HAYDEN’S PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED REPORTS OF THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 1867-78, WITH SCARCE MAP PORTFOLIO VOLUME

HAYDEN, Ferdinand Vandiveer. Annual Reports of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories [for the years 1867-78]. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873-83. Twelve volumes (eleven text volumes and separate octavo portfolio of folded maps). Thick octavo, original brown cloth gilt.    $15,000.

Scarce complete set of first editions of Hayden’s important surveys, profusely illustrated with nearly 700 maps and plates-many folding, many in color-and numerous in-text illustrations. A monumental primary source offering a wealth of geological, topographical, mineralogical, paleontological and zoological knowledge of the American West, including particular attention to Yellowstone National Park in the final annual report, the capstone to Hayden’s life’s work. “Yellowstone cartography was placed [by Hayden] on a vastly higher level; these must be regarded as the first modern maps of the Park” (Wheat, 349). Accompanied by scarce map portfolio containing nine very large folding maps and one sheet with three tinted panoramic views. An undisputed landmark of American natural history and cartography.

In 1872 Hayden resigned as a professor of geology at the University of Pennsylvania to devote full time to the United States Geologic Survey. His natural-history surveys of Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming “laid the foundation for the United States Geological Survey as it exists today” (DAB). Over the course of his career, Hayden’s name became virtually synonymous with the Yellowstone National Park region. He had been one of the first to explore the area, acting as the official geologist for both the Warren and Raynolds expeditions in 1856, 1857 and 1859. Following the Washburn-Doane expedition of 1871, as the idea emerged to make Yellowstone the United States’ first national park, Hayden returned to the field, and his reconnaissance work led to the founding of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 (Brown, 193). Not until 1878, however, was Hayden able to complete a comprehensive survey of the park area. “Hayden was an influential naturalist, an innovative geologist and a masterful entrepreneur for science… From his explorations of the Yellowstone region, he gained a reputation as the popularizer of natural wonders and scenery… His colleagues elected him to the National Academy of Sciences in 1873, as well as to the leading scientific bodies in the United States and Europe, because of the important research he engendered” (ANB). Every report is divided into several parts, each assembled by one of the specialists on his expedition. Without Julius Bien’s Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado. Wheat, 344-49 (and see items 1225, 1231, 1233, 1239). See Sabin 31006, Soliday 1064. Hayden’s presentation slip in two volumes; discrete library stamps of Leipzig University in the first, fourth and seventh volumes; stamps of the Fribourg Society of Natural Sciences in the last two volumes.

Interiors fine, only a few maps split along folds, minor rubbing to original cloth, some headbands frayed, front hinge of portfolio starting. An extremely good complete set. Scarce.