2017 Reprint of Volumes One through Three bound into One volume. Volume Four, Volume Five Part One], and Volume Five Part Two] are published separately in one volume under ISBN 978-1684221530 and available from Martino Fine Books. Originally Published in Six Volumes from 1957 to 1963. PUBLISHER DISCLAIMER: This Edition contains all the printed material and single page illustrations contained in Volumes One through Three of this work. Please Note That the FOUR FOLDING PLATES ARE NOT REPRODUCED IN THIS EDITION. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. Hardbound. Cloth. Oversized Quarto. Wheat, the well-known California historian, has undertaken in this work nothing less than to trace the opening of the American West by studying the succession of maps which, beginning in the 1540's, accurately trace the paths of the explorers and the record of the resulting growth of knowledge. Mr. Wheat has sought out every map, manuscript or printed, relating to the Transmississippi West, before 1861, and has selected the most interesting and important. These maps cover the story of Spanish, French and English exploration. These Five volumes bound into two carry the story of American cartography and exploration through the Civil War. He discusses each map, showing its origins and weighing its significance and accuracy. Mr. Wheat has long studied the topography of the West and has searched patiently through map collections in all parts of the country. Scholars, collectors and dealers of Western Americana should find this work an essential tool for Mr. Wheat has produced a work of scholarship that to this day remains without rival in its field. In all 1302 maps are fully described, with many illustrated in full page. A chronological calendar of maps, a full index, and a system of marginal reference make these volumes easier to use than any other comparable work. Please note that our edition is in reduced format, making it both more practical to handle and more affordable. All illustrations have been reproduced, as has all the text. Reductions in the size of the illustrations have been made.