Collection summary derived from "Guidebook to Manuscripts", 1969: Jean Louis Berlandier ( - 1851) was a member of the Northern Mexico Frontier Commission (1827), surveyor and scientific observer. As a result of his travels in connection with this work for the commission during the next three years, Berlandier wrote a number of journals and reports. Important manuscripts, they are entirely holograph and signed Berlandier on the title page of Volume I of the three volume set bound in contemporary calf. This work is a journal of Berlandier's travels in Mexico in 1827 and 1828 and contains some commentary about the native tribes. Two paper bound volumes comprise a detailed description of the natives inhabiting northern Mexico, California, and Texas. Berlandier was accompanied by an artist, Lino Sanchez y Tapia, who painted thirty-eight elegant watercolors of the natives seen along the route of travel. These drawings are bound separately. Originally from the library of Sir R. Leicester Harmsworth, these manuscript items were purchased by Mr. Gilcrease from the Sir Thomas Phillips estate. Written in French.