1869 COAST PILOT OF ALASKA First Part - FROM SOUTHERN BOUNDARY TO COOK'S INLET. By George Davidson. From the Introduction: "The coast, harbors, climate, and productions of Alaska, formed the principal part of the official report of George Davidson, who was in charge of the geographical reconnaissance of the coast of Alaska, in August, September, October, and November 1867..."

WASHINGTON: Government Printing Office, 1869. First edition.

Hardcovers, cloth covered boards, gilt titling to the front cover and spine, 7x10.5 inches, 251 pages plus the unnumbered plates. ILLUSTRATED with 8 plates, 2 of which fold-open. Four of the 8 plates are loose but in their proper place. All are solid, bright, clear and attractive.

GOOD condition: the covers' are worn through at the corner tips and spine ends, the gilt on the front cover and spine has faded, substantially so on the spine, the spine ends are chipped and the spine folds are cracking but holding well, and there are some shelf rubs; overall the covers are original, solid, and doing their job. Internally, the pages are lightly toned as normal, a few pages are loosening but holding with the sewn binding. The EIGHT PLATES are all present, four are loose but in their proper place, they are all clean and bright.

SIGNED and INSCRIBED by the AUTHOR on the title page: "Col. Brantz Mayer U.S.A. [U.S. Army] / With the regards of George Davidson [signed]".

******Brantz Mayer, b.1809 d.1879, was an American writer, lawyer, and historian. In 1844, he founded the Maryland Historical Society. During the American Civil War, Mayer was an active Unionist, and in 1861 was appointed president of the Maryland Union State general committee, and did much to aid the Union cause. In 1867, he was appointed a paymaster in the United States Army [rank of Colonel], a post which he held until 1875.****** - Wikipedia.

Hard-to-Find, especially so SIGNED and INSCRIBED, and with all its plates present.

Side Note: The bottom of the rear pastedown has the small label: "The Torch Press Book Shop / Cedar Rapids / Iowa". The press opened in 1907, the book shop a while later, dissolved c.1962. An early and important Midwest printing and bookselling operation. You can read about it online on a number of University of Iowa websites.