CALIFORNIA ITS PAST HISTORY; ITS PRESENT POSITION; ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY FROM THE COLONIZATION BY THE SPANIARDS TO THE PRESENT TIME; A SKETCH OF ITS GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES AND A MINUTE AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE GOLD REGION, AND THE SUBSEQUENT IMPORTANT PROCEEDINGS. INCLUDING A HISTORY OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE MORMON SETTLEMENTS. WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE OFFICIAL REPORTS MADE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.; THE EMIGRANT'S GUIDE TO THE GOLDEN LAND, SHEWING HIM WHEN TO GO, WHERE TO GO, HOW TO GO

[Fleming, G.A.]

Published by Printed for the Proprietors, and Sold by All Booksellers in Town and Country, London, England, 1850

About this Item

Octavo, 8.5 in. x 5.5 in., pp. viii, [2], 270. Illustrated with a total of eleven plates: two bright, hand-colored frontispieces, eight additional black and white engravings, and one black and white map showing the Transmississippi West ("Upper or New California") from the 42nd to the 32nd parallels. Title Page ("California: Its Past History.") in black and white. Contemporary red leather boards handsomely rebacked in matching red leather. Elaborate gilt floral frame to front and back. Seven gilt double-bandlines to spine. Gilt designs to boards fully intact, but somewhat dulled. All edges gilt. Rubbing to boards. Corners worn and showing. Previous owner's inscription and name ("Samuel James Pallant with Sarah Anne's kind love. August 15, 1852"), to front free endpaper. Pages through viii, including free endpaper, are detached, edgeworn and fragile, but present. Color plates are not impacted by the worn edges. Occasional chips to pages along fore-edge. Age-toning to pages, with tidelines to front free endpaper and three engravings. Howes F178. "The hand-colored plates are of exceptional quality and the engraved frontispiece is one of the glories of Gold Rush Literature" (Kurutz 242 & 243). One of the colored frontispieces, resembling a title page, is titled: THE EMIGRANT'S GUIDE TO THE GOLDEN LAND, SHEWING HIM WHEN TO GO, WHERE TO GO, HOW TO GO. The "ordinary issue" had three plates; this is the "deluxe edition" with eleven plates (two frontispieces, eight additional plates, one map). ONLY the two frontispieces are hand-colored. A number of different variants of plates, color vs. black and white, etc. -- this copy includes a view of the town of Freemantle (Western Australia) as well as the number of color and black and white images/maps. In most copies examined or cited, the volume is illustrated with three plates. The Bancroft, Beinecke, University of California at San Diego, and Lilly Libraries possess copies with additional plates related to New Zealand. Randall listed a copy with seven plates and Decker with nine uncolored views. Byrd states that this variation: "would appear to attest to ignorance in gathering the book for the binding rather than design of the publisher." Thus it would seem that hasty publishing intended for goldseekers resulted in numerous iterations. In their own catalogue, centuries-old bookseller Sotheran's Rare Books and Prints of London, gathers bibliographic evidence of numerous available variants of this book: "apparently the first book on California to contain colour plates. This book exists in a variety of states with regard to the number of illustrations; the plates, excluding the additional engraved title vary in number from zero to six and may or may not include a map. Sabin 9973 records a copy with map and only two plates. To have all plates present is a considerably rare occasion. Cowan (1914) p. 33 (3 plates); Cowan (1933) p. 93 (2 plates); Graff 1347 (3 plates); Howes F-178 (9 plates);Streeter V 2623 (3 plates); Wheat Transmississippi West; Kurutz, Books of the California Gold Rush 4: 'Exceptionally complete and interesting compendium of California material, with important colored plates'.".

Seller Inventory # 87807

Bibliographic Details

• Title: CALIFORNIA ITS PAST HISTORY; ITS PRESENT POSITION; ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY FROM THE COLONIZATION BY THE SPANIARDS TO THE PRESENT TIME; A SKETCH OF ITS GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES AND A MINUTE AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE GOLD REGION, AND THE SUBSEQUENT IMPORTANT PROCEEDINGS. INCLUDING A HISTORY OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE MORMON SETTLEMENTS. WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE OFFICIAL REPORTS MADE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF...
• Publisher: Printed for the Proprietors, and Sold by All Booksellers in Town and Country, London, England
• Publication Date: 1850
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Good Only
• Seller catalogs:
  • Americana, Western