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This book serves as a nice companion to The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, but not as a substitute, unless you are solely interested in Powell's Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon.
This large format book is broken up into three main parts: Foreword by Don D. Fowler, Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon 1869 by John Wesley Powell, and The Canyons of the Colorado - Past and Present 1969 by Eliot Porter. Interspersed throughout the book are illustrations from the second expedition in 1871, both engravings and photographs. Also Porter's own color photographs from around the time of this books publication, circa 1960's.
Fowler's foreword is quite useful as a brief chronicling of exploration of the Canyon lands. He also goes at some length to explain the historical inaccuracies of Powell's own diary. Powell apparently blended events of both expeditions into one account to make more of an exciting tale to reproduce for the Scribner's readers back east at the time. His hopes were to excite the public and build momentum for Congress to fund further exploration. This fortunately worked. There is also a fair bit of negativity hinted at the creation of Lake Powell, thus flooding Glen Canyon, one of the rivers in which Powell journey through. The Diary account is the same as can be found in the Penguin or Dover edition more commonly found in bookstores. The main exception, and a helpful one at that, are a few added footnotes in which it is pointed out where Powell supplemented the first expedition diary with events that occurred in his second expedition. There are also a few quotes taken from some of the other member's diaries, and I dare say, might be more interesting writing than Powell's. Particularly that of Bradley's, which apparently at times contradicts directly what Powell writes, but not on any points that bear importance. Lastly, there is Porter's Epilogue, which sounds more like Edward Abbey rant than anything, but I can sympathize seeing that this is written only a few years after the damming of Glen Canyon. Porter's photo's are nice and large and focus on the close and intimate side of the canyons. No large landscapes here. ( )
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This large format book is broken up into three main parts: Foreword by Don D. Fowler, Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon 1869 by John Wesley Powell, and The Canyons of the Colorado - Past and Present 1969 by Eliot Porter. Interspersed throughout the book are illustrations from the second expedition in 1871, both engravings and photographs. Also Porter's own color photographs from around the time of this books publication, circa 1960's.
Fowler's foreword is quite useful as a brief chronicling of exploration of the Canyon lands. He also goes at some length to explain the historical inaccuracies of Powell's own diary. Powell apparently blended events of both expeditions into one account to make more of an exciting tale to reproduce for the Scribner's readers back east at the time. His hopes were to excite the public and build momentum for Congress to fund further exploration. This fortunately worked. There is also a fair bit of negativity hinted at the creation of Lake Powell, thus flooding Glen Canyon, one of the rivers in which Powell journey through.
The Diary account is the same as can be found in the Penguin or Dover edition more commonly found in bookstores. The main exception, and a helpful one at that, are a few added footnotes in which it is pointed out where Powell supplemented the first expedition diary with events that occurred in his second expedition. There are also a few quotes taken from some of the other member's diaries, and I dare say, might be more interesting writing than Powell's. Particularly that of Bradley's, which apparently at times contradicts directly what Powell writes, but not on any points that bear importance.
Lastly, there is Porter's Epilogue, which sounds more like Edward Abbey rant than anything, but I can sympathize seeing that this is written only a few years after the damming of Glen Canyon. Porter's photo's are nice and large and focus on the close and intimate side of the canyons. No large landscapes here. (