Bidspirit auction | Jackson, Sheldon. Report on Education

Jackson, Sheldon. Report on Education in Alaska. Department of the Interior, 1886. First Edition. - This official government publication is the 1886 report on the District of Alaska by Sheldon Jackson, D.D., the U.S. General Agent of Education in Alaska. The report was transmitted to the Senate by Secretary of the Interior L. Q. C. Lamar in response to a February 15 Senate resolution. The volume is an octavo bound in the publisher's original grey cloth, featuring a blind-stamped rectangular border and gold gilt lettering on the front cover. The text contains detailed accounts of Alaskan educational efforts, missionary work, and ethnographic observations during the early American administration of the territory. Included is a large, multi-fold Sketch Map of South East Alaska, furnished by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and dated 1885. The work is illustrated with several plates, including a multi-fold black-and-white lithograph titled Village of Cave Dwellers, King's Island, Alaska and views of Sitka showing the Greek Church and Training School. It also features ethnographic photographs comparing Eskimo families. Illustrations include credits to Rand McNally and Co., Frank Leslie, and the Northern Pacific Railroad. The cloth binding exhibits visible shelf wear, including scuffing to the boards and fraying at the head and foot of the spine. The internal binding is weakened, with hinges significantly split and exposed stitching visible at the gutters throughout the volume. The interior pages show light foxing and occasional spotting, primarily to the preliminary and concluding leaves. The large fold-out map and internal illustrations remain in good condition with minor toning at the creases but no major separations or tears observed.