Lost Mountains in the Great Basin with Desert Flora - Mohane, California, 1856

€ 220

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1856
Sheet size: 20.7 × 28.3 cm (8.1 × 11.1 in)
Condition: Excellent
Reference: BG-14038-74

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

Preservation with minimal signs of aging. Colors remain vibrant, and the paper shows only light foxing around the edges.

About this sheet

Lost Mountains in the Great Basin, a color-tinted lithograph of 1856 from the Pacific Railroad Surveys reports, numbered "Plate IX" with the heading "U.S.P.R.R. Exp. & Surveys" at the top. The plate is lettered "Lost Mountains in the Great Basin" beneath the image.

Tall, spindly Joshua trees dominate the foreground, one at the left with long bare limbs ending in tufts of leaves and a group of slimmer ones at the right. A figure rests in the shade beneath the left tree while a laden pack animal stands beside it, and a second figure walks the middle ground among scattered scrub and prickly pear. Low, isolated hills float on the hazy horizon beyond a pale desert floor.

The Mohave desert country shown here lay in southern California, on the survey's route toward the Pacific, and the Joshua tree was one of the plants the expedition naturalists recorded there.