PRELIMINARY NOTE. 



The lists which follow are the natural outgrowth of the work attendant upon the careful 

 examination of all accessible literature for meteorological and bydrographical as well as geo- 

 graphical information in regard to' the region. This examination became necessary in preparing 

 the Coast Pilot of Alaska, now in progress. When maps, charts, or printed information bearing 

 upon a particular locality were found, it was necessary to keep a record, so that it could be readily 

 referred to afterward when the special locality came under consideration. The list is thus a 

 working list, slightly amplified for completeness' sake. 



The search has been rather for such maps and books as woidd afford information than for 

 rare editions or curious antiques. All such have been included when found, but no special search 

 has been made for them. 



In regard to the maps and charts, it may be said that there is no existing list of them for this 

 region except the catalogues of those who publish charts, and which include only one series of 

 publications, as those of the British Admiralty, for instance. In the present list an attempt has 

 been made to give the title of each chart [in parentheses], or at least so much of it as would be 

 sufficient to identify the chart among others of a similar character, to indicate its source, author- 

 ity and date, and to add such notes as might be of service to those who might take the list as a 

 guide. The amount of Russian type at command being exceedingly small, it became necessary to 

 transliterate the Russian map-titles or omit them, and it was thought the former horn of the 

 dilemma was the least objectionable, although open to the criticism that no transliteration cau 

 ever be quite consistent or satisfactory. 



The transliteration adopted is, as nearly as may be, phonetic, the vowels being all separately 

 pronounced without exception, and having the continental values (e, as in bey ; «, as in bah ; i, as 

 ee in seen; o, as in low; u, as in blue; eh, always, as in church; M, as in German ah; g, always 

 hard ; Russian <?, as oh English; the third letter of the Russian alphabet, B, as v, to, or/ English, 

 according to its phonetic value in the word transliterated) in most cases, and unaccented Russian o 

 as a. The heads under which the charts are arranged are more congruous than would at first 

 sight appear from the titles, though it is probable that no universally satisfactory system of sub- 

 heads could be devised. 



In regard to the list of books, pamphlets, special papers, and publications, it may be said that 

 while only the title of a Partial List is claimed for it, it nevertheless contains not only more than 

 three times as many titles as are found in any existing bibliography, but at least one-third more 

 than exist in all Tcnowh bibliographies put together. 



No attempt has been made to follow up the multifarious editions of such works as Cook's 

 Voyages after giving the title and collation of the original or first English edition. If editions in 

 any way peculiar presented themselves they Avere included, but there was no time spent in hunting 

 for them. Especially important papers devoted wholly to the region or its productions have been, 

 to a certain extent, included, but not those which related only incidentally or partially to the 

 region, as this course would have immensely enlarged the list without proportionally increasing 

 its usefulness. A large part of the recent history and exploration of Alaska being only on record 

 in the newspapers, references to some of the more important articles of this nature in a few of the 

 more prominent journals have been included. It is believed that the record of bills, executive 

 documents, &c, published by the United States is particularly full and valuable to the future 

 student or historian. No attempt has been made to exhaust the literature of countries adjacent to 



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