(California) Farwell, W BBiblio.com
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1885333147San Francisco: P. J. Thomas Printer and Publisher 1885. First edition first issue with the first issue large-format version of the map by Bosqui laid in as issued. Illustrated. 95pp. With: Official Map of "Chinatown" in San Francisco. 23-1/4 x 33 inches. Laid in. 8vo. Original tan lettered wrappers minor wear and light soiling. Minor separations at folds of map as usual. First edition first issue with the first issue large-format version of the map by Bosqui laid in as issued. Illustrated. 95pp. With: Official Map of "Chinatown" in San Francisco. 23-1/4 x 33 inches. Laid in. 8vo. An inflammatory report submitted by W.B. Farwell and John E. Kunkler of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors depicting Chinatown as overpopulated with opium dens and prostitution. The report was issued in three versions: 1 as a separate report dated July 20 1885 with the large-format map laid in as here; 2 as part of a bound collection of Municipal Reports for the fiscal year 1884-1885 with a small-format issue of the map; and 3 sometime after September 1885 within a work titled The Chinese At Home and Abroad with a smaller format version of the map and without the Appendix found in the previous two issues. <br /> <br /> The map depicting the area bordered by California Stockton Broadway and Kearny Streets and color coded to show the locations of gambling houses opium "resorts" and both Chinese and White houses of ill repute was issued in a variety of formats. The first "official" issue as here is printed by Bosqui in a larger format approx. 23-1/4 x 33 inches with the text and key below the image. A separately-issued variant was published by Bosqui with the text and key located to the left of the map see Rumsey 6714.001. Subsequent issues of the map are in a much smaller format approx. 8-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches.<br /> <br /> The separately-printed first issue of the Report complete with the large-format map is very scarce in commerce with the last copy recorded by RBH as being the Thomas Wayne Norris copy sold by Oakland dealer Harold C. Holmes in 1948. Cowan Bibliography of the Chinese Question 398; Hansen The Chinese in California: A Brief Bibliographic History p. 54 P. J. Thomas, Printer and Publisher unknown
1882319779San Francisco: Britton a& Rey 1882. 146pp. text in English and Chinese. Original half green cloth and pictorial orange paper boards with a lithographic vignette of a dragon and harbor. Boards rubbed paper discolored and scraped along outer edge of front board discolored along outer edge of rear board. Cloth torn at lower spine hinges cracked but holding by cloth. Several instances of Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express red-ink stamp with text in English and Chinese characters. Old tideline along outer edge of many leaves. Very good. 146pp. text in English and Chinese. Rare Directory of Chinese Businesses in the West Published in the Year of the Exclusion Act. The third and last in a series of directories of Chinese businesses published by Wells Fargo this edition issued in the year of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States. This edition is more than half again as long as the 1878 edition which has only 86pp. The first edition of 1873 is only nine pages in length.<br/><br/>Attractively printed by the firm of Britton & Rey the leading lithographers in San Francisco the text is in English and Chinese characters and lists hundreds of Chinese-owned businesses in San Francisco Oakland Sacramento San Jose Stockton Marysville and Los Angeles many of those businesses on a street called "Negro Alley"; as well as Portland Oregon; Virginia City Nevada; Victoria British Columbia; and Denver. The directory not only demonstrates the expansive reach of Chinese communities in the West but also how their businesses were tied to the ever-expanding Wells Fargo Company. Several pages in this copy are stamped with a bilingual logotype: "Ship Money and Goods by Wells Fargo & Co's Express."<br/><br/>The name and address of each merchant is given and in many cases the nature of the business is listed as well. San Francisco businesses take up more than half the text but it is notable to see the wide variety of business ventures undertaken by Chinese in the American West. Among these are laundries merchants druggists cigar factories "slipper" and shoe factories ladies' underwear tailors restaurants doctors Chinese and Japanese imports boarding houses barbers morticians butchers general merchandise jewelers and more. Among the more interesting businesses are employment offices a clam dealer pawn broker junk dealers and opium dealers. The smaller and more remote towns - such as Marysville Portland and Virginia City do not give business types as often and Chinese consulates and missions are also listed.<br/><br/>"Very rare" - Quebedeaux who notes two copies in private collections one of which may be the present copy formerly in the McClatchy family collection and apparently formerly owned by Western historian and novelist Stuart Lake. OCLC locates five copies at the California Historical Society the Autry Museum the Bancroft Library the Library of Congress and the Huntington Library. Rocq adds the copy at the Wells Fargo library in San Francisco and there is also a copy at Yale. Cowan P.175 Note. Cowan Chinese Question 472. Rocq 12764. Quebedeaux 101 Britton a& Rey unknown books
1841PHO-2262Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1841-1842-1844-1848-1853-1854. 6 vol. in-8° de XXIX, 1 bl., 343 pp., [2] ff., Front., 6 pl. h.-t. et 1 carte dé pl. ; 467 pp., [2] ff. Font., 4 pl. h.-t. et 1 carte ; 548 pp., [1] f. Front. et 5 pl. h.-t. ; 464 pp., [2] ff. 4 pl. h.-t. ; III, 1 bl., 542, [2] pp. 4 pl. h.-t. ; 400 pp. Font. et 5 pl. h.-t. demi-basane fauve, dos à 5 faux-nerfs, p ; de t. en maroquin orange, p. de tomaison en maroquin brun, tranches mouchetées (Reliure du temps). Édition originale, bien complète du sixième volume consacré à la Californie qui manque souvent. 31 pl. gravées sur acier (complet) et 2 cartes dépliante, au Tome IV, la pl. du « Fort de Cornouailles » est reliée en frontispice du tome VI. Des rousseurs et quelques planches brunies.
1883WRCAM448311883. Oil on canvas 18 x 26 inches on original wooden stretcher with letters in lower margin after the lithographed view of the same title published by Bosqui. Very good. "Edward Bosqui was born in 1833 in Montreal of French descent. When he was about seventeen years old he decided to go to California. He went by way of Panama where like a good many others who headed for the Gold Rush in those days he became stranded. He worked his way up through Mexico a hazardous trip but young Bosqui survived the many hardships.He arrived in San Francisco in the latter part of 1850 and his first job was as cashier of the first bank to be established there. Afterwards he served as General Fremont's secretary. He first went into the printing business in 1859 at Clay and Leidesdorff Streets and stayed at that location for thirty-nine years. Bosqui did bookbinding as well as printing and lithography.He printed the EVENING BULLETIN in the early days of its existence and did a great deal of commercial label work" - Peters. <br> <br> The Arctic Oil Works was established on a Bay side pier between 17th and 16th streets in 1883 to produce refined oils from seals whales and elephant seals. Soon after opening it became the largest oil refinery on the West Coast. In 1902 the oil works became incorporated as part of Standard Oil. <br> <br> The painting is quite similar to the scarce lithographed view produced by Bosqui although more Impressionistic in style and without quite as much detail. The spelling mistakes in the address of the works "Potrcro" instead of Potrero and in the address of the offices "ZB" instead of 28 further suggest this painting to be after the lithographed view. The painting however shows considerable age is on the original stretcher and dates from the late 19th century. PETERS CALIFORNIA ON STONE pp.60-61. J. Russell Harper EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA p.39. unknown books
1871125391New York: Published at the Office of The Golden Age 1871. First edition of Tilton's biography of American suffragette Victoria Woodhull published shortly before she became the first woman to campaign for President of the United States. 12 mo original wrappers stitched as issued publisher's advertisement at rear. In very good condition. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase. Victoria Woodhull first made her reputation as a supporter of free love by which she meant the freedom to marry divorce and bear children without social restriction or government interference and as one of the only female newspaper publishers Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly with her sister Tennessee Claflin. She soon became an activist for women's rights and labor reforms and in a pivotal 1871 speech argued that the 14th and 15th amendments already covered women's suffrage. She decided to run for president in 1872 backed by the Equal Rights Party whose convention nominated Frederick Douglass for Vice President although he did not participate in the convention or acknowledge the nomination. While she obviously lost--and indeed could not have won constitutionally due to her age--Woodhull became one of the most powerful women's rights advocates of her day. This contemporary biography was written by Theodore Tilton a close friend of many within the movement. In 1872 Tilton confided in Elizabeth Cady Stanton that his wife was having an affair with Henry Ward Beecher. Tilton sued Beecher for alienation of affection and a salacious trial commenced. Woodhull abandoned her friendship to splash the scandal across the pages of Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly. Woodhull was arrested for obscenity and then acquitted--events that gave rise to the Comstock Laws of 1873 arguably the nation's most powerful and successful attempt at censorship. Woodhull emerged from the debacle with fewer friends--Susan B. Anthony for example disagreed with her behavior entirely--but nevertheless managed to retain her reputation as a leading supporter of women's rights and as an early American female politician. Published at the Office of The Golden Age hardcover books
18744492Various locations in California 1874. Good. Ninety-four letters totaling 153pp. Mostly octavo. Leaves lightly dampstained and toned some faded. Old folds some separation and brittleness a few small areas of loss or tearing. An extensive archive documenting the activities of the Bridgeport Gold and Silver Mining Company in Sweetland California. Sweetland is in Nevada County about sixty miles north of Sacramento in the heart of the Sierra Nevada gold fields. At its peak it was home to a few hundred souls; today it is essentially defunct. In the present archive V.G. Bell secretary for the company writes to John Spencer in Nevada an agent for the company. John Spencer 1818-1891 emigrated to California in 1850 where he had some success at placer mining. After moving to Nevada in the early 1860s he became a successful rancher and public servant. We find Bell listed as a "ditching agent" in an 1867 directory for Bridgeport Township. Writing from by turns from Sweetland Birchville French Corral and North San Juan he apprises Spencer of the business activities of various mines including receipt of rent payments sent by Spencer reports of shareholders and trustees property upkeep and mine management. Specific mines mentioned include the Vineyard Mine the Bunker Hill Mine and the Baltimore Mine. Over half of the letters date to the period from 1864 to 1867. Though they have been exposed to water at some point they are mostly legible and are written in a neat hand.<br /> <br /> In the first letter here dated August 8 1864 Bell discusses the Trustees of the company as well as financing options available for the venture. He writes in part: "Dear Sir I have rec'd three reports from you the last of which was perfectly satisfactory; and had our supt. taken the same trouble during the latter part of last year to have made his reports as clean there would have been none of that bickering that took place between himself & the Co. In short the Trustees express themselves as well pleased with your mode of doing business. . It seems to be the desire of the Co. to husband our means in the territory as much as possible and make it a self sustaining institution as it is out of the question to raise means without resorting to borrowing; even at the rates of interest we could get money on this side for would soon eat the vitals out & have a dead concern on our hands."<br /> <br /> Much of the correspondence seems to include concern over the company's struggling finances. In a letter from February 1865 Bell asks Spencer to cut his salary writing "After a consultation of the trustees I was asked to write you in reference to a reduction in your salary to a less figure say seventy five dollars. The company is in debt here to a little over two thousand dollars borrowed money & they feel the necessity of reducing their expenses as much as possible and as there is so little doing with the company's business that it seems like a large salary to pay. . For one to look after this business without any thing else to occupy their time they are ready to admit is none too much and if your time is wholly taken up with their business do you not think it would be advisable to employ some competent person who could take time enough from other employment to see to our affairs." Bell assures Spencer that the Trustees are not unhappy with his work -- just his expense.<br /> <br /> A letter later that year in July discusses the hiring of a man as a second engineer also capable of blacksmith work. Other missives discuss the upkeep and refurbishment of a house as well as the means to rent it out. By October Bell has moved to discussion of the dispersal of some property as well as the difficulty of continually raising funds. "Your suggestion to levy an assessment in the Vineyard Co. to pay it out of debt meets with the approbation of our Co. which I presume was done at your last meeting. It is the wish of some of the members of our Co. to put our property in R into market & sell at some price & close the concern up. The Board is somewhat uncertain as to the course to pursue but the pressure is so great against the continuance of raising money by assessment that they will have to abandon that method for the time being."<br /> <br /> These excerpts are a mere sampling of the content. Some of the later letters are shorter asking for updates or indicating monies received though the bulk of the archive comprises letters that are two to four pages. An interesting and important snapshot of the activities of a large mining operation in the Sierra Nevada in the 1860s and 1870s and worthy of further research. unknown
190062411Los Angeles Costa Mesa Huntington Beach Fullerton San Jose Hollywood CA: Gene Sherman Leigh Peffer Briggs Cunningham Briggs Cunningham Museum Ted Wilson et al ca. 1900-1990. Five Vols. & 1 scale model. First four vols. are 4to. 82; 76; 64; 88 leaves all unnumbered. archival mylar sleeves holding 266 photographs sized from 4 x 5 in. up to 8.5 x 11 in. with over 90% sized 8 x 10 in. most are black & white silver gelatin nearly all w/ photographer’s imprint either within the negative or stamped on verso many w/ pencil & ink manuscript annotations on versos most in the bold hand of Leigh Peffer but also many w/ markings by Gene Sherman and a couple possibly Briggs Cunningham several colour negatives many colour photographs some studio others snapshot a couple 1944 Kodacolor shops of young Peffer in US Army uniform during World War II together with over 100 pieces of ephemera including racing forms postcards art brochures promotional materials Midget Car racing rules Auto and racing promotional packets ALS & TLS many on letterhead and more. Three of these 4 vols. with archival mylar sleeves held in 3-ring binders in gray and black cloth 4th vol. a flexible plastic portfolio archival mylar sleeves printed label at spine; Together with: Peffer’s “A Scrap Book of Motor Sports History. . . Peffer Collection†a Oblong folio. 13.5 x 10.5 scrapbook/photo album. 80 pp unpaginated. on thick tan paper with 150 original photographs tipped-in with corners and mounted including 12 original colour negatives many identfied additional ephemera either mounted or laid-in two colour slides several clippings laid-in at rear and mimeographed sales list. Contemporary blue board post-binder nickel-plated screw posts at gutter margin printed metallic gold label mounted front cover neat manuscript hand of Peffer on label front cover occasional edgewear toning to clippings still VG exemplar; Scale model 12 x 4 x 2.5 in. of the So-Cal Streamline racer by Gene Sherman rubber tires leather fittings for cock-pit painted as the original preserved in chamois bag NF exemplar all from the libraries of Leigh Peffer and Gene Sherman. This noteworthy and expansive archive captures the glories of automobile sporting culture in California during the first several decades of the 20th-Century assembled through the effort and passion by several significant figures in the auto-racing and sports car scene of Southern California. These include Gene Sherman 1944-2007 famed auto designer and builder Leigh Peffer 1918-2000 auto racing enthusiast sports car racer and collector and photographer Briggs Cunningham 1907-2003 famed American sportsman whose Cunningham Motors fielded race teams and built race cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and later the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum in Coasta Mesa CA which operated from 1966-1987 and finally the racing photographs of Ted Wilson famed photographer of California auto racing and race tracks during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Amidst the hundreds of photographs many pieces of ephemera race programs original letters and postcards the joy and energy of the West Coast automobile culture trace the development of automobile manufacturing and racing from the Hodge Brothers electric car manufacturing in Pasadena CA in 1900-1902 through the design and model building and car museums in the 1980’s. Peffer & Sherman sorted the photo collection into race car drivers action shots and miscellaneous which includes photographs from Ted Wilson Doinseau-Rapho Briggs Cunningham Museum Strother MacMinn Thomas Milana Studebaker Ford D.M. Woodhouse of San Diego as well as Peffer and Sherman themselves. The photographs include those of Carroll Shelby driving one of his early Cobra prototypes Rex Mays Dan DePaolao Stubby Stubelfield Bill Schuffler Johnny Parsons Bill Stepp Earl Mansell and Louis Meyer Jr. “Sonny†one of the most successful and accomplished engine builders in Indianapolis 500 history. Still others include veterans of the vaunted Legion Ascot race track in Los Angeles known as the “Killer Track†with such drivers as Howard Wilcox II Jimmie Miller Lon Webb the Robson Bros. Spider Webb Bud Rose Harris Insinger in the Miller Special Gus Schrader Roland Frost Babe Stapp in his Cragar Special April 2 1933 Tony Radeitch Woestman McDowell & Pintorelli. After the Legion Ascot became too dangerous and closed down and AAA racing moved out of the West Coast the dirt track and gritty midget cars moved elsewhere.The Southern Ascot Speedway was a racetrack located at Atlantic and Tweedy Blvd. and ran from 1937 to 1942 now site of the Legacy High School Complex. Other race tracks represented in these photos include the Gilmore Stadium Speedway including photos of the open wheel Krause Offy Offenhauser or Jimmy Miller in the pits in the Scheffler Offenhauser special at Oakland Speedway or Bill Reed and Spud Hinkley at the San Jose Speedway. The Oakland Speedway was in San Leandro CA and was a banked dirt oval built in 1931 operated through the Great Depression and featured roadster motorcycle Big Car Stock Car Midget Car races and was the “fastest dirt track in the Nation.†Another historic race track capturing racers and races was the Mines Field race track including Stubby Stubblefield in 1934 today the site lies under LAX airport. Amidst the hundreds of photos are images of the concept car U.S. Discovery speed model designed by Marshall Space Flight Center Boeing Rockwell Lockheed and Cobalt Boats engines such as the Miller-Ford Motor Ford Motor & Front End Bentleys along with a myriad of photos of famed race cars and spots cars. These automobiles include the Studebaker No. 34 driven by Tony Gulotta fitted with Stromberg carburetors mechanic Carl Rischingo placing 7th in the Indy 500 in 1934; Miller cars powered with 220 cubic in. motors; Allard Race Cars MG race cars Lester MG in 1994; 1948 MG TC 1937 Jaguar SS Bugatti 57C L.P. Breen’s 1926 Bentley the 1925 Lamda Roadster inscribed by Mark Shuttle to Briggs Cunningham the Spike Jones Special and even Peffer’s own Peerless GT at the start of a Southern California vintage sports car rally. Others capture Bill White’s Red Lion Special No. 1 Al Gordon in the Sparks-Weirick Gilmore Special No. 1 the 1934 Pacific Coast champion in Eddie Winfield’s Winfield Special 1949 Ferrari and Ralph De Palma in his Miler Special after winning the Italian Helmet Dash at the Legion Ascot Speedway in the 1920’s. Peffer’s “Scrap Book of Motor Sports History†opens with photos tickets and ephemera for the Brands Hatch Boxing Day Races Dec. 26 1959 which opened with the 10-lap Yuletide Trophy for sports cars up to 1100 C.C. and for all the races that day featured Threlfall Chapman Hill and Crab in Lotus Eleven’s and Seven’s Baillie in 3.4 Jaguar and others. He’s also included photos of his Little Riley restored in Dehham Engladnd with Cecil Cutton’s famed Bugatti next to him along with photos of the rare and famous MG Tigresse. Of particular interest amidst the many different ALS & TLS sent to both Peffer and Sherman is the lengthy and detailed 3 p. letter ALS sent to Gene Sherman at the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum June 26 1968 in which Sara J. Hodge of Solana Beach CA describes and explains the founding of the first and largest automobile garage West of the Mississippi by her father Nathaniel Hodge and uncle Arthur Hodge listed in the 1902 Pasadena City Directory. Later named the Hodge Brothers Co. they produced and sold electric automobiles and she has included four historic copy photographs capturing the Hodge Brothers machine shop & garage factory and even a whole bank of 1902 Hodge Bros. EV cars charging. Another letter to Sherman documents the life of Briggs Cunningham after he had sold his collection and museum contents to his friends the Colliers they moved to Naples FL and explaining how their “house is not finished as yet so I don’t believe we can move in until next year. . . I am busy with packing up the mags etc. ready to move. My new library will be larger tha the present one.†The scale model by Gene Sherman painstakingly recreates the famed So-Cal Speed Shop Streamliner. The car was built after Dean Batchelor a So-Cal Speed Shop customer sold his 1932 roadster to raise the capital and built by famed speed shop builder Alex Xydias who would take the body off the tank and subsequently build the Streamliner. Batchelor felt a small streamliner like the MG EX-135 was the best way to move forward on the design. The completed chassis was taken to Valley Custom in Burbank CA where Neil Emory one of the finest early custom craftsmen began working with aluminum to shape the Streamliner designed as a flattened oval with no compound curves. Early test runs at El Mirage ranged from 135 to 142 mph with a 156ci Flathead Ford and at the first Bonneville Nationals held in 1949 on the salt flats the So-Cal Speed Shop Special in iconic white and gold was the star of the show. In the midst of the runs they switched engines to an Edelbrock-built Mercury Engine and 190 mph. The car also achieved a 210.892 mph average a Class C Record and bagged the Hot Rod Magazine “Top Time†trophy. The next year after rolling in high winds Batchelor escaped serious injury and never raced again. Special note should be made of the Ted Wilson photographs although very little personal biographical information is known of him. He was inducted into the Sprint Car Hall of Fame shot historic racing photos during the 1920’s through 1950’s on California race tracks including Oakland Speedway Alviso Speedway San Jose Speedway at King Road mostly in a 4 x 5 format and was a pioneer in marketing his photos often running ads in racing and motoring periodicals at the time. He began purchasing other negative collections from other photographers and amateurs expanding his collection including Carroll Studio Roy Richer’s the Crest Collection and the Douthat Speed Photo collection. Eventually the entire collection was sold to Bruce Craig and Vincente Alvarez and subsequently to Jeannie Hinnershitz and Dale Snyder partner to the Florida-based Collier family which took the collection private. He maintained ongoing relationships with Leigh Peffer often writing and selling him photos Gene Sherman at the Briggs Cunningham Museum and Briggs himself. See: Lawrence Berman Kane Rogers The Cunningham Museum Briggs Cunningham 2023; Norm Bogan Ted Wilson National Spring Car Hall of Fame & Musuem 2023; Cunningham The American Dream at Le Mans Roarington Nov. 1 2023; Greg Sharp Racing History: Alex Sydias the Man Behind the Famous So-Cal Speed Shop In the Garage Media Oct. 3 2021. Gene Sherman, Leigh Peffer, Briggs Cunningham, Briggs Cunningham Museum, Ted Wilson, et al, hardcover
1835377678Mexico 1835. 1. plus integral blank. Signed in print by Estrada. Folio. Unbound. 1. plus integral blank. Signed in print by Estrada. Folio. A broadside decree issued by Migual Barragan giving city status to Pueblo de Nuestra Se ora la Reina de Los Angeles and naming it the provisional capital rather than Monterey. The Mexican congress declares: "The town of Los Angeles of Alta California is elevated to the rank of city and it will be from now on the capital of this territory." However representatives from Monterey would block moving the capital. <br /> <br /> "This decree was largely due to the efforts of Carlos Antonio Carrillo the deputy from California to the Mexican Congress and the author of the Exposicion of 1831" Streeter. Streeter's copy sold for $200 to Dawson's in 1968. Eberstadt 133-187; Streeter sale 2476; Rocq 4223 unknown
1850List1929California 1850. With thirteen letters most multi-page written from Monterey in 1850 a 7 pp facsimile transcription of a 1834 Mexican land grant on cloth measuring 11 x 14 inches and and eleven page document on paper in Spanish relating to a Monterey land grant transcribing an 1841 document. Letters heavily worn with some loss at margins but mostly legible land grant in good to very good condition transcribed document in Spanish in fair condition with water damage to margins. Fair. An interesting archive of 1850s-era material relating to the life and career of the surveyor Edward Williams which recently surfaced in the central mother lode region. The group includes his personal letters from the California Gold Rush as well as well two interesting documents form his work for the Surveyor General J.W. Mandeville in 1858 where he transcribed two Mexican land grants. <br /> <br /> Lt. Edward Williams was a member of Company E New York Volunteers under Capt. Nelson Taylor. He came to California around 1847 and found employment as a deputy surveyor later working for the Office of the Surveyor General of the Unites States for California. In 1858 Surveyor General J.W. Mandeville commissioned a report on Mexican-era California Land Grants. Mandeville had Williams copy the original documents exactly - inclusive of an ink copy on linen that is an "exact tracing" of the original documents starting with 1834 up through about 1840. These "copies" were submitted to the Surveyor General in 1858 for use in the report. Williams continued the title work by copying other documents from about 1841 though this time not as a tracing but hand copied on the usual blue paper of the 1850s.<br /> <br /> The documents illustrate the length officials went to while they investigated Mexican Land Grant titles to California properties in the 1850s. The process was difficult and involved two distinctly separate cultures and legal systems that clearly conflicted. The Mexican Government granted rights for these large land parcels in California to various people but clearly stated they could not sell parts of the property. The wording was used many times in litigation of the period in both defense of the land grants and in opposition to how the land grants were handled. The issues were actually quite simple in that the Mexican legal standards for land grants was far different from those in the United States and the two differing forms of written land ownership and use clashed. <br /> <br /> These documents reflect a parcel of land granted to Francisco Mesa at "Corral de Tierra" a large parcel in Monterrey County California. Mesa had requested land for "his personal use and that of his family." In the Grant the title papers reflect "while the land is under Francisco's possession it cannot be divided mortgaged or a levy placed on it nor handed down." These original documents help illustrate the complex story of Mexican Land Grants in California. <br /> <br /> Also included are thirteen letters from Ed aka "Ned" to various family members primarily his mother and sister Alice and vice versa. About half are from Ed the other half are written to him. The dates of the letters are; 1850: February 10th April 15th April 16th April 28th June 10th July 30th October 11th and November 17th and 1851: September 9th. One undated letter with heavy loss is written from Panama. The letters are generally readable but the condition far from perfect with water stains throughout and chips abundant along edges and significant textual loss. The letters are generally at least two pages sometimes four or more inclusive of writing in the crossed line custom to save paper. Most are datelined at Monterrey where he discusses the people the customs setting and more. <br /> <br /> Despite the condition flaws there is much to be gleaned from his correspondence. In his April 15 1850 letter . he describes his trip to San Juan Bautista from Monterrey in detail while he was on his way to San Francisco. Williams writes of his great pleasure on tasting cooked beef by the Indians that he found was the best he ever tasted as they camped on the way to San Jose with the ultimate goal Mission Dolores in San Francisco: “this the beef they put on the embers of the fire and broiled it - I never tasted anything like it before so tender so juicy…†One of his first notes on San Francisco: "There are regular streets filled with all kinds of sorts of stores… The shipping covers the water as far as you can see. And those nearest the shore are converted into store houses the rigging being taken down and the and holes cut in the sides for doors.The best houses in town are occupied by gamblers . a large saloon filled with tables on which are played all kinds of games of chance - at some of the tables are displayed immense amounts of coin and gold in lumps worth from 1 to 5000 dollars which some poor infatuated fool of a miner has at some time lost to them."<br /> In his letter of April 16th he discusses both his difficulties with women in California and his lack of fitting in back east: “The Spanish Girls are very nice and all that sort of thing but the trouble is to find one that is educated. I can’t bear an uneducated wom an and I think I shall have to come to N.Y. and bring one out here… I know one or two in N.Y. but I don’t believe they would have such an uncouth specimen of an ‘hombre’ as me…†In his next letter he describes Carmel in detail. He states: “I haven’t been to the mines nor have I any inclination to go†though he intends to settle in California permanently. In his next letter he discusses the people he’s met and how he detests the anglophone community there: “How do I like the People Those of Spanish whom I call my friends I love with all my soul - there is not much society except among them… the Eng. and Am. population I detest from the bottom of my heart. This may sound strange but you will know the por que when you arrive.†He then praises the climate and scenery of Monterey. One letter written from Panama which has unfortunately sustained heavy losses at margins offers some details of the trip on the Chagres River. The replies to Williams from his family offer details on life in New York and are similarly compromised in condition but overall there is enough to glean from the group to provide a detailed example of family correspondence from the period. <br /> <br /> Overall a very interesting and unusual archive of a young professional who moved to California during the Gold Rush period and rejected the Anglophone mining community with particular interest to historians of Monterey and of the systems of land grants that shaped Mexican and American land policy in the nineteenth century. unknown
1823PHO-2006Paris, Ponthieu, Lesage, Gide fils, 1823. 2 volumes in-8, xlix, [1]. 344 ; [4], 407 pp., relié demi basane époque, dos lisse orné avec pièce de titre olive et tomaison, ex-libris Jacob Fagel, réparations, quelques rousseurs. Chadenat, n°1196. - Forbes, n°569. - Sabin, n°73149.
1862370658San Francisco: Numa Hubert 1862. First edition. vii 1 9-458; 146 pp. 8vo. Bound in original sheep with black and red morocco labels loss at head of spine lower label chipped with loss worn at edges. Text toned dampstaining. First edition. vii 1 9-458; 146 pp. 8vo. A crucially important and quite uncommon report on land cases in the fifteen year period after the United States took control of California. One of the most contentious issues in California legal political and economic history in the period was over titles to lands granted by the Spanish and Mexican governments to the "Californios" those of Spanish or Mexican heritage who were born in or lived in California and American residents of California. Ogden Hoffman became the first Judge of the U.S. District Court for the northern district of California in 1851 at the young age of twenty-nine. His was the most significant judicial voice in the period on land title issues and he presided over many important cases including Jose Limantour's claim to the lands that made up San Francisco. In this volume Hoffman presents the reports of 110 important land cases and lists more than 800 other land claims in the appendix. "The consummate early source of information on land ownership in California from the Spanish and Mexican era" Kurutz in Volkmann catalogue. The text also includes biographical sketches of Spanish and Mexican governors from Portola to Pico.<br /> <br /> Thomas Streeter noted that he had searched for a copy of Hoffman's reports for quite some time but that it remained an elusive volume for him. It was only in 1957 that he acquired a copy from Dawson's Book Shop allowing him to complete his Zamorano 80 collection. "Though one would not suspect that this rather thick volume of reports of law cases was at all rare it is in fact a very rare book as well as quite an important one" Streeter. Warren Howell in his landmark catalogue 50 was only able to feature a modern reprint of Hoffman's Reports calling the original work "a classic of California history." Cowan II p 287; Graff 1919; Greenwood 1654; Howes H569 "b"; Streeter sale 2874. Zamorano 80:44; Norris Catalogue 1652 Numa Hubert unknown
1853WRCAM46036Columbia Ca.: Gazette Print 1853. Broadside 10 3/4 x 8 inches. Printed in three columns. A bit of light foxing mostly in margins. Near fine. In a folding cloth clamshell case spine gilt. A rare broadside printing of the laws of the Columbia Mining District in California in 1853 created and enforced by the miners for their own self-government. The seventeen articles all deal with regulations for mining and claims. The first nine set out rules for making and operating claims. The next three address foreign ownership of claims. Article 10: "None but Americans and Europeans who have or shall declare their intentions of becoming citizens shall hold claims in this district." Article 11: "Neither Asiatics nor South Sea Islanders shall be allowed to mine in this district either for themselves or for others." Article 12 sets out a punishment for any miner who sells a claim to an Asian or a Polynesian. The final five articles set out rules for enforcing the laws including the creation of a Miners Committee and a system of binding arbitration. According to the text the laws were adopted "at a meeting of the Miners of the Columbia Mining District held Oct. 1st 1853." and the laws are signed in print by "C.H. Chamberlain Pres." and "R.A. Robinson Sec'y." <br> <br> "The item is of basic importance.as an example of how the California miners - or men beyond the reach of government anywhere else in our States and Territories for that matter - banded together and enacted and enforced codes of law for their own protection" - Eberstadt. The COLUMBIA GAZETTE which printed this broadside was according to Kemble the second newspaper to operate in Columbia starting operations in the fall of 1852. The first newspaper in the area the COLUMBIA STAR apparently printed only two or three issues in October-November of 1851 before the printing press was destroyed by vandals. <br> <br> Greenwood locates only three copies at the California Historical Society and the Bancroft Library and the Streeter copy which was sold at the Clifford sale in 1994. Rocq lists a copy at the Huntington Library. OCLC adds copies at Yale Library of Congress University of California at San Diego Stanford and DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University. A rare and interesting example of the search for order in the tumult of the gold rush. <br> <br> The Streeter copy sold to Howell for $550 in 1968. It later reappeared in the sale of California collector Henry Clifford in 1994. GREENWOOD 381. ROCQ 15427. EBERSTADT 131:105. STREETER SALE 2735. CLIFFORD SALE 26. OCLC 29876358. Gazette Print hardcover books
1849WRCAM52151Kreuznach: R. Voigtlander 1849. 32pp. Printed blue wrappers rear wrapper original front wrapper in facsimile. Small corner repairs to rear wrapper. Some foxing two ink stamps on titlepage. Else very good. In a half morocco slipcase and cloth chemise. The first edition of an exceedingly rare Gold Rush pamphlet printed in the hallowed year of that epochal event. "Like many guidebooks for Europeans this pamphlet gives general information on California's physical features history and 'Notes for Emigrants' on the gold discovery. The portion on California's gold riches consists primarily of an article reprinted from the KOELNER ZEITUNG of January 14 1849 which in turn summarizes R.B. Mason and others. The guide mentions the many German settlers in the Sacramento Valley and speaks proudly of Captain Sutter" - Kurutz. <br> <br> Only four institutions worldwide report a copy of this book: the California State Library the University of California at Berkeley Yale and the State Library in Berlin. It is even more difficult to encounter at auction this copy being the only one on record to pass through the rooms. COWAN II p.102. HOWES C43 "aa." KURUTZ 112. SABIN 9984. R. Voigtlander hardcover books
188376195Los Angeles: Atwood & Ferguson 1883. Hardcover. Good. A rare survivor not in Quebedeaux this early directory was published just two years after the Los Angeles Times began publication and a year prior to the arrival of cultural crusader Charles F. Lummis following his famous tramp across the continent. It also precedes the mid-1880s boom that initiated the transformation of the small town of just over 11000 people or about 33000 countywide into a thriving metropolis. Numerous notable residents are listed including Horace Bell author of Reminiscences of a Ranger 1881 and Elizabeth A. Follansbee Southern California's first female physican. Aspects of the city's cultural diversity are evident as well either overtly with individuals identified as "colored" or in the case of the Asian American population by omission. Notably the directory includes an advertisement for F.H. Rogers' Solar Art Gallery at 624 San Fernando Street which features an original albumen photograph.<br /> <br /> Octavo: 352 p. with numerous advertisements. Original printed paper-covered boards over a brown cloth spine with gilt titles. Some occasional smudging with a tiny stain to the fore-edge. The ink stamp of Leon F. Moss a Los Angeles attorney and former judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court appears on the front pastedown and both the front and rear panel. Some general shelfwear and toning to the boards with a bit of scuffing and soiling to the front panel and loss of the gilt stamping along the spine. Housed in custom clamshell box with marbled paper lining and a gilt-stamped green morocco spine label. Scarce OCLC locates only five holdings: Azusa Pacific University Fresno County Free Library San Joaquin Valley Library Santa Rosa Junior College and the University of California Los Angeles. Atwood & Ferguson hardcover
18635596San Francisco: La Voz de Mexico 1863. Very good. Broadside 7.75 x 10.75 inches. Central vertical fold minor creasing light tanning and scattered foxing. A very rare broadside calling a combined meeting of the juntas patrióticas of San Francisco community organizations of Californios and Mexican expatriates convened to support Benito Juarez against the French in the war with Napoleon III. The text announces a meeting at San Francisco’s Philharmonic Hall on Sunday November 29 1863 at 2p.m. Juntas patrióticas like this grew out of a tradition of Latino volunteer organizations in California originally started in 1825 to organize celebrations for Mexican independence. Established in many towns over the following years they continued to promote Mexican culture and traditions after California was annexed by the United States. This largely apolitical role changed however in the face of the twin threats of the Civil War and the French Intervention in Mexico:<br /> <br /> "Despite a time lag of four to eight weeks the newspapers carried stories about the French incursion into Mexico. California's Latinos learned about the landing of the Triple Alliance in Veracruz to collect debts contracted by previous administrations the agreement of Soledad in which President Benito Juarez pled national bankruptcy and asked for an extension the withdrawal of the English and Spanish forces on the strength of Juarez's promises and the menacing French presence continuing after the Spaniards and English had departed. In May 1862 events took a serious turn when the French broke off diplomatic relations with Mexico complaining of 'outrages of which the victims have been French subjects' living in Mexico.<br /> <br /> "But then on May 5 1862 there was a sudden flash of hope -- the outnumbered ragtag Mexican army repelled the seemingly inexorable French advance at Puebla sending the French troops victors of Crimea Sebastopol and the Italian campaign reeling back to Orizaba to lick their wounds. When the news reached California the Spanish-language headlines were enthusiastic: 'Hurrah for Mexico!! Hurrah for independence!!.' For California's Latinos U.S. citizens and immigrants alike this news was a bracing tonic. Suddenly they were part of a force to be reckoned with. Their peers at Puebla had taken a daring stance and had emerged victorious against the odds. Spontaneously Latino residents of the gold country town of Columbia in Tuolumne County celebrated 'our triumph against the French' by firing artillery salutes singing patriotic songs and toasting Mexico's success. Dozens of cities responded and dozens of juntas were formed in the next few months to raise funds to help repel the French invaders from Mexico" – Hayes-Bautista.<br /> <br /> Funneled through a Junta Central Directiva headquartered in San Francisco juntas across California and Nevada raised funds which were sent across the border to the Republican government usually in excess of $1000 every two weeks. This flyer was printed by one such junta known as the Sociedad Patriótica Mexicana and informs its members that the Junta Central Directiva has called a general meeting of all the local juntas on November 29 1863. This was a particularly dark time for the Mexican government in exile – the French had occupied Mexico City in June officially proclaimed the Second Mexican Empire in July and Maximilian was offered the throne at the start of October. This document was most likely printed by La Voz de Méjico a tri-weekly Spanish-language paper centered in San Francisco which became the unofficial organ of the regional juntas. A pencil note on the verso of this copy reads "Mass meeting called to contradict the lies of paper's enemies and newspaper reports this is what I referred to in my 2 notation." A rare piece of ephemera evidencing the active social and political role played by Mexican-American community organizations in the late-19th century. We locate only two recorded copies held by the Bancroft Library and UC Santa Barbara.<br /> David E. Hayes-Bautista et al. "Empowerment Expansion and Engagement: Las Juntas Patrióticas in California 1848-1869" in California History Vol. 85 No. 1 2007 pp.4-23. [La Voz de Mexico?] unknown
18875454Los Angeles: Los Angeles Lithographic Co 1887. Still very good. Illustrated lithograph map 20 x 24 inches. Trimmed along the left edge and borderline at the right. A few minor tears backed with rice paper. An exceedingly scarce lithograph promotional map for a late-19th-century subdivision in central Orange County California. The "Rice tract" depicted on this land development map was comprised of 194 lots for homes bounded by Prospect Avenue and Vineyard avenues and First Street and Preble Avenue in the town of Tustin east of Santa Ana. Until its proposed development the property was owned by James S. Rice 1846-1903 and his wife Cora who headed one of the pioneering families of Orange County. Rice moved his family there in 1877 and began ranching by working for his brother-in-law James Irvine who purchased the Rancho San Joaquin from José Antonio Andres Sepúlveda in 1864.<br /> <br /> In 1878 Rice purchased a small tract of land in the village of Tustin. He planted Valencia orange trees and Muscat grapes and a few years later he purchased an additional tract of fifty acres and expanded his agricultural operations. In the California real estate boom of 1886–87 he sold off all but twelve acres of his land for development at $4000 per acre allowing him to build a three-story home on his remaining property. His wife was a socialite who hosted numerous performing artists in their Tustin home including Helena Modjeska. The house was demolished in the late 1920s. The vignettes on the map show the future Tustin Hotel a three-story Victorian frame building with forty guest rooms that was built in 1888. Razed in 1914 it was designed by George Preble a Tustin builder who also designed Rice’s home. Scarce one copy is recorded in OCLC at U.C. Irvine which holds the Rice family papers. Los Angeles Lithographic Co unknown
18495043Paris: Typ. Schneider Rue d'Erfurth 1 1849. Very good. Broadside approximately 18 x 13 inches. Matted and framed. A pair of short closed tears repaired at lower edge. Even toning and light creasing. Contemporary manuscript annotation under caption title. A wonderful illustrated faux news broadside published in Paris as gold fever coursed through Europe in 1849. The headline promises "nouveaux détails" of the gold mines in California but the text is in fact a humorous description and light-hearted admonishment of the multitudes thoughtlessly giving up their livelihoods for the hardscrabble life of a gold digger in the California wilderness. The first section runs through a litany of types who are abandoning their lives for adventure and advises them not to consider the difficulties of the journey:<br /> <br /> "En route pour les mines d'or de la Californie! Partez! Il n'est pas néccessaire que vous preniez de lourds baggages : une cassette et une bonne pioche vous suffriont. Ne vous laissez pas décourager par la peur d'une navigation de cinq mois. elle sera peut-être périlleuse. mais le résultat est si consolant : de l'or!. toujours de l'or!. Qu'importent la colique et les fièvres doublées d'un mal de mer brutal. de l'or!. toujours de l'or!. Qu'importe d'être noir ou jaune en mourant du moment qu'on se repose dans un linceul d'or pour l'éternité! Partez!"<br /> <br /> The remainder of the text somewhat sardonically describes life in California and warns prospective travelers not long for the comforts of home but rather to concentrate on their sought-after riches:<br /> <br /> "Par example ne vous attendez pas à jouir de toutes les douceurs de la vie. Vous n'y trouverez ni biftecks au beurre d'anchois ni dinde truffées; car les aliments y sont rares. Mais les racines y sont en grande abondance. Vous vivrez un peu à la manière des anachorètes pour un temps. seulement vous déterrerez de l'or. ce qu'ils ne faisaient pas que l'on sache."<br /> <br /> The illustration which occupies approximately the top third of the broadside depicts men and women from all walks of life carrying pickaxes on their shoulders and racing for a ship about to depart. The image carries the printed signature of "B. Netter;" a contemporary manuscript note under the caption identifies the publication date as February 17 1849. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France estimates that as many as 40000 French men and women made their way to California between 1848 and 1856. The present broadside is an excellent document of California gold fever in France and the pervasive interest in gold rush news in Europe during the mid-19th century. Rare we locate just four copies at Berkeley UCSD California Historical Society and the BNF. Typ. Schneider, Rue d'Erfurth, 1 unknown
1880List1314Northern California 1880. 4to one album in burgundy cloth the other oblong brown pebbled cloth. Seventy-one sepia-toned and cyanotype photographs most measuring 6 ½ x 4 ½ inches. Near fine with some light wear to albums photographs very good or better with very good contrast some showing a hint of fading. A very early pair of vernacular photograph albums centering on the experiences of a wealthy family in San Francisco Monterey and the surrounding areas in the late 1880s. The bulk of the images show the family and their unidentified circle in domestic scenes with the vernacular architecture and landscapes of the Bay Area on full display. Other images show landmarks including Golden Gate Park the Francis Scott Key monument various views of the first Hotel del Monte in Monterey which would burn in 1887 dating the photographs to the period prior to the fire. The album also includes photographs of African American families. <br /> <br /> The image quality is generally quite strong and the photographer was either a professional assembling the album which includes many portraits of family and presumed friends for themselves or the work of a highly skilled amateur. The Initials on the front pastedown are “M.J.R.†though this could be a later owner. The albums were from the estate of the muralist Clara Fargo Thomas who was a resident of New York and could possibly have been from one of her family members though we are unable to glean much detail from the contents. The few annotations offer little clues one just reading “5/11/89 - Golden Gate Park†and another identifying a house as 509 Webster St. in San Francisco though the typical Victorian architecture and sloped street of the house suggest it could have just been a photograph of San Francisco’s unique architecture. <br /> <br /> The photographs of the people give insight into the lives of the new wealthy class of San Francisco residents of the late 19th century with others interestingly showing rural scenes and people. The photographer also had an eye for the flora of the region which is displayed throughout. It is unclear what the relationship of the African-American subjects was to the photographer and why they appear in the album. Overall a compelling group of images and the earliest example of vernacular photograph albums of California images we can find in the trade. unknown
1864WRCAM17621San Jose i.e. New York session 1 New York session 2 San Francisco session 4 & Sacramento sessions 5-15 1864. Thirty-nine volumes. Various bindings of contemporary sheep and later cloth red and black leather labels. Condition ranges from rather rough to very fine many with contemporary and later ownership inscriptions including those of Joseph W. Walkup and the Placer HERALD. Second volume of appendix for thirteenth session has the titlepage in facsimile. A good run of these foundation California legal works including the following: <br> <br> 1st Session Journal of Legislature 1850; 2nd Session Journal of Legislature 1851; 4th Session Journal of Assembly 1853; 5th Session Journal of Assembly 1854; 5th Session Journal of Senate 1854; 6th Session Appendix to Assembly Journal 1855; 6th Session Journal of Senate 1855; 7th Session Journal of Assembly 1856; 7th Session Appendix to Assembly Journal 1856; 7th Session Journal of Senate 1856; 7th Session Appendix to Senate Journal 1856; 8th Session Journal of Assembly 1857; 8th Session Appendix to Assembly Journal 1857; 8th Session Journal of Senate 1857; 8th Session Appendix to Senate Journal 1857; 9th Session Journal of Assembly 1858; 9th Session Journal of Senate 1858; 9th Session Appendix to Senate Journal 1858; 10th Session Journal of Assembly 1859; 10th Session Appendix to Assembly Journal 1859; 10th Session Journal of Senate 1859; 11th Session Journal of Assembly 1860; 11th Session Journal of Senate 1860; 11th Session Appendix to Senate Journal 1860; 12th Session Journal of Assembly 1861; 12th Session Appendix to Assembly Journal 1861; 12th Session Journal of Senate 1861; 12th Session Appendix to Senate Journal 1861; 13th Session Journal of Assembly 1862; 13th Session Journal of Senate 1862; 13th Session two-volume appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly 1862; 14th Session Journal of Assembly 1863; 14th Session Journal of Senate 1863; 14th Session single- volume appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly 1863; 15th Session Journal of Assembly 1864; 15th Session Journal of Senate 1864; 15th Session single-volume appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly 1864. <br> <br> Many of these volumes are quite hard to come by. An almost complete run such as this would be well nigh impossible to assemble. GREENWOOD 167 ref. WAGNER CALIFORNIA IMPRINTS 148. hardcover books
1890WRCAM55054Elsinore Ca 1890. Eighty numbered sections of six pages each comprised of leaves with folding flaps interleaved with narrower leaves totaling 480pp. Folio ledger. Half tan morocco and calf boards spine gilt with raised bands. Somewhat rubbed and worn corners bumped some staining to boards. Inner hinges reinforced. Occasional ink spills throughout fingerprints and occasional toning to lower corners of most pages no loss of text. Very good. Ink blotter with the name of "S.A. Stewart / Agent/Elsinore / Cal." laid in. This is an early ledger from the first bank established in Elsinore California and one of the first banks in southern California. The Exchange Bank of Elsinore was founded in 1887 by Franklin H. Heald one of the three investors who established the town of Elsinore. The city was officially incorporated the following year as the seventy-third city in California originally Elsinore was in San Diego County but the city became part of Riverside County upon its creation in 1893. The Bank of Elsinore was founded soon after and in 1890 the two banks merged to become the Consolidated Bank of Elsinore making this possibly the last ledger of the original Exchange Bank. <br> <br> This ledger tracks the funds of some of the more prominent southern California businesses and individuals of the time including Machado & Co. owned by descendents of José Agustin Machado who held Mexican land grants throughout Alta California including the Ranchos of La Ballona Santa Laguna and Santa Rosa. Also featured in the ledger is Horace McPhee publisher of the SANTA PAULA CHRONICLE W.G. McVicar owner of one of the early clay companies in southern California S.A. Stewart the agent named on the blotter mentioned above and later president of the Consolidated Bank of Elsinore several businesses and churches the local Masonic Lodge the Santa Rosa Cattle Company the Ladies Aid Society the TRANSCRIPT newspaper and the aforementioned Bank of Elsinore. Among the most significant customers of the bank was the Equality Colony part of the Southern California Colony Association founded by John W. North and others to cultivate grapes and semi-tropical fruits in the region which subsequently kicked off a new "gold rush" as horticulturalists and investors flocked to the area to be part of the new and rapidly growing citrus industry. <br> <br> This extensive banking ledger is a vital financial record of economic agricultural and population growth in southern California in the late 19th century. hardcover books
1850020857Portland OR and San Francisco: H. K. Hines and J. D. Hammond 1850 and 1899. First Edition. Letter. The letter in Near Fine condition with normal folds from mailing; the writing in red ink a little difficult to read but legible. The book is Very Good with some edgewear. A closely-written 4-page letter on one sheet of paper 15-1/2" x 9-7/8" folded in half and written on all 4 pages of neat script in black ink with another 2 pages of content overwritten vertically in red ink. Written by the wife of the Rev. Francis S. Hoyt a Methodist minister previously of the New Jersey Conference and first president of Willamette University in Salem Oregon to her parents in Cincinnati Ohio. Writing from Salem on 10 December 1850 Mrs. Hoyt describes their steamer trip from the Isthmus of Panama north along the Pacific Coast with stops at Acapulco Mexico and San Diego Monterey and San Francisco California and on to their new home. She notes that the steamer she was on was the first to "bear the news of the admission of California as a State" to the people of San Francisco. A sign was draped from the side of the ship announcing the news as it sailed along the bay front firing a 100-gun salute from its cannon the noise upsetting Mrs. Hoyt. She vividly describes the city with its summer dust and winter mud its rich gambling houses and houses of ill repute and the many miners down from the hills to "lose all they have earned and are obliged to go back to the mines again." She describes the gambling houses: "the rooms are fitted up beautifully with large mirrors and paintings and every thing to look pretty and then an orchestra of fine music that plays all the time. Frank looked into one for a little time and said he never saw such piles of money as was there." She did not note if the good reverend checked out the brothels. On one page of the letter she has drawn a small map showing their route from the Pacific to Portland and on to Salem. Her husband's life as an educator in Salem is reported in the book that comes with the letter beginning on page 431 which mentions that the steamer reached Oregon in late October 1850 "landing at Portland then a rustic hamlet of some twenty or thirty habitations and a few places of business." The book is INSCRIBED by the author on the front endpaper "To Rowland Abram Waltz/Very Truly Yours/H. K. Hines/Portland OR/June 21st 1901." In addition it is inscribed "Dr. F. S. Hoyt/with compliments of/Mr. & Mrs. Sam Gill/Portland Oregon/June 26-/1911." A fascinating letter with first-hand glimpses of life in early San Francisco and Oregon. <br/><br/> H. K. Hines and J. D. Hammond unknown
1860WRCAM39351Camp Nusseerabad India. 1860. 121pp. of manuscript text about 15500 total words. Original three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Boards edgeworn and lightly rubbed. Internally quite clean neat and legible. Very good. An interesting unpublished manuscript this is a novel in the form of an autobiography purportedly written by an American-born soldier in the British Army stationed in India in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The author describes his youth and early adulthood culminating with an account of his adventures hunting grizzlies in Gold Rush-era California. The chapter on Grizzly hunting in California called "Westward Ho" is copied with a few small adaptations from an article that appeared in the November 1857 issue of HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE called "The Grizzly Bear of California." The remainder of the text develops several themes over the course of the work including the author's strained relationship with his wealthy father his youthful disillusionment with a career as a lawyer his friendship with a charming rogue named "Twadle" and his unsuccessful pursuit of love. The work also gently lampoons the character of the idle rich. It is unknown whether these other portions of the manuscript are also adapted from other published works or whether they are the product of the author's own imagination. Either way this manuscript is a very interesting example of mid-19th- century imaginative fiction and literary adaptation and worthy of further study. <br> <br> According to prefatory material this text was written in 1859-60 by Douglas D. Lindsay who identifies himself as a member of Company 7 of Her Majesty's 83rd Regiment stationed in East India at "Camp Nusseerabad." On a preliminary page he writes: <br> <br> "These 'Reminiscences of Auld Lang Syne' were written and presented by the author to his friend and gossip Thomas Smith of Her Majesty's 83rd Regiment and who in times to come as he glances over these pages will recall to mind the writer and 'wish him well wherever fate may have led him'; and he in turn will often think of his quondam friend while far at sea or in the deep piney woods of his native land." <br> <br> In several instances in the text Lindsay disrupts the narrative to offer asides to Smith providing a sort of post-modern authorial commentary on the proceedings. In a letter at the end of the text dated July 23 1860 Lindsay promises Smith that he will write a second volume "in which I propose giving you a few more passages from my experience in America - North - West and South intermixt with some jottings about the sea slavers smugglers etc. etc." It is not known whether "Lindsay" ever wrote this second volume. <br> <br> In the prefatory chapter Lindsay gives a sketch of his early life claiming to have been born "of a very ancient family who are said to be descended in right line from the Prodigal Son." He writes that he did not have a good relationship with his father and most of the assistance in his life was given to him by his deceased mother's brother. Lindsay says he eventually went to "the law school of old Y." later revealed to be Yale from which he graduated with a lofty idea of the law and jurisprudence. These beliefs were quickly deflated when he moved to the unnamed state's capitol city and set to work as a lawyer. Finding himself quickly in debt and unhappy he quit the law and moved back home. The next chapter in the book is entitled "A Screw Loose" and begins with Lindsay arguing with his father and being kicked out of the house. He departs leaving behind him most of his expensive wardrobe and ventures out in search of a friend named Twadle: <br> <br> "A young literary gentleman who was continually occupying the handsomest apartments he could find which he invariably vacated after a month of luxury. He was of a sanguine temperament and I will do him the justice to say that he always intended at the time of taking his rooms to pay for them. But so many extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances intervened between the day of his induction and pay-day that when that period arrived he regularly found himself in a state of unprecedented pecuniary depletion." <br> <br> Twadle was living in New York at the time and he and Lindsay decide to have a meal at Delmonico's. Of course they do not have enough money to pay the bill but Lindsay is rescued by his ever-helpful uncle who just happened to be dining there that evening. His uncle then takes Lindsay to his home welcomes him as a part of the family and gives him a job in his engineering firm. In the next chapter titled "Love Struck by Lightening" Lindsay describes his landlady's attempts to introduce him to eligible young women and his courtship with Sophia Walter daughter of a former governor. The romance fails when Lindsay discovers that his love has false teeth which horrifies him. <br> <br> The penultimate chapter comprising forty- one pages of the manuscript entitled "Westward Ho" is set in California during the Gold Rush era and is largely copied or adapted from a HARPER'S article of November 1857 called "The Grizzly Bear of California." Large portions of the manuscript are copied verbatim from the published article while in other places Lindsay makes adaptations or particularizes the story to himself. For example he mentions a "Hindoo Bear" in one passage and changes the name of the Grizzly hunter from "Colin Preston" in the published article to "Nathan Walker" in his manuscript. He also intersperses original passages which add to the story among the copied text. <br> <br> The section begins with Lindsay and a friend leaving Manhattan aboard a steamer bound for Chagres and then crossing the Isthmus of Panama. Lindsay then goes up the coast to Acapulco where he "secured passage in a crazy old polacca rigged schooner which was bound direct to San Francisco." The schooner is wrecked off the California coast with Lindsay as the only survivor. Next comes a long discussion of the California Grizzly and the "coastal range" in which it dwells followed by a recounting of Lindsay's providential escape from the shipwreck. He is rescued by a bear hunter called "Nathan Walker" "Colin Preston" in the original HARPER'S story a native of Arkansas who is described at great length. The rest of the chapter is filled with tales of Walker's bear- hunting exploits discussions of the nature of the Grizzly and the recollection of bear hunts in which the author participated with Walker often at great risk to his own life. <br> <br> In the final chapter comprising twelve pages and called "The Man in the Drab Coat" Lindsay tells a story of meeting an old Yale classmate of his in the Russian River gold diggings. His friend Robert had been quite successful in the mines saving some $5000 but was gravely ill and soon died. Lindsay promises him that he will collect all his money and deliver it to Robert's mother in the East. On his way home Lindsay stops in New Orleans and loses all of his own money in the gambling halls and leaves the city saddled with debt. Back in Troy New York he considers drawing on his friend Robert's money using it as a gambling stake to win back the money he lost in New Orleans. Late one night cold and seemingly hallucinating he is visited by a devilish figure "the man in the drab coat" who so frightens Lindsay that he resolves to give all Robert's money to his family as he had promised. <br> <br> An interesting work of adaptive and imaginative fiction meriting further research. hardcover books
1890List2833Shasta County and Siskiyou County 1890. Fifteen photographs approximately 4 ½ x 7 ½ inches. Each mounted on heavy cardboard backing approximately 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches which is mounted on heavy cardboard of approximately 8 x 10 ½ inches. Unknown if photographs are stamped verso due to mounting. Some with recent captions on the largest mount; some captions likely incorrect see description. Fine contrast overall fine condition. Raper James Waters 1856–1937 was a professional photographer from Sacramento California. He was first active as a photographer in Gold Hill Nevada in the 1880s. Following this he returned to California and had studios in Berkeley and San Francisco between the late 1880s and mid-1920s. Offered here is a collection of fifteen of Waters’ photographs from around Mount Shasta likely from the late 1880s or 1890s.<br /> <br /> The photographs are mainly from places in Siskiyou County where Mount Shasta is located including shots of the towns of Sisson now Mount Shasta and Dunsmuir Sisson and Dunsmuir are on the Siskiyou Trail an ancient Native American footpath running from the San Francisco area to Portland Oregon. The Central Pacific Railroad Company completed a train line along the Siskiyou Trail in 1887; one shot from an unknown location shows railroad tracks rounding a curve among felled trees. Just outside of Dunsmuir is the Shasta Springs resort mislabeled here as Shasta Bottling Works famous for its springwater – the fountains of water in the photograph are from pressurized pipes coming from the springs.<br /> <br /> Other captioned photographs show Castle Crags hikers summiting Mount Shasta Mossbrae Falls and Castle Lake mislabeled as Crystal Lake. Photographs also show campers with their tent small houses a canoe on a lake and snowy winter scenes. Overall a striking set of photographs. unknown
1883WRCAM51913Oakland: Paolo Sioli 1883. 8272pp. plus forty-nine plates including illustrated titlepage fourteen of them affixed to full-sheet sheets the rest printed on the full-sheet. Quarto. Original half pebbled leather and cloth boards stamped in gilt and blind neatly recased spine gilt edges marbled. Spine leather rubbed and faded. Two ownership inscription on front flyleaf recto. Occasional small stains and dust soiling but generally clean internally. Very good. The first history of this California county which contains the site of Sutter's Mill where James Marshall discovered gold in 1848 sparking the California Gold Rush. The text includes a long history of the county from the Spanish period through the Mexican- American War and the discovery of gold. The mining industry is thoroughly treated as are internal improvements immigration town histories criminal activities Indian troubles secret societies and much more. The text also contains biographies of prominent citizens many of whom are featured in the accompanying plates as are several prominent homes and farms. Little is known of publisher and compiler Paolo Sioli who does not appear to have produced any other books. This work is scarce and is patterned on the better known California county histories published by Thompson & West and others. Not in Cowan. An important visual and historical record of this county. HOWES E87 "b." ROCQ 1754. Paolo Sioli hardcover books
1880WRCAM55696Oakland: Thompson & West 1880. 234pp. including colored "Map of California Nevada Utah and Arizona" plus eighty-three full-page or double-page lithographs the first included as part of the pagination. Oblong quarto. Original half sheep and green cloth stamped in blind and gilt spine gilt. Hinges reinforced corners neatly repaired front and rear end leaves with some neat tissue repairs at the edges. Titlepage and two contents leaves with a mended vertical tear not affecting text. Final text leaf with a small tear in the outer margin not affecting text. Very good. A magnificent illustrated history of Nevada County California. The wonderful lithographs ably show how in just thirty years the area that had been a rough and tumble center of gold rush activity was transformed into a lovely group of communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The illustrations show private residences with neatly tended yards and gardens courthouses and other public buildings hotels newspaper offices mining companies banks foundries factories general stores breweries jewelers druggists lumber yards liveries mines and much more. Two of the lithographs relate to the Donner Party disaster which occurred nearby and other plates give historic representations of the area. One interesting plate shows Louis Siebert's Vineyard & Soda Works while the double-page illustrations include views of the Providence Gold & Silver Mining Company; the Idaho Quartz Mine; St. Patrick's Church & Mt. Saint Mary's Convent in Grass Valley; and Bird's Eye Canyon. Most of the illustrations are of locations in the largest cities in the county - Nevada City and Grass Valley - though the smaller towns of Truckee You Bet Rough & Ready North San Juan Sweetland Cherokee and Lake City are also represented. The text includes a long and detailed history of the county with information on gold mining the Donner Party biographical information on John Sutter and other leading men of the area etc. <br> <br> These atlases are often found in very rough condition usually lacking plates. The present copy is complete and in very good condition and provides an important visual and historical record of growth and community building in rural northern California in the late 19th century. Scarce and very desirable. COWAN p. 452. HOWES N60 "b." ROCQ 5957. NORRIS CATALOGUE 2834 "very rare". Thompson & West hardcover books
