Land Surveying History Books
Surveying Biographies

Collector's Special

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West

Signed and Dated Limited Edition #55 of 250 F in board in F slipcase

We've included the web's largest dedicated selection of surveying history books!  The following titles reveal the history of land surveying and the founders of our profession. 

Foreign surveyors are also included in this page.  These books make for some very interesting and introspective reading for the surveyor.  Click on a title below for more information, including price and availability.

Can't find what you're looking for?  Check under another category, search our site for the title you're looking for, or ask us!  It's also possible that your title is out of print.  Search thousands of out-of-print and used titles available in one place by clicking here. 

Featured Titles:

Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot	Surveying and Mapping in Colonial Sri Lanka (1800-1900)	Surveying Central British Columbia: A Photo Journal of Frank Swannell, 1920-1928
by Charles A. Cerami, Robert M. Silverstein	by Ian J. Barrow	by Jay Sherwood
288 pages, 1st edition (January 4, 2002)	232 pages, 1st edition (March 15, 2008)	192 pages, 1st edition (March 2008)
Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon	Boundary Markers: Land Surveying and the Colonisation of New Zealand	Public Lands and Political Meaning: Ranchers, the Government, and the Property Between Them
by Edward Dolnick	by Giselle Byrnes	by Karen R. Merrill
October, 2001	April, 2002	June, 2002
Surveying The North	Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons	A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell
by Jay Sherwood	by John Wesley Powell	by Donald Worster
July, 2005	June, 2003	October, 2000
Lay of the Land: The History of Land Surveying in San Diego County	Surveying the Interior: Literary Cartographers and the Sense of Place	Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
by Michael J. Pallamary	by Rick van Noy	by Wallace Stegner
408 pages (November, 2003)	248 pages (October, 2003)	496 pages (March, 1992)
The Coast Mappers	Kahana: How the Land Was Lost	Archaeological Survey
by Taylor Morrison	by Robert H. Stauffer	by James M. Collins and Brian Leigh Molyneaux
48 pages (2004)	256 pages, (October, 2003)	200 pages (June, 2003)
The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World	The Pigeons and the Witch Doctor:  Adventures of a Modern Mapmaker	Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy
by Ken Alder	by Heng Thung	by Andro Linklater
416 pages (October 2002)	224 pages (August 2003)	288 pages (November 2002)
Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome	Drawing the Line : How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America	Thomas Moran and the Surveying of the American West
by Michael Jonathan Taunton Lewis	by Edwin Danson	by Joni Louise Kinsey
(April 2001)	240 pages, (December 2000)	247 pages, (June 1992)
Andrew Ellicott : His Life and Letters	Masters of All They Surveyed :Exploration, Geography, and a British El Dorado	The Sea Island Mathematical Manual :Surveying and Mathematics in Ancient China
by Catharine Van Cortlandt Mathews & Pat Hutchison Roberts	by D. Graham Burnett	by Frank J. Swetz
196 pages (June 1997)	298 pages (September 2000)	73 pages (August 1992)
The Texas Red River Country : The Official Surveys of the Headwaters, 1876	Surveying Services in Australia	Surveying the Land: Skills and Exercises in Us Historical Geography
by T. Lindsay Baker (Editor), Dan L. Flores	by IBISWorld	by Robert B. Grant
256 pages (July 1998)		Study Gd edition Vol 1 (June 1991)
Surveying the Land: Skills and Exercises in Us Historical Geography from 1865	Surveying the Record : North American Scientific Exploration to 1930 (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 231)	A Treatise on Land Surveying: Comprising the Theory Developed from Five Elementary Principles; and the Practice with the Chain Alone, the Compass, the Transit, the Theodolite, the Plane table, (1868)
by Robert B. Grant	by Edward C. Carter II
2nd Sg edition (June 1991)	(July 1999)
Land Is the Cry! : Warren Angus Ferris, Pioneer Texas Surveyor and Founder of Dallas County	Surveyor : A Novel	Tadataka Ino, the Japanese Land-Surveyor
by Susanne Starling	by G. W. Hawkes	by Ryokichi Otani
238 pages (January 1998)	250 pages (July 1998)	358 pages (November 2001)

Other Available Titles:

The Adventures of a Land Surveyor
by C. Eugene Bradley (November 2007)

Boundary Markers: Land Surveying and the Colonization of New Zealand
by Giselle Byrnes, 176 pages (April 2, 2002)

La Gran Línea: Mapping the United States - Mexico Boundary, 1849-1857
by Paula Rebert, 280 pages (April 15, 2001)

Surveying the Mahele : Mapping the Hawaiian Land Revolution
by Riley Moore Moffat, Gary L. Fitzpatrick, (June 1995)

A History of the Boundaries of Nebraska & Indian-Surveyor Stories
by Rollin C. Curd (September 1999)

The Road to Santa Fe : The Journal and Diaries of George Champlin Sibley
by George Champlin Sibley and Kate L. Gregg, 280 pages 2nd paperback edition (April 1995)

Mexico and the Survey of Public Lands : The Management of Modernization 1876-1911
by Robert H. Holden, (April 1994)

Thomas Holme : 1624-1695 : Surveyor General of Pennsylvania
by Irma Corcoran (August 1992)

Colvin in the Adirondacks : A Chronology and Index : Research Source for Colvin's Published and Unpublished Works
by Francis B. Rosevear and Barbara McMartin, (January 1992)

Ancient Maya City of Sayil : The Mapping of a Puuc Region Center
by Jeremy A. Sabloff and Gair Tourtellot, (November 1991)

On the Adirondack Survey With Verplanck Colvin : The Diaries of Percy Reese Morgan
by Percy Reese Morgan and Norman J. Van Valkenburgh, 1st Ed. edition (July 1991)

Chinese Scientific Terms of Surveying and Mapping
(October 1990)

Surveying and Charting of the Seas
by W. Langeraar, 612 pages (January 1, 1984)

Texas Was His Land : Willis Day Twichell : Pioneer Surveyor
by Fred M. Truett (September 1982)

George Gauld : Surveyor and Cartographer of the Gulf Coast
by John D Ware (July 1982)

Illustrated Price Guide to Antique Surveying Instruments and Books
by Francois D. Uzes, 69 pages (July 1, 1980)

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle
by Robert Fitz-Roy, reprint edition (June 1978)

The Making of a Land Surveyor
by Michael Schmitz Second edition (June 1978)

Aerial Photography, Mapping, Surveying Services in Indonesia
by IBISWorld

The Story of Land: A World History of Land Tenure and Agrarian Reform
by John P. Powelson, 1989