Two True California Stories: Augusta Dane; or The Influence of Circumstances. Mary Morton; or, The Result of a Fashionable Education. This item is unavailable.Two True California Stories: Augusta Dane; or The Influence of Circumstances. Mary Morton; or, The Result of a Fashionable Education

First edition. Very Good to Near Fine condition. With an inscription on a paper laid in. **J.?Vinson Webster was a 19th?century California writer best known for his 1883 collection *Two True California Stories*, a pair of moral, domestic frontier tales published in San Francisco.** His work survives today mainly through rare?book listings and regional California literary history. ## Who He Was Very little biographical material survives about Webster outside his publications, but the record shows he was an author active in California during the late 19th century. His name appears on early San Francisco imprints, suggesting he was part of the region's growing literary culture during the post-Gold Rush and early statehood era - a period when writers blended moral instruction, frontier realism, and social commentary. ## His Known Work ### *Two True California Stories* (1883) A first edition published by **P.?J. Thomas** in San Francisco, now considered a scarce collectible. It contains two novellas: - **Augusta Dane; or, The Influence of Circumstances** A moral tale exploring how environment and social pressures shape a young woman's fate. - **Mary Morton; or, The Result of a Fashionable Education** A critique of superficial social training and its consequences for character and destiny. Both stories reflect the era's fascination with **California identity**, **women's moral development**, and **frontier social change**. ## Physical & Collectible Details Copies described in rare?book markets show: - **Hardcover first edition**, 233 pages, red boards, typical wear. - **Published in 1883** by P.?J. Thomas, San Francisco. - **Often signed or inscribed** in some listings. - **Considered scarce** and sought by collectors of early California literature. ## Why He Matters Webster belongs to the lineage of **regional California storytellers** who wrote during the state's formative decades. His work sits alongside the moral?domestic frontier fiction that helped shape early California's literary identity - a tradition that later influenced writers like **Bret Harte**, **Gertrude Atherton**, and **Henry Meade Bland**.…