Quarto album (10 x 12 1/2 in.) 250 x 310 mm. With 30 mounted albumen photos by A. J. Russell (toning and occasional spotting to prints; slight warping to mounts). Half morocco gilt, spine in 5 compartments, gilt lettering in 2, others with gilt decoration (front, back boards and spine detached, partial loss to spine, scuffing).

FIRST EDITION of this important photographic account of Hayden's geological tour of the line along the Union Pacific Railroad. In spite of the title, all of the images are of scenes in the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada (twelve in Wyoming, sixteen in Utah, and two in California). One of the classic books of the American West, and a landmark in the use of actual photographs. A year before the publication of Sun Pictures, Russell had issued his incalculable rarity The Great West Illustrated containing 50 large-format photographs of scenes along the Union Pacific. When formulating his guide, Hayden chose this series of smaller plates to illustrate the geological formations along the route, and to show the burgeoning growth of Salt Lake City. Howes H-337.