This is a truly unique piece of Arizona history that encompasses one of the earliest Anglo explorers to document Arizona following the Gadsden Purchase, J. Ross Browne. His beautifully illustrated, Adventures in the Apache Country (1869), was one of the earliest illustrated accounts of the Arizona Territory and a great piece for any southwest collection.
John Ross Browne (February 11, 1821 – December 9, 1875), often called J. Ross Browne, date of birth sometimes given as 1817, was an Irish-born American traveler, artist, writer and government agent.
In 1849, at the time of the California Gold Rush, Browne moved to California and worked in various jobs for the government, as an agent for the Treasury Department, surveyor of customs houses and mints, investigator of Indian and Land Office affairs, and official reporter for the state constitutional convention. He published parts of these experiences in the popular press as From Crusoe's Island (1864). He then went on a trip to Europe and the Middle East, published his impressions serially at Harper's Magazine and then in book form as Yusef (1853). Browne and his family moved in 1861 to Germany, an experience that resulted in An American Family in Germany (1866), with Browne's side trips detailed in The Land of Thor (1866). In 1863 he returned to the American West, vividly describing Arizona, Sonora, and other regions in his Adventures in the Apache Country (1869).