THE MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED: Together With an Account of the American Whale-Fishery

Quarto (12 by 9 1/2 inches) San Francisco: John H. Carmany and Company, 1874. Original First Edition. 319 + v pages, hardcover, bound in original green pebble cloth, with title in gilt on spine, and gilt vignette of a seal on upper front cover; 27 lithographic plates drawn by the author, and printed by Britton and Rey, plus many other fine lithographs (a few drawn by another hand) of whaling equipment, seals, dolphins and porpoises. Neat nineteenth century inked gift inscription on front fly leaf; minor normal shelf wear (not affecting the overall content, or binding that are both in very good condition); index.

"This book is the classic work on whales and seals along the Pacific coast. Captain Scammon began his whaling career soon after his arrival in California in 1852. His carefully prepared work is the most comprehensive book on the subject, and he investigated all the then known species of Cetacea as well as the Pinnipedia. His text on the whale fishery takes up the last hundred plus pages of the work. Britton and Rey, California's leading lithographers in the nineteenth century, executed on stone the fine plates from drawings made by the author."

"The first edition is rare, as many copies were left unsold and subsequently destroyed." Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages, p. 564. The Appendix contains a "Catalogue of the Cetacea of the North Pacific Ocean" by W.H. Dall," "Description of a Skeleton of the Right Whale" "Glossary of Words and Phrases Used by Whalemen" "List of Stores and Outfits for a First Class Whale-Ship, for a Cape Horn Voyage."

Scammon was the first to hunt the gray whales found along the California Coast.