Steele Rush (2 results)

Condition: Very Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

FIRST EDITION. 232 x 155 mm. (9 1/8 x 6"). 81 pp. Original green (faded to brown) printed paper wrappers. Housed in a fine modern caramel-colored morocco clamshell box with gilt lettering on spine. Inside front wrapper with ink signature of M. R. Skinner; occasional pencil underlining in the text. Howes S-924; Graff 3964; Streeter 3027; Wagner-Camp 244 (note). Top inch of spine chipped away, a little fraying to edges, first three leaves with overall browning, minor corner creases, but QUITE AN EXCELLENT COPY of a very fragile item, clean and fresh internally, with the insubstantial binding entirely intact (against all odds). Based on the author's diaries written between September 1850 and July 1853, this work, as the introduction tells us, lays out events "just as they happened," being "ludicrous, solemn, serious, tragic, inexpressibly sad, but always interesting." Kurutz calls the book a "detailed and important account of mining life" and notes that Steele "provided important information on mining techniques and laws while laboring in the Coloma District and on the Yuba and Feather rivers." This account includes some fascinating stories about the many hardships and dangers experienced by the author and his associates, including nearly constant fatigue and hunger, dreadful weather conditions, and dicey encounters with desperados, dishonest miners, and disgruntled frontier men of commerce. John Steele (1832-1905) was only 18 years old when he left his home in Wisconsin for the gold fields of California. After three and a half years of adventuring, he returned to the Midwest, where he pursued a career in teaching. Steele also volunteered for the Union army during the Civil War, and spent the last 30 years of his life as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The present work was privately printed by the author in a small number of copies and is, as expected, quite rare on the market now. Besides the present one, RBH lists just two other copies sold since 1981 (and as of this writing, no other dealer seems to be offering one). Furthermore, our copy is a remarkably well-preserved survival, with its delicate wrappers and text in condition as attractive as one could hope to find.