Death Valley: A Guide

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Very Good in Fair dj. (c.1939). First Edition. Hardcover. [book is moderately shelfworn, has a library-type pocket on front pastedown (with one-time owner's address label affixed), the same owner's signature on the copyright page, and a small envelope glued to the rear pastedown (see notes for content); the fold-out map affixed to rear endpaper is present and in excellent condition; jacket is heavily chipped along top edge, partially split along spine, a little paper loss at spine ends, a few tiny scrape marks on front panel, a tiny scraped hole in rear panel]. (American Guide Series) Series (B&W photographs) Comprehensive guide to the history, geology, climate, topography, flora and fauna of California's Death Valley. As typical with this excellent series, about 2/3 of the book is devoted to detailed automobile tours of the Valley -- in this case, divided between "Main Highways" (7 tours) and "Rough Roads" (13 tours). Many of the 59 photographs in the book were sourced from the Department of Interior or the Union Pacific Railroad, although there are three Edward Weston images, and a dozen or so credited to "Frashers" (the photography business established by Burton Frasher Sr. in 1907). Noting the front-cover blurb that the book was 'approved by the National Park Service," it's interesting to contemplate that Death Valley had only been declared a National Monument just six years before this publication. NOTE that in the small envelope affixed to the rear pastedown (it's unclear whether this was part of the original issue, or applied by a later owner of the book) is contained a rate sheet, dated 1954-1955, for Scotty's Castle -- where the absolutely top-of-the-line accommodation was the "Johnson Suite," available for three people at $30 a night. (The rate sheet, printed on bright pink paper and folded in sixths, is in mint condition.) .