HISTORY OF IDAHO TERRITORY showing its RESOURCES AND ADVANTAGES; with ILLUSTRATIONS descriptive of its SCENERY, RESIDENCES, FARMS, MINES, MILLS, Hotels, Business Houses, Schools, Churches, Etc. From Original Drawings

San Francisco: Wallace E. Elliott & Co., 1884. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good+. Item #1707049

1st printing. Folio in 1/4 calf & cloth. 302pp. Frontispiece: Shoshone Falls. 69 plates (including Front. and 5 double-page plates), 2 colored maps: the Pacific Northwest & Idaho Territory. Some plates are whole page lithos of one ranch or establishment, many are two on one plate, a few are three. A few plates are drawings of people. A few are newspaper facsimiles. The last plate is advertising. There are also numerous smaller illustrations. 1 table. The only caveat of which the buyer should be aware is that a previous owner has protected all edges with a uniformly applied black plastic tape. It is not unattractive and is only 5/16th" deep. Also, the spine is protected with a clear tape. It was carefully affixed. The text is near fine condition with only a couple of short tears, archivally repaired. The lithos are remarkable and show ranches, homes, businesses, etc. in most attractive settings that make you want to go back 150 years and live there. Howes (I2) describes this as the 'First full-scale history of Idaho." This copy has the ink signature on the first blank leaf of B. F. Swalley, whose lovely "Ranch & Home... Boise Valley, Idaho Territory" is featured as a full page lithograph facing page 78. This volume is loaded with interesting and detailed Idaho history. There is of course personal information included, but it is not a mug book with bios the way many of these histories are. It is truly historical in content. The plates are some of the most detailed and interesting this bookseller has ever seen in a pre-1900 territorial history: Mines, ranches, business, homes, government houses, etc. It is no wonder this book in the first edition is so valuable. Vg+.

Price: $1,995.00

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