Beschreibung:

Bailey, Rev. G[ilbert]. S[tephen] (1822-1891). The Great Caverns of Kentucky. Chicago: Church & Goodman, 1863. 24mo, green embossed cloth, gilt lettering on front, 63pp. WorldCat finds only 8 institutional copies of this plus a new reprint. The caves were visited on a tour of the south in 1860, taken by the author for health reasons. Descriptions of Diamond Cave/Caverns, Mammoth Cave and Hundred Dome Cave, with maps of all three having keys to features that he witnessed. The first discovered in July 1859, the cave had only been known for a short time before the author's visit. Today it is in Mammoth Cave National Park. This cave system has been described (by the tourism folks) as Kentucky's most beautiful cave, with thousands of "draperies" as well as stalactites, stalagmites and other flowstone deposits. Rev. Bailey's description was surely one of the earliest published. His journey through just a bit of Mammoth Cave describes much of the history to that point - the ice house, saltpeter mining, cottages for consumptive patients (who all died of the disease), and more. At the time of his visit, "only" a hundred miles or so of the caves were known. Today nearly four times that has been explored. It is thought that Hundred Dome (Coach) Cave was also first explored about 1859. Bailey, with others in his tour group, scratched his name on a wall of the cave. Bailey saw this as one of the most interesting caves, with more "scenery" than Mammoth, though not as large. He visited on two days, January 19 and 23, 1860, and devotes two chapters to this cave. Condition: Light shelf wear, scattered foxing. Some loss at foot of spine.