This book constitutes a fairly broad biographical introduction to Titian Peale, as well as his journals of the Wilkes expedition, not a happy camper much of the time and bitterly disappointed afterwards, when his work was denigrated and to some extent perverted by other parties. But much of it is fascinating and worth reading, even in the tiny font APS has chosen for this book.
David H. Stam's Anthologies of the Reading Experience