Sir Richard Francis Burton. The City of the Saints or Across the Rocky Mountains to California. Longman Green & Co., London, 1862.

Price: US$795.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: a near fine copy in an Alan Grace dark calf and marbled boards binding vellum tips and red morocco gilt title label on spine, illustrated. with a frontis of the City of the Saints, Salt Lake City and an exploration of the Mormons as well as a journey across North America ca. 1860 just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. A great explorer and author explores America. a classic, listed in all major sources on Americana. 21 engraveds plates includes a fold out map of his trek, and a map of the Great Salt Lake and then one of the WorldRichard Francis Burton's account of his travels in the American west, including Salt Lake City. After stopping in New York and Washington, Burton spent three mysterious months in the South; Edward Rice, in his recent biography of Burton, hints that he may have been on a secret mission to southern leaders on the eve of the Civil War. He reappeared in St. Joseph (at which point his narrative begins), where he caught a stagecoach for Salt Lake City. After spending some time in the Mormon capital, Burton proceeded on to Carson City, Sacramento, and finally San Francisco. Though generally overlooked, this is one of Burton's best works. "The book," Rice says, "is a rare account by an experienced traveler who was alert to every detail, to language, to the nuances of a dynamic developing nation that showed high civilization on its eastern coast and progressive barbarism as one traveled westward. It is mid-century America in five hundred pages and appendixes and rarely dull" (Rice, p. 334-5)

Seller: Hirschfeld Galleries, Saint Louis, MO, U.S.A.