MOUNTAIN WEST.
National Park Guidebook, 1956.
The original Yellowstone Haynes Guide was compiled by the legendary regional pioneer, Frank Ellis Haynes, his first guide detailing the park’s geography, its otherworldly thermal features, and otherwise breathtaking mountainous flora and fauna, published in 1890. The guide would be revised and republished almost every year enough to keep it current on tourist shop shelves into the 1960s. In 1952, Frank’s son, Jack, a park exploration companion throughout Frank’s life and expert in his own right, completed this mid-century revision. Here is a fine example of that revision: the 57th edition of the guide published in 1956. The evolution of one of the longest running tourist guide series in American park history is easily found online, with downloadable versions at the Library of Congress. Including many 1950s motor tourist staples, such as a roadmap, mileage tables, and photography tips, there is another most interesting time stamp to be found in this guide’s Intro. With the free world leading U.S. in the thick of a heated Cold War with communist-ordered Soviet Russia, there is a dedication to “American free enterprise,” by way of the “public-spirited” concessioneers who were supporting the needs of the flood of tourists to Yellowstone and the National Park system, in general, across the post World War II decade … The guide itself contains a mid-century census of the park’s animals and birds and is filled of the photos and inset maps for which they were known, some 25 close-up tours from every nook and cranny of the park: from the famous Theodore Roosevelt arch at the North Entrance, across the many springs and geyser basins, to the park’s famous lake and heavily photographed falls. This is vintage American-century “Americana” at its best. [Condition: Used Very Good — At 70 years of age, this slim volume shows only light use. The most noticeable blemishes are water stains that penetrate the entire guide in its upper left corner and half the guide along one edge; but the damage was limited and takes nothing away from its otherwise clean interior. There is slight age discoloration on the inside covers, the outside covers in fine shape, no scratches, and exhibiting the sharp graphic style indicative of the era. Though the binding seems a bit fragile with age, it holds true; the fold-out map attached to the back inside cover, like the interior pages, in pristine shape.]
Condition: Used Very Good.
Travel / Touring.
Jack Ellis Haynes.
Haynes Studios (Bozeman, Montana) / NPS, 1956.
Softcover, 190 pgs, 5” x 7.5” / 8 oz
