SALT LAKE CITY, 1860
Burton sailed for America in the Spring of 1860. The trip, probably at the invitation of his old friend John Steinhauser, promised a welcome tonic for his health and spirits, both at a low ebb after the return from Africa the previous year.
After three months in Canada and the Eastern States, he boarded a stage coach at St. Joseph, Missouri, bound for Salt Lake City. The three week coach ride across the plains, three weeks with the Mormons and his trip on to San Francisco through the Sierra Nevada were recorded in his substantial seven-hundred page volume published in 1861, The City of the Saints and across the Rocky Mountains to California. The following lot consists of drawings and salt prints made on this trip, from August to November 1860. The majority were engraved to illustrate the text and most of these bear printers' instructions in addition to Burton's own inscriptions.
His nine months 'sick leave' in North America, though relaxed in comparison to the rigours of Africa, contained a typically energetic agenda which he set down at the very beginning of The City of the Saints: 'A tour through the domains of Uncle Samuel without visiting the wide regions of the Far West, would be, to use a novel simile, like seeing Hamlet with the part of the Prince of Denmark, by desire, omitted. Moreover, I had long determined, to add the last new name to the list of "Holy Cities"; to visit the young rival, soi-disant, of Memphis, Benares, Jerusalem, Rome, Meccah; and after having studied the beginnings of a mighty empire "in that New World which is the Old", to observe the origin and the working of a regular go-ahead Western and Columbian revelation. Mingled with the wish of prospecting the City of the Great Salt Lake in a spiritual point of view, of seeing Utah as it is, not as it is said to be, was the mundane desire of enjoying a little skirmishing with the savages... and that failing, of inspecting the line of route which Nature, according to the general consensus of guide-books, has pointed out as the proper, indeed the only practical direction for a railway between the Atlantic and the Pacific.' (R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints and across the Rocky Mountains to California, London, 1861, p. 1)
In Salt Lake City itself, Burton was granted an interview with the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, and described, in detail, the layout of the city and its surroundings, Mormon history, beliefs and practices (dwelling on polygamy, perhaps his own favourite idée fixe) and provided the reader with one of the few early unbiased essays on the Mormons.
The Mormons, founded by Joseph Smith at Manchester, New York, in 1830, settled in Utah and formed Salt Lake City in 1847 after being banished from Nauvoo, Illinois in 1846. The proclaimed their own state of Deseret (meaning 'the land of the honey-bee') in 1849 and skirmished with the Federal government until submitting to Federal authority in 1858. At the time of Burton's visit, Brigham Young had succeded Smith and Federal troops were just being withdrawn
Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
細節
Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
(i) The Court House from the Main Road
inscribed as title and inscribed with colour notes
pencil, pen and ink
2½ x 4 3/8in. (6.3 x 11.1cm.)
'After twelve miles drive we fronted the Court-house, the remarkable portal of a new region, and this new region teeming with wonders will now extend about 100 miles. It is the mauvaises terres, or Bad lands, a tract about 60 miles wide and 150 long, stretching in a direction from the north-east to the south-west...' (The City of the Saints, pp. 88-9)
(ii) Chimney Rock from near the Platte
inscribed as title, and dated 'Monday 13/Aug/60' and further inscribed, pencil and ink
3 7/8 x 6 9/16in. (9.8 x 16.6cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 92
'Shortly after "liquoring up" and shaking hands, we found ourselves once more in the valley of the Platte... and I took occasion to sketch the far-formed Chimney Rock ... Again the weather served us: nothing could be more picturesque than this lone pillar of pale rock lying against a huge black cloud, with the forked lightning playing over its devoted head. After a frugal dinner of biscuit and cheese we remounted and pursued our way through airy fire...' (The City of the Saints, pp. 92-3)
(iii) Scott's Bluffs from the East
inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7¼in. (12.7 x 18.4cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 96
'"Scott's Bluffs," situated 285 miles from Fort Kearny and 51 from Fort Laramie, was the last of the great rock formations which we saw on his line, and was of all by far the most curious. In the dull uniformity of the prairies it is a striking and attractive object, far excelling the castled crag of Drachenfels or any of the beauties of romantic Rhine .... As you approach within four or five miles, a massive medieval city gradually defines itself... At a nearer aspect again, the quaint illusion vanishes.' (The City of the Saints, pp. 95-7)
(iv) The Old Shoshone; Jake the Shoshone; The Western Swell
three sketches mounted on one sheet, all inscribed as titles and further inscribed
pencil, pen and ink
7 x 5in. (17.8 x 12.7cm.) overall
and a sketch of the Ranch at Pacific Springs on the reverse
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 116
(v) Four Portrait studies of Shoshone Indians
inscribed, pencil
7¼ x 5in. (18.3 x 12.7cm.)
'I happened to mention to my fellow-travellers the universal dislike of savages to anything like a sketch of their physiognomies; they expressed a doubt that the Indians were subject to the rule. Pencil and paper were at hand, so we proceeded to proof. The savage at first seemed uneasy under the operation, as the Asiatic or African will do, averting his face at times, and shifting position to defeat my purpose. When I passed the caricature around it excited some merriment; the subject forthwith rising from his seat made a sign that he also wished to see it. At the sight, however, he screwed up his features with an expression of intense disgust, and managing to "smudge" over the sketch with his dirty thumb, he left us with a "pooh!" that told all his outraged feelings.' (The City of the Saints, pp. 178-9)
(vi) Two Studies of Indians and a Steer's head
pencil
5 x 5in. (12.7 x 12.7cm.)
(vii) Salt Lake City (from the North)
inscribed at title, pencil, pen and ink
5 x 7 1/8in. (12.7 x 18.1cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, frontispiece
'Presently, standing upon the topmost bluff, we sat down to enjoy a view which I have attempted to reproduce in a sketch. Below the bench lay the dot-like houses of Zion. We could see with bird's eye glance, the city laid out like a chess board, and all the length and breadth of its bee-line streets and crow-flight avenues which, bordered by distance-dwarfed trees, narrowed to threads as they drew towards a vanishing point. Beyond the suburbs, stretched the valley plains, sprinkled with little plantations clustering round the smaller settlements and streaked by the rivulets which, arising from the frowning pine-clad heights on the left, flowed towards the little Jordan of this young Judea on the right. The extreme south was bounded by the denticulated bench which divided like a mole the valleys of the Gt. Salt and Utah Lakes. Already autumn had begun: the purpling plain and golden slopes shed a dying glory over the departing year, while the mellowing light of evening, and aerial blue from above, toned down to absolute beauty each harsher feature of the scene.' (The City of the Saints, p. 435)
(viii) Grid Plan of the Blocks and Streets of Great Salt Lake City
pencil, pen and ink
5 x 7in. (12.7 x 18.4cm.)
A sketch for the more detailed Plan of Great Salt Lake City engraved in The City of the Saints, opposite p. 240
(ix) The Dead Sea (Black Rock from S.E. angle of Great Salt Lake)
signed with initials 'R.F.B.', inscribed as title and further inscribed, pen and ink and watercolour
5 x 7 1/8in. (12.7 x 18.1cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 390
'The first aspect of Mare Mortnum was by no means unprepossessing. As we stood upon the ledge, at whose foot lies the selvage of sand and salt that bounds the wave, we seemed to look upon the sea of the Cyclades. The sky was light and clear, the water of a deep lapis lazuli blue, flecked here and there with the smallest of white horses - tiny billows, urged on by the warm soft wind; and the feeble tumble of the surf upon the miniature sands reminded me, with the first surveyor, "of scenes far, far away, where mightier billows pay their ceaseless tribute to the strand." In front of us, and bounding the extreme north-west, lay Antelope or Church Island, rising in a bold central ridge. This rock forms the western horizon to those looking from the city, and its delicate pink - the effect of a ruddy carpet, woven with myriads of small flowers - blushing in the light of the setting sun, is ever an interesting and beautiful object. Nearer, it has a brown garb, almost without a tinge of green, except in rare, scattered spots; its benches, broken by gashes and gullies, rocks and ravines, are counterparts to those on the mainland; and its form and tintage, softened by the damp overhanging air, and contrasting with the light blue sky and the dark ultramarine streak of sea at its base, add greatly to the picturesqueness of the view ... Where my Sketch was
taken, I looked as through a doorway, whose staples were two detached masses of Stone. On the right rose an irregular heap of conglomerate and sandstone, attached to the ledge behind, and leaning forwards, as if about to fall. On the left, the "Black Rock", which can be seen as a dot from the city, a heap of flint conglomerate, imbedded in slaty, burnt, and altered clay, formed the terminal bluff to a neck of light sand and dark stone ... The Lake, which is about the size of the African Chad, occupies the north-eastern corner of Utah territory, and lies to the north-west of the Gt. S. L. Valley...' (The City of the Saints, pp. 391-3)
(x) Endowment House and Tabernacle from the West
signed with initials 'R.F.B.' and inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7 1/8in. (12.7 x 18.1cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 271
'In the extreme N.W. angle of the Block is the Endowment, here pronounced On-dewment House, separated from the Tabernacle by a high wooden paling. The building of which I made a pen and ink sketch from the West, is of adobe with a pent roof and four windows, one blocked up: the central and higher portion is flanked by two wings, smaller erections of the same shape. The Endowment House is the place of great medicine, and all appertaining to it is carefully concealed from Gentile eyes and ears...' (The City of the Saints, p. 271)
(xi) View of Temple Yard from the N. Gate
signed with initials 'R.F.B.' and inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7¼in. (12.7 x 18.3cm.)
'Temple Block - the only place of public and general worship in the city - was consecrated and a Tabernacle was erected in 1847, immediately after the celebrated exodus from "Egypt on the banks of the Mississippi," on a spot revealed by the past to the present Prophet and his adherents ... The Temple Block is at present a mere waste. A central excavation, which resembles a large oblong grave, is said by Gentiles to be the beginning of a baptismal font twenty feet deep. The S.- western corner is occupied by the Tabernacle...' (The City of Saints, pp. 269-70)
(xii) South end of Tabernacle
inscribed at title, pen and ink
7¼ x 5in. (18.3 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 314
'The S. Western corner is occupied by the Tabernacle ... Over the entrances at the gable ends, which open to the N. and S., is a woodwork representing the sun with his usual coiffure of yellow beams, like a Somali's wig, or the symbol of the Persian Empire ... The speaker or preacher stands on the W. side of the building, which is reserved for the three highest dignitaries, viz. the First Presidency, the "Twelve" (Apostles), and the President of the State of Zion: distinguished strangers are also admitted.' (The City of the Saints, p. 270)
(xiii) Salt Lake House Hotel, Main or Whiskey Street
inscribed on the mount, salt print
3 5/8 x 4 5/8in. (9.2 x 11.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 246 (the engraving also borrows elements from the following salt print,
'Stores in Main Street')
'Presently we debouched upon the main thoroughfare, the centre of population and business, where the houses of the principal Mormon dignitaries, and the stores of the Gentile merchants, combine to form the city's only street which can be properly so called ... Nearly opposite the Post-office, in a block on the eastern site, with a long verandah, supported by trimmed and painted posts, was a two-storied, pent roofed building, whose sign-board, swinging to a tall, gibbet-like flagstaff, dressed for the occasion, announced it to be the Salt Lake House, the principal, if not the only establishment of the kind in New Zion. In the Far West, one learns not to expect much of the hostelry...' (The City of the Saints, p. 247)
(xiv) Stores in Main Street
inscribed as title, salt print laid down on a drawing
4 1/8 x 5¼in. (10.4 x 13.3cm.)
(xv) Old Town Wall
inscribed at title on the mount, uncut faded stereo view salt print
2 7/8 x 5¼in. (7.3 x 13.3cm.)
(xvi) Where the Prophet lives
inscribed as title on the mount, salt print
5 15/16 x 8½in. (15.1 x 21.6cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 301
(xvii) Mr Brigham Young's block
inscribed as title on the mount, faded uncut stereo view salt print laid down on a drawing
3¼ x 6in. (8.2 x 15.2cm.)
For a description of the Prophet's block, where Burton was granted an interview with Brigham Young on August 31, see The City of the Saints, pp. 300-3
(xviii) The Council House
inscribed at title on the mount, salt print
3½ x 4 3/8in. (8.9 x 11.1cm.)
(xix) Mount Nebo, South of Utah Lake
inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7in. (12.7 x 17.8cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 538
'The steep descent of the counterslope of Traverse Mountain disclosed to us the first sight of Utah Lake, which is to its sister what Carmel is to Lebanon ... A panorama of lake, plain, and river lay before us ... From afar the binding of plain round the basin appeared so narrow that the mountains seemed to dip their feet into the quiet reservoir; and beyond the southern point the lone peak of lofty Nebo stood...' (The City of the Saints, p. 403)
(xx) Ensign Peak, N. end of Salt Lake City
inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7in. (12.7 x 17.8cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 436
'overlooking the settlements from a height of 400 feet, a detached cone called Ensign Peak or Ensign Mount rises at the end of a chain which, projected westward from the main range of the heights, overhangs and shelters the north-eastern corner of the valley. Upon this "big toe of the Wasach range," as it is called by a local writer, the spirit of the martyred prophet, Mr Joseph Smith, appeared to his successor Mr. Brigham Young, and pointed to him the position of the New Temple, which, after Zion had "got up into the high mountain," was to console the Saints for the loss of Nauvoo the Beautiful.' (The City of the Saints, pp. 243-4)
(xxi) Profile of a Kanyon and Ancient Lake bench-land
inscribed as titles, pen and ink
7 x 5in. (17.8 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 331 (Ancient Lake bench-land)
'The surface configuration of U[tah]. T[erritory]. is like Central Equatorial Africa, a great depression in a mountain land... Before the present upheaval of the country the Great Interior Basin was evidently of sweetwater inland sea; the bench formation, a system of water-marks, is found in every valley, whilst detached and parallel blocks of mountain ... were in geological ages rock-islands protruding from the lake surface like those that now break the continuity of that "vast and silent sea" the Great Salt Lake. ... the secondary basins ... open into one another by Kanyons and Passes ...' (The City of the Saints, p. 332)
(xxii) First View of Carson Lake
inscribed as title and with colour notes
pen and ink
5 x 7¼in. (12.7 x 18.4cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 594
'Arrived at the summit, we sighted for the first time Carson Lake, or rather the sink of Carson River. It derives its name from the well known mountaineer whose adventurous roamings long anticipated scientific exploration. Supplied by the stream from the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, it is just such a lake as might be formed in any of the basins which we had traversed, a shallow sheet of water which, in the cloudy sky and mitigated glare of the sun, looked pale and muddy.' (The City of the Saints, p. 595)
(xxiii) Virginia City from the N.E.
inscribed as title, pen and ink
7¼ x 5in. (18.4 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 602
'After a day's rest at Carson City, employed in collecting certain necessaries of tobacco and raiment ... I fell in with Captain Dall, Superintendent of the Ophir mines, for whom I bore a recommendation from Judge Crosbie, of U.T. The valuable silver leads of Virginia City occupied me, under the guidance of that hospitable gentleman, two days, and on the third we returned to Carson City...' (The City of the Saints, p. 595)
(xxiv) In the Sierra Nevada
inscribed as title, pen and ink
7¼ x 5in. (18.4 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 606
Burton travelled through the Sierra Nevada, en route from Salt Lake City to San Francisco, in late October, 1860
(xxv) - (xxvii)
and three other Western Landscapes and Figure studies (27)
(i) The Court House from the Main Road
inscribed as title and inscribed with colour notes
pencil, pen and ink
2½ x 4 3/8in. (6.3 x 11.1cm.)
'After twelve miles drive we fronted the Court-house, the remarkable portal of a new region, and this new region teeming with wonders will now extend about 100 miles. It is the mauvaises terres, or Bad lands, a tract about 60 miles wide and 150 long, stretching in a direction from the north-east to the south-west...' (The City of the Saints, pp. 88-9)
(ii) Chimney Rock from near the Platte
inscribed as title, and dated 'Monday 13/Aug/60' and further inscribed, pencil and ink
3 7/8 x 6 9/16in. (9.8 x 16.6cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 92
'Shortly after "liquoring up" and shaking hands, we found ourselves once more in the valley of the Platte... and I took occasion to sketch the far-formed Chimney Rock ... Again the weather served us: nothing could be more picturesque than this lone pillar of pale rock lying against a huge black cloud, with the forked lightning playing over its devoted head. After a frugal dinner of biscuit and cheese we remounted and pursued our way through airy fire...' (The City of the Saints, pp. 92-3)
(iii) Scott's Bluffs from the East
inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7¼in. (12.7 x 18.4cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 96
'"Scott's Bluffs," situated 285 miles from Fort Kearny and 51 from Fort Laramie, was the last of the great rock formations which we saw on his line, and was of all by far the most curious. In the dull uniformity of the prairies it is a striking and attractive object, far excelling the castled crag of Drachenfels or any of the beauties of romantic Rhine .... As you approach within four or five miles, a massive medieval city gradually defines itself... At a nearer aspect again, the quaint illusion vanishes.' (The City of the Saints, pp. 95-7)
(iv) The Old Shoshone; Jake the Shoshone; The Western Swell
three sketches mounted on one sheet, all inscribed as titles and further inscribed
pencil, pen and ink
7 x 5in. (17.8 x 12.7cm.) overall
and a sketch of the Ranch at Pacific Springs on the reverse
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 116
(v) Four Portrait studies of Shoshone Indians
inscribed, pencil
7¼ x 5in. (18.3 x 12.7cm.)
'I happened to mention to my fellow-travellers the universal dislike of savages to anything like a sketch of their physiognomies; they expressed a doubt that the Indians were subject to the rule. Pencil and paper were at hand, so we proceeded to proof. The savage at first seemed uneasy under the operation, as the Asiatic or African will do, averting his face at times, and shifting position to defeat my purpose. When I passed the caricature around it excited some merriment; the subject forthwith rising from his seat made a sign that he also wished to see it. At the sight, however, he screwed up his features with an expression of intense disgust, and managing to "smudge" over the sketch with his dirty thumb, he left us with a "pooh!" that told all his outraged feelings.' (The City of the Saints, pp. 178-9)
(vi) Two Studies of Indians and a Steer's head
pencil
5 x 5in. (12.7 x 12.7cm.)
(vii) Salt Lake City (from the North)
inscribed at title, pencil, pen and ink
5 x 7 1/8in. (12.7 x 18.1cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, frontispiece
'Presently, standing upon the topmost bluff, we sat down to enjoy a view which I have attempted to reproduce in a sketch. Below the bench lay the dot-like houses of Zion. We could see with bird's eye glance, the city laid out like a chess board, and all the length and breadth of its bee-line streets and crow-flight avenues which, bordered by distance-dwarfed trees, narrowed to threads as they drew towards a vanishing point. Beyond the suburbs, stretched the valley plains, sprinkled with little plantations clustering round the smaller settlements and streaked by the rivulets which, arising from the frowning pine-clad heights on the left, flowed towards the little Jordan of this young Judea on the right. The extreme south was bounded by the denticulated bench which divided like a mole the valleys of the Gt. Salt and Utah Lakes. Already autumn had begun: the purpling plain and golden slopes shed a dying glory over the departing year, while the mellowing light of evening, and aerial blue from above, toned down to absolute beauty each harsher feature of the scene.' (The City of the Saints, p. 435)
(viii) Grid Plan of the Blocks and Streets of Great Salt Lake City
pencil, pen and ink
5 x 7in. (12.7 x 18.4cm.)
A sketch for the more detailed Plan of Great Salt Lake City engraved in The City of the Saints, opposite p. 240
(ix) The Dead Sea (Black Rock from S.E. angle of Great Salt Lake)
signed with initials 'R.F.B.', inscribed as title and further inscribed, pen and ink and watercolour
5 x 7 1/8in. (12.7 x 18.1cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 390
'The first aspect of Mare Mortnum was by no means unprepossessing. As we stood upon the ledge, at whose foot lies the selvage of sand and salt that bounds the wave, we seemed to look upon the sea of the Cyclades. The sky was light and clear, the water of a deep lapis lazuli blue, flecked here and there with the smallest of white horses - tiny billows, urged on by the warm soft wind; and the feeble tumble of the surf upon the miniature sands reminded me, with the first surveyor, "of scenes far, far away, where mightier billows pay their ceaseless tribute to the strand." In front of us, and bounding the extreme north-west, lay Antelope or Church Island, rising in a bold central ridge. This rock forms the western horizon to those looking from the city, and its delicate pink - the effect of a ruddy carpet, woven with myriads of small flowers - blushing in the light of the setting sun, is ever an interesting and beautiful object. Nearer, it has a brown garb, almost without a tinge of green, except in rare, scattered spots; its benches, broken by gashes and gullies, rocks and ravines, are counterparts to those on the mainland; and its form and tintage, softened by the damp overhanging air, and contrasting with the light blue sky and the dark ultramarine streak of sea at its base, add greatly to the picturesqueness of the view ... Where my Sketch was
taken, I looked as through a doorway, whose staples were two detached masses of Stone. On the right rose an irregular heap of conglomerate and sandstone, attached to the ledge behind, and leaning forwards, as if about to fall. On the left, the "Black Rock", which can be seen as a dot from the city, a heap of flint conglomerate, imbedded in slaty, burnt, and altered clay, formed the terminal bluff to a neck of light sand and dark stone ... The Lake, which is about the size of the African Chad, occupies the north-eastern corner of Utah territory, and lies to the north-west of the Gt. S. L. Valley...' (The City of the Saints, pp. 391-3)
(x) Endowment House and Tabernacle from the West
signed with initials 'R.F.B.' and inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7 1/8in. (12.7 x 18.1cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 271
'In the extreme N.W. angle of the Block is the Endowment, here pronounced On-dewment House, separated from the Tabernacle by a high wooden paling. The building of which I made a pen and ink sketch from the West, is of adobe with a pent roof and four windows, one blocked up: the central and higher portion is flanked by two wings, smaller erections of the same shape. The Endowment House is the place of great medicine, and all appertaining to it is carefully concealed from Gentile eyes and ears...' (The City of the Saints, p. 271)
(xi) View of Temple Yard from the N. Gate
signed with initials 'R.F.B.' and inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7¼in. (12.7 x 18.3cm.)
'Temple Block - the only place of public and general worship in the city - was consecrated and a Tabernacle was erected in 1847, immediately after the celebrated exodus from "Egypt on the banks of the Mississippi," on a spot revealed by the past to the present Prophet and his adherents ... The Temple Block is at present a mere waste. A central excavation, which resembles a large oblong grave, is said by Gentiles to be the beginning of a baptismal font twenty feet deep. The S.- western corner is occupied by the Tabernacle...' (The City of Saints, pp. 269-70)
(xii) South end of Tabernacle
inscribed at title, pen and ink
7¼ x 5in. (18.3 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 314
'The S. Western corner is occupied by the Tabernacle ... Over the entrances at the gable ends, which open to the N. and S., is a woodwork representing the sun with his usual coiffure of yellow beams, like a Somali's wig, or the symbol of the Persian Empire ... The speaker or preacher stands on the W. side of the building, which is reserved for the three highest dignitaries, viz. the First Presidency, the "Twelve" (Apostles), and the President of the State of Zion: distinguished strangers are also admitted.' (The City of the Saints, p. 270)
(xiii) Salt Lake House Hotel, Main or Whiskey Street
inscribed on the mount, salt print
3 5/8 x 4 5/8in. (9.2 x 11.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 246 (the engraving also borrows elements from the following salt print,
'Stores in Main Street')
'Presently we debouched upon the main thoroughfare, the centre of population and business, where the houses of the principal Mormon dignitaries, and the stores of the Gentile merchants, combine to form the city's only street which can be properly so called ... Nearly opposite the Post-office, in a block on the eastern site, with a long verandah, supported by trimmed and painted posts, was a two-storied, pent roofed building, whose sign-board, swinging to a tall, gibbet-like flagstaff, dressed for the occasion, announced it to be the Salt Lake House, the principal, if not the only establishment of the kind in New Zion. In the Far West, one learns not to expect much of the hostelry...' (The City of the Saints, p. 247)
(xiv) Stores in Main Street
inscribed as title, salt print laid down on a drawing
4 1/8 x 5¼in. (10.4 x 13.3cm.)
(xv) Old Town Wall
inscribed at title on the mount, uncut faded stereo view salt print
2 7/8 x 5¼in. (7.3 x 13.3cm.)
(xvi) Where the Prophet lives
inscribed as title on the mount, salt print
5 15/16 x 8½in. (15.1 x 21.6cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 301
(xvii) Mr Brigham Young's block
inscribed as title on the mount, faded uncut stereo view salt print laid down on a drawing
3¼ x 6in. (8.2 x 15.2cm.)
For a description of the Prophet's block, where Burton was granted an interview with Brigham Young on August 31, see The City of the Saints, pp. 300-3
(xviii) The Council House
inscribed at title on the mount, salt print
3½ x 4 3/8in. (8.9 x 11.1cm.)
(xix) Mount Nebo, South of Utah Lake
inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7in. (12.7 x 17.8cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 538
'The steep descent of the counterslope of Traverse Mountain disclosed to us the first sight of Utah Lake, which is to its sister what Carmel is to Lebanon ... A panorama of lake, plain, and river lay before us ... From afar the binding of plain round the basin appeared so narrow that the mountains seemed to dip their feet into the quiet reservoir; and beyond the southern point the lone peak of lofty Nebo stood...' (The City of the Saints, p. 403)
(xx) Ensign Peak, N. end of Salt Lake City
inscribed as title, pen and ink
5 x 7in. (12.7 x 17.8cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 436
'overlooking the settlements from a height of 400 feet, a detached cone called Ensign Peak or Ensign Mount rises at the end of a chain which, projected westward from the main range of the heights, overhangs and shelters the north-eastern corner of the valley. Upon this "big toe of the Wasach range," as it is called by a local writer, the spirit of the martyred prophet, Mr Joseph Smith, appeared to his successor Mr. Brigham Young, and pointed to him the position of the New Temple, which, after Zion had "got up into the high mountain," was to console the Saints for the loss of Nauvoo the Beautiful.' (The City of the Saints, pp. 243-4)
(xxi) Profile of a Kanyon and Ancient Lake bench-land
inscribed as titles, pen and ink
7 x 5in. (17.8 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 331 (Ancient Lake bench-land)
'The surface configuration of U[tah]. T[erritory]. is like Central Equatorial Africa, a great depression in a mountain land... Before the present upheaval of the country the Great Interior Basin was evidently of sweetwater inland sea; the bench formation, a system of water-marks, is found in every valley, whilst detached and parallel blocks of mountain ... were in geological ages rock-islands protruding from the lake surface like those that now break the continuity of that "vast and silent sea" the Great Salt Lake. ... the secondary basins ... open into one another by Kanyons and Passes ...' (The City of the Saints, p. 332)
(xxii) First View of Carson Lake
inscribed as title and with colour notes
pen and ink
5 x 7¼in. (12.7 x 18.4cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 594
'Arrived at the summit, we sighted for the first time Carson Lake, or rather the sink of Carson River. It derives its name from the well known mountaineer whose adventurous roamings long anticipated scientific exploration. Supplied by the stream from the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, it is just such a lake as might be formed in any of the basins which we had traversed, a shallow sheet of water which, in the cloudy sky and mitigated glare of the sun, looked pale and muddy.' (The City of the Saints, p. 595)
(xxiii) Virginia City from the N.E.
inscribed as title, pen and ink
7¼ x 5in. (18.4 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, opposite p. 602
'After a day's rest at Carson City, employed in collecting certain necessaries of tobacco and raiment ... I fell in with Captain Dall, Superintendent of the Ophir mines, for whom I bore a recommendation from Judge Crosbie, of U.T. The valuable silver leads of Virginia City occupied me, under the guidance of that hospitable gentleman, two days, and on the third we returned to Carson City...' (The City of the Saints, p. 595)
(xxiv) In the Sierra Nevada
inscribed as title, pen and ink
7¼ x 5in. (18.4 x 12.7cm.)
ENGRAVED:
R.F. Burton, The City of the Saints, p. 606
Burton travelled through the Sierra Nevada, en route from Salt Lake City to San Francisco, in late October, 1860
(xxv) - (xxvii)
and three other Western Landscapes and Figure studies (27)