the 9,000-mile coast of British Columbia and Alaska, from the panhandle to the Bering Strait. The expedition returned with over 100 trunks of specimens and more than 5000 photographs and paintings. From this material the team produced 12 volumes (of a projected 14) of Alaskan natural history from the coastal region over the next 12 years. These are the first two volumes of their discoveries, including John Muir's "The Pacific Coast Glaciers," George Bird Grinnell's "Natives of the Alaska Coast Region" and John Burroughs' 118-page "Narrative of the Expedition." "History has shown that the Harriman Alaska Expedition lived up to all expectations: genera and species new to science were described, fossil species newly recorded, natural history collections created, and the Harriman Fiord surveyed for the first time. By any standard, the world's scientific and environmental portrait of Alaska was greatly enriched as a result of the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition" (PBS). Wickersham 4013. Fine condition.
Seller: Bauman Rare Books, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$5250.00 + shipping
Description: Pp. (vol. I): xxxvii, 1-183; (vol. II): (vi), 185-383; (vol. III): xii, 1-231; (vol. IV): x, 1-173; (vol. V): ix, 1-424; (vol. VI): (not published); (vol. VII): (not published); (vol. VIII): ix, 1-238; (vol. IX): ix, 1-284; (vol. X): x, 1-337; (vol. XI): xii, 1-251; (vol. XII): xiv, 1-355; (vol. XIII): xii, 1-250; (vol. XIV, part 1): xii, 1-408; (vol. XIV, part 2): 1-220; with 452 plates including one tinted lithograph, 2 lithographs printed in two colors, 55 chromolithographs), and 10 chromolithographic maps (5 are folding), 750+ text-figures. Publisher's original dark-green ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt with gilt vignettes on the covers featuring a walrus or the Smithsonian seal), sm 4to. In 1899, wealthy railroad magnate Edward Harriman arranged for a maritime expedition to Alaska. Harriman brought with him an elite team of scientists, artists, photographers, and naturalists to explore and document the Alaskan coast. Some notable participants are William Brewer, naturalist; John Muir, naturalist; William Dall, paleontologist, Frederick Coville, botanist; William Trelease, botanist; Daniel Elliot, zoologist; Clinton Hart Merriam, zoologist; A. K. Fisher, ornithologist; Charles Keeler, ornithologist; Robert Ridgway, ornithologist; Benjamin Emerson, geologist; Grove Karl Gilbert, geologist; Edward Curtis, photographer; Frederick Dellenbaugh, artist; Louis Agassiz Fuertes, bird artist, and writers George Bird Grinnell and John Burroughs. The following volumes resulted: Vol I: Narrative, Glaciers, Natives; Vol II: History, Geography, Resources; Vol III: Glaciers and Glaciation; Vol IV: Geology and Paleontology; Vol V: Cryptogamic Botany; Vol. VI and VII on Mammals by Merriam were never published; Vol VIII: Insects, Part 1; Vol IX: Insects, Part 2; Vol X: Crustaceans; Vol XI: Nemerteans, Bryozoans; Vol XII: Enchytraeids, Tubicolous Annelids; Vol XIII: Land and Fresh Water Mollusks; Vol XIV in 2 parts: Starfishes of the North Pacific Coast. Private ownership signatures or bookplates in three volumes only, a few corners with slight bumps; a uniformly bright and clean set in near fine to fine condition.
Seller: Natural History Books, Iowa City, IA, U.S.A.