First state of this fine large format map of California and Nevada by Charles Drayton Gibbes, probably the best and most authoritative map of the region published in the 1870s.

Charles Gibbes first issued his large format map of California and Nevada in 1869. This map is without question one of the best and most detailed maps of the region, winning high praise from Wheat, Rumsey and other commentators for its unparalleled detail, accuracy and compilation of the most recent information. There are many details which appear on this map which do not appear on other printed maps of the period.

While no comprehensive study of Gibbe's maps have been undertaken, this appears to be the third of Gibbe's large format maps, following the 1869 edition (re-issued in 1876, 1879, 1881, 1882) and a reduced size 1873 edition (which was revised in 1875, 1876 and 1878), and this third edition of 1878 (which appears to have been reissued in 1879, 1881 and 1882).

After a distinguished career as a mapmaker and civil engineer in California, Gibbes (1813-1893) became curator of mineralogy at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, following which he retired on a small pension. As Wheat notes, he left "a record of long-continued and important scientific service in his adopted state."