Nordenskiöld, Gustaf

Ruiner af Klippboningar I Mesa Verde's Canons [The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde]

Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners Forlag, 1893. First Edition. Hardcover. 193pp. Folio [37 cm]; 1/4 calf with green pebbled cloth over boards, and gilt lettering and elaborate ornamental designs in gilt and blind on the spine and boards. Green marbled endpapers. Text in Swedish. Stitching visible in the inside margins of the pages near the center. Plate XIV is nearly detached. In the dust jacket, with light soiling, and intermittent small closed and open tears in the edges. Complete with all plates. Very good / very good. Item #55726

Nordenskiold came to the American Southwest in 1891 at the invitation of Richard Wetherill, a local cattle rancher, who, along with Charles Mason, is credited with discovering the Mesa Verde ruins. This collection contains Nordenskiöld's notes and photographs of his travels and excavations in the area. It includes all seventeen full-page plates. These large plates include some absolutely exquisite photogravures of the ruins, including the double page centerfold of "The Cliff Palaces." Also includes 159 smaller black and white illustrations. Full-page map present at the rear. The earliest scholarly monograph on Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde comprises some of the most spectacular American Indian ruins in all of North America. "I shudder to think what Mesa Verde would be today had there been no Gustaf Nordenskiöld. It is through his book that the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde became known and his volume might well be called the harbinger of Mesa Verde National Park as we know it today." - Robert Heyder, former National Park Superintendent.

Price: $4,500.00