Volumes I-IV (only, of seven) plus Atlas. Volume I: Systematic Geology (1878). x, [2], 803 pp. 28 plates about half in color after studies by Gilbert Manger the others after photographs by T.H. O'Sullivan, and 4 folding maps, other maps, tables and charts. Volume II: Descriptive Geology (1877). xiii, [1], 890 pp. 26 plates from photographs by T.H. O'Sullivan. Volume III: Mining Industry (1870). xii, [4], 647 pp. 38 lithographs of mining tools and processes. Atlas Accompanying Volume III on Mining Industry. 1 pg, and 14 lithograph maps and sections mostly after surveys of R.H. Stretch. All but one of the maps in color, and 3 of them oversize. 10 of the maps detail the Comstock Lode. Volume IV: Palaeontology (Parts I-II) and Ornithology (1877). xii, 650 pp. (lacking final index leaf, supplied in typescript). 24 plates after drawings by H.W. Elliott and H.M. Martin. Together, 5 volumes. Lithograph plates executed by Julius Bien. 11x8¾ (text vols.), 19x25 (Atlas), original blue-green cloth, spines lettered in gilt. Mixed Edition. Two volumes with inkstamp imprint of Trubner in London, apparent reprints.
The great landmark survey of the 40th parallel supervised by Clarence King, who in 1879 became the first director of the U.S. Geological Survey. This elaborate and profusely illustrated study was an important spur to development of the West's natural resources and led to further settlement.
Condition:
Cloth very shaken and worn, Vol III. needs rebinding; scattered offsetting, few plates loose and laid in, marginal dampstain in Vol. I affecting about 4 plates. Atlas with many plates loose; minor marginal fingersoiling, one double-page map with browned area near centerfold; final two maps with pale dampstain. Overall, very good internally, the color plates in Vol. I and the Atlas generally clean and bright. An important set, worthy of restoration.