Mirror Lake Yosemite Valley

New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1872. Steel engraving. 4to (12½" X 9¼"). Near fine. Faint age toning at edges. Wonderfully bright and sharp heavy stock steel engraving from the first edition (1872-74) of editor William Cullen Bryant's landmark "Picturesque America; Or, The Land We Live In. A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Waterfalls, Shores, Canyons, Valleys, Cities, and Other Picturesque Features of Our Country," a hefty two-volume study of America's scenery in words and fine steel engraving considered highly influential to American tourism. In this depiction of the glacial valley in the western Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California, the smooth-as-glass lake features a hunter in the right foreground lying prone in the front of a canoe, having just fired his rifle at a deer swimming ahead of him at center foreground; a sandbar and island appear at dead center, and behind that the heavily-forested lake's edge, with majestic mountains rising in the distance; the lake reflects the woods and mountains so sharply viewers almost feel they are looking at a photograph. Most of the "Picturesque America" engravings were printed on regular text-weight stock, and a much smaller number (such as this example) on a fine, heavy stock -- and unlike most of them, this particular scene has no artist and/or engraver's name included at lower right and lower left of the image.