
CALIFORNIA
“The Great Discovery” — GOLD
(A
Book that HAD to Come First in This List). Dunbar, Edward E.
The romance of the age; Or, the discovery of gold in California. New York: D.
Appleton & Co., 1867. 16mo (18.6 cm, 7.3"). Frontis., 134, [10 (adv.)] pp.;
2 plts.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: History of California immediately prior to and during the gold rush, based on the author's firsthand observations and on facts “gathered from living witnesses” (p. 9). The volume is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of John Augustus Sutter and with two steel-engraved plates.
Sabin 21232; Gaer, California Literature of the Gold-Rush, 25; Cowan & Cowan, Bibliography of the History of California, 187. Publisher's textured maroon cloth, front cover with very decorative gilt-stamped title presentation; lightly rubbed, spine sunned and with some other sort of discoloration at top. Ex–social club library: front free endpaper and fly-leaf with inked numerals in a 19th-century hand; title-page, one plate, and one other page rubber-stamped. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. A nice little book. (26296)

Wayward Wives & Shysters in Disguise
Specifically CALIFORNIAN Comedy
Baer, Warren. The duke of Sacramento. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1934. 8vo. [12], 77, [1] pp.; illus.
$60.00
Click the images for enlargements.
One of the earliest comedies produced in San Francisco, CA: “Reprinted from the rare edition of 1856, to which is added a sketch of the Early San Francisco Stage by Jane Bissell Grabhorn, and Illustrations by Arvilla Parker.” This is the first volume of the third series of “Rare Americana” from Grabhorn Press; 550 copies were printed.
Publisher's quarter cream textured cloth with light blue fleur-de-lis printed paper sides, spine with printed paper label; lacking the blue dust-wrapper, small spot of staining at head of spine, otherwise a very nice example. (28209)

Burton's Philosophical Poetry
Burton, Richard F. The Kasîdah (couplets) of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî: A lay of the higher law. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1919. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.7"). vii, [3], 52, [2] pp.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Burton's Sufi-inspired poem, with an introduction by Aurelia Henry Reinhardt and extensive endnotes. The work was printed by John Henry Nash for the Book Club of California (this being only their ninth publication), with title-page decoration and headpieces by Dan Sweeney. This is numbered copy 254 of 500 printed.
Uncut and unopened copy of a beautifully accomplished volume.
Not in Penzer, Annotated Bibliography of Sir Richard Burton. Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum darkened, corners bumped. Pages clean. (28273)
(California Statehood). Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, with the views of the minority of that committee on Bill S.350, for the admission of California into the Union as a state. Washington: Pr. by Wendell & Van Benthuysen, 1849. 8vo (22 cm; 8.5"). 18 pp.
$400.00

The California Poets
California Writers Club. Poems. 1933. Berkeley: Pr. by The Professional Press, 1933. 8vo. 67, [1] pp.
$45.00
A collection of 15 poems selected for the 1933 Annual of the California Writers Club. The poems were chosen by Margaret Widdemer, Margaret Tod Witter, and David Morton, who singled out “Skylark Terrace” by Alice Harlow Stetson and “The Prairie Saga” by Don Farran as the best of the collection. One poem celebrates the campanile (Sather Tower) at Berkeley.
Provenance: Bookplate inside front wrapper of Lorraine & Horace Haynes.
Publisher's light-blue wrappers. Bookplate as above. Near fine. (23669)
San
Francisco Cookery in
a
High-Flying
Era
Craig, John C., ed. The recipe book of
Lillie
Hitchcock Coit. Introduction by Carol Hart Field. Berkeley,
CA: The Friends of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1998.
8vo. [2 (blank)], frontis., 5–65, [5 (3 blank)] pp.
$20.00
Number 44 in the Keepsakes series issued for its members by the Friends of the Bancroft Library. One of eighteen hundred copies in this edition. The original manuscript recipe book of Lillie Hitchcock Coit—whose life is recreated by Carol Hart Field in the introduction—was acquired by The Bancroft Library in 1995, and is here edited by John C. Craig and transcribed by Barbara Hoddy.
The recipes collected by Mrs. Coit reflect the “cosmopolitan character of San Francisco” during the 1870's and 1880's and show “the influence of the French, Spanish, Mexican, and English traditions in the cookery of the period.”
Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait and one additional illustration.
Paperback. Fine. (5461)

Hague & Gill Bibliography — “Observing Eric Gill's Centenary”
Davis, James. Printed by Hague and Gill a checklist prepared in conjunction with the exhibit A Responsible Workman observing Eric Gill's centenary. [Los Angeles]: Regents of the University of California, © 1982. 8vo. [2], 48, [2] pp.; illus.
$20.00
Click the images for enlargement.

“WOMEN'S THEATER” — San Francisco 1923
Dramatic-Musical Society of San Francisco. [drop-title] The Dramatic-Musical Society of San Francisco. Seventh performance of the 19221923 season. Friday, April 20, 1923 at 2:30 o'clock. San Francisco: Dramatic Musical Society, 1923. 8vo. [1] f. (verso blank).
$75.00
Program and cast of characters for “The Knave of Hearts” by Louise Saunders and “The Unseen” by Alice Gerstenberg, two plays by women dramatists with all-female casts.
Fine. (19234)
Important Account of
the Southwest & the Mexican Border
Emory, William Hemsley. Notes of a military reconnoissance, from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California, including parts of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila rivers. Washington: Wendell & Van Benthuysen, 1848. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.1"). 416 pp.; 43 plts. (lacking 1 fold. map).
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Emory, Brevet Major of the Corps of Topographical Engineers and an outstanding surveyor and mapmaker, here provides a groundbreaking description of the terrain, flora and fauna, and peoples of the historic Southwest. J. Gregg Layne (Zamorano 80) says, “A library of Western Americana is incomplete without [Emory's report].”
The volume is illustrated with
43 lithographed plates done by Weber & Co., including a portrait of “A New Mexican Indian Woman,” a fish of the Gila River, a map of “the actions fought at San Pasqual in upper California between the Americans and Mexicans Dec. 6th & 7th 1846,” and a view of cliffside hieroglyphics, as well as a series of 14 botanical images.
Government document: 30th Congress, 1st Session. Senate. Executive document no. 7; Howes describes this as the second issue of an edition which appeared in the same year as the first. The present example does not include the oversized, folding map found in some copies; the plates here are, however, in the preferred state, attributed to Weber.
Cowan & Cowan 195; Graff 1249 (other 1848 issues only); Haferkorn 38; Howes E145; Sabin 22536 (for House ed. only); Wagner-Camp, Plains & Rockies, 148:2; Zamorano 80, 33. Recent black cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Oversized, folding map lacking. Plates and pages with some light to moderate foxing; one leaf with tear from upper margin, extending into text without loss. Clean, strong. (27364)

Fremont's Third Expedition
Frémont, John Charles. Geographical memoir upon upper
California, in illustration of his map of Oregon and California. Washington: Printed by Tippin & Streeper, 1849. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9.25"). 40 pp.
$165.00
Click the image to the right for an enlargement.
John Charles Frémont (1813–90) was born in Savanannah, Georgia, a strong and activist opponent of slavery, a born explorer, and strong-headed and -willed. His service in California during the Mexican War, for the Union during the Civil War, etc., in many ways shows why he was tapped to be a presidential candidate; but it was certainly his role as an explorer that captured the imagination and the hearts of many Americans.
Here Frémont presents to the U.S. Senate his formal report on his third expedition to the West. The map referred to in the title was
issued separately under title “Map of Oregon and Upper California. . . 1848" and is not present; hence the affordable price here.
The original edition, not a reprint. A government publication: [U.S.] 30th Cong., 2d sess. House. Misc. [doc.] 5.
Sabin 25837; Howes F366; Wagner-Camp-Becker, Plains and Rockies, 150:2. Recent marbled paper–covered boards with leather label on front cover. Occasional light foxing. (24883)
“Exotic Dishes” from
Foreign Lands
Frost, Heloise. A world of good eating. A collection of old and new recipes from many lands. [Newton, MA?]: Phillips Publishers, Inc., © 1951. 8vo. 128 pp.; illus.
$40.00
Click image for enlargement.
Recipes from around the world, “tested in the kitchen of a New England housewife and published for the enjoyment of many American families.” This cookbook was illustrated by Ellen A. Nelson, who also contributed the Scandinavian recipes; each section opens with a full-page, color-printed image of children in various national costumes, and small illustrations both in color and black-and-white are scattered throughout. The volume closes with a section of regional American cookery including Ozark Pudding, Southern Pecan Pie, Creole Calas, Texas Gumbo, Alaskan Nuggets (a sort of salmon croquette), Salt Cod Dinner, and California Orange Bread.
This is an
uncommonly nice copy, still housed in its original publisher's box, which features the front cover image reproduced in color.
Not in Brown, Culinary Americana. Publisher's spiral-bound wrappers, front wrapper color-printed with image of Dutch girls baking, in publisher's box (as above); one edge of box rubbed and corners of box bottom reinforced. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription and pencilled date (March 24, 1956). A clean, fresh, virtually unworn copy — and very uncommon as such. (29584)

First in a Grolier Club Series: Important American Printers
Hewlett, Maurice. Quattrocentisteria: How Sandro Botticelli saw Simonetta in the spring. New York: The Grolier Club, 1921. Folio. v, [1], 19, [1] pp.
$50.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Attractive edition of this exercise in romantic, art-historical fiction, the text opening with an initial, calligraphic, decorative capital printed in red and sporting a long “tail.”
John Henry Nash of San Francisco printed 300 copies of this, on Van Gelder paper, as his contribution to “a series of six books done by eminent American printers at the invitation of the Grolier Club,” according to a preliminary notice.
Publisher's quarter tan cloth and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; spine and board edges darkened, edges and extremities rubbed, cloth at spine head chipped above page-level. Additional spine label affixed to back pastedown; rough-cut pages a bit cockled at edges as can rsult with that treatment; clean. (28236)

LEC: A Southern Californian Landmark
Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. Los Angeles: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club at The Plantin Press, 1959. 8vo. xiv, [6], 428, [2] pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Helen Hunt Jackson avowedly wrote Ramona, set during the Spanish missions period of California, to do for the American Indian what Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for the African-American The novel appeared as a book in 1884, five years after she heard an eloquent lecture by two Ponca Indians, Standing Bear and Bright Eyes, on the injustices inflicted upon the Indian at the hands of greedy white settlers. Roused to action, she had written her first book on the subject in 1881, a well-researched work of non-fiction called A Century of Dishonor; but unhappily, neither that one nor this mobilized much support for the rights of the first Americans — although the novel was very, very popular. The introduction here is by J. Frank Dobie who writes, “her chief work lives on, not only in print but in the minds and emotions of people who call for the book in libraries, buy it in stores, read it, and are moved by it. Helen Hunt Jackson's outcries of moral indignation against America's shifty and cruel treatment of Indians still lift human spirits — even though comparatively few people are moved to lift hands against ambitious patriots still trying to get hold of Indian property . . . Her passion against wrong and for right will make her book live a long, long while yet.”
The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles.
Binding: In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298. Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy. (30117)

Lakeside
Views in
Prose
& Photos
James, George
Wharton. The lake of the sky:
Lake
Tahoe in the high Sierras of California and Nevada. Boston:
L.C. Page & Co., 1928. 8vo. xxii, 351, [1] pp.; 32 plts. (30 double), 1
fold. view, 1 fold. map.
$80.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early history of Lake Tahoe, with evocative descriptions of the area and its
beauties, native lore, natural history, accommodations, etc. This later edition, part of the
publisher's “See America First” series, was revised by Edith E. Farnsworth and features 32 plates
(most double-sided; note that the title-page's claim to “80 plates” includes the multiple images on
many plates), a very large, folding panoramic view of the lake, and a folding map.
Binding: Publisher's brown
cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and scenic vignette stamped in
gilt and blue, spine likewise.
Binding as above,
light wear to joints and extremities, front cover cloth noticeably bubbled but not torn, spine with
inked shelving number. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate. A few signatures
unopened; pages and plates very clean. (29140)

“That Clean Sharp Line . . . the Immaculate Dead Black”
Kent, Rockwell. How I make a wood cut. Pasadena: Esto Publishing Co., 1934. 12mo. 22, [2] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargement.
First edition: Kent's thoughts on life, the nature of art, and the techniques of crafting wood cuts.
Ward Ritchie printed only 1,000 copies of this limited edition, illustrated with a title-page vignette and four additional examples of Kent's distinctive designs; the work was later issued as II-b in the “Enjoy Your Museum” series.
Publisher's plain black paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Pages slightly age-toned with mild offsetting from images, otherwise clean. A very nice, crisp, unworn copy. (29576)

Mexico's Income in
1825
Mexico. Secretaría de Hacienda (authored by José Ignacio Esteva). Memoria sobre el estado de la hacienda publica, leida en la Camara de diputados y en la de Senadores por el ministro del ramo. En cumplimiento del artículo 120. de la Constitucion federal de los Estados unidos mexicanos á 4. de enero de 1825. Mexico: Imprenta del Supremo Gobierno de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, en palacio, 1825. Folio (29 cm; 11.25"). [1] f., 52 pp., [1] f.
$450.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
This account of the income and monies received as loans in support of the government of Mexico includes, on pp. 10–11, information on the the history of
California missions and their revenues.
Title-page has a handsome woodcut of the Mexican national symbol (an eagle on a nopal with a snake in its beak). The final leaf contains a listing of “Asuntes pendientes de resolucion del soberano Congreso General.”
Howes E-201. Stitched as issued, lacking the original plain paper wrappers; light age-toning to some pages. Very good copy. (29887)
California, New Mexico, & Galveston
Mexico. Secretaría de Hacienda (authored by José Ignacio Esteva). Memoria sobre el estado de la hacienda publica, leida en la Camara de diputados el 13 de enero y en la de Senadores el 16 del mismo, por el ministro respectivo. Mexico: Imprenta del Supremo Gobierno, 1826. Folio (29 cm; 11.25"). [1] f., 82 pp., [2] f., 93 tables (some fold.), [4] tables, p. 83.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This account of the income and monies received as loans in support of the government of Mexico includes, on pp. 26–27, information on California and its then current situation. The tables contain significant data on mining and transportation; scattered paragraphs on Galveston and New Mexico.
Not in Howes despite the previous year's report being listed. Stitched as issued, lacking the original plain paper wrappers, dust-soiling and some age-toning; title-leaf torn at inner margin and a partial repair sometime done with document tape; corners bumped and last leaf chipped at edges. Good copy. (29969)

Dominican Missions in
California
Quiñones, Baltasar de. Autograph Letter Signed in Spanish to Fray Ignacio Gentil. Rome: 7 April 1789. Tall 8vo (26.5 cm; 10.5"). [2] pp., with integral address leaf.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
As Master of the Order of Preachers (i.e., the Dominicans) from 1777 to 1798, Baltasar de Quiñones helped formulate policy concerning the missions that the Dominicans took over following the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. In this letter he addresses some matters relating to the Dominican missions in California.
The main question at hand is the appointing of a new attorney/solicitor (i.e., procurador) for the California missions. He says, “quiero que ahora y siempre que ocurra [la necesidad de un nuevo procurador], se haga el nombramiento por la Provincia misma despues de haber oido al Presidente de las Misiones, el cual es mi voluntad que en cuanto sea posible camine con acuerdo de la mayor parte
a lo menos de los demas misioneros, antes de hacer su propuesta a la Prov[inci]a.”
He also makes appointments to the positions of “Depositarios del Deposito” and the names of the four appointees are given.
Written in a clear large hand and with the paper and wax closure in evidence. (25329)

“Food
Facts, Instead of Food
Fads”
Sansum, William
David. The normal diet. St.
Louis: C.V. Mosby Co., 1928. 8vo. 136 pp.
$65.00
“A simple statement of the fundamental principles of diet
for the mutual use of physicians and patients,” here in its second, revised
edition. Dr. Sansum's principles might well meet with general approval today,
as he argues that most modern people do not consume enough vegetables and fruit
to keep their systems in a healthy state; he offers chemical analysis, dietary
guidelines, and a series of menus, designed to balance the body's acidity level
or to promote weight loss. Each chapter closes with a brief list of scientific
references; one chapter is illustrated with a diagram of the alimentary tract.
Sansum was the director of the Potter Metabolic Clinic in Santa Barbara, CA,
and a leading
diabetes
specialist.
Brown, Culinary Americana, 1955 (for 1927 ed.).
Publisher's orange buckram-covered boards in
original
pictorial dust jacket showing a clearly very fortunate family at table;
spine very slightly sunned, front upper edge faintly dust-soiled, jacket with
spine sunned and back panel moderately soiled, tear (with some resulting creasing)
to upper portion of front panel and small nicks to spine extremities. Pages
gently age-toned, otherwise clean. (30179)

The
Adventure Starts
at
Harvard
Then Boards a Train
& Heads West
Thanet, Octave [pseud. of Alice French]. The lion's share. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., © 1907. 8vo. [8], 376 pp.; 6 plts.
$65.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this detective novel from a prolific female author: A stalwart former military man tries to unravel a convoluted kidnapping scheme involving thwarted financial ambitions and a beautiful young lady who (of course) may or may not be implicated. While the novel opens at Harvard University, much of the action takes place in California, including San Francisco's Chinatown, and the earthquake of 1906 plays an important role. The book is
illustrated with six halftone plates by Edmund Marion Ashe.
Signed binding: Publisher's maroon textured cloth, front cover with blind-stamped lion rampant outlined in black, gilt-stamped title, and outlined heart and roundel decorations. Signed by American illustrator and book designer Thomas Maitland Cleland (front cover blind-stamped “C”).
Binding as above, mild rubbing at extremities and joints, front cover clean and beautiful. Scattered small smudges, pages predominantly clean. A nice copy. (28579)

“As Slap-Happy
& Rootin'-Tootin'
a Piece of Fiction
as
Ever
Graced Publisher's List”
Tripp, C.E. Ace High the 'Frisco detective or, the girl sport's double game. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1948. Folio. [8], 56 pp.; illus.
$65.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“A story of the Sierra & the Golden Gate City . . . reprinted from Beadle's Half-Dime Library, Number 814, February 28, 1893.” This double-barreled dime novel gambling and adventure tale was printed at the Grabhorn Press and limited to 500 copies, with a title-page and vignettes printed in red and black; the illustrations were done by Mallette Dean.
Is it giving away too much if we reveal that “The Girl Sport” is also known as “The Bonanza Widow”???
Publisher's quarter red cloth and printed paper–covered sides; spine sunned, extremities rubbed. The printed spine label is laid in. Pages clean.
Swell. (28247)

A
Beneficent System of
Fraternity
for Laborers
Upchurch, John Jordan. The life, labors and travels of Father J.J. Upchurch, founder of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. San Francisco: A.T. Dewey, Office of the "Pacific States Watchman", 1887. 12mo (19 cm, 7.5"). 264 pp.; 6 plts. (incl. in pagination).
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Lightly edited autobiography of the man who established the first fraternal insurance association in the United States. Upchurch was a North Carolina-born clerk, temperance hotel manager, engraver, railroad agent, horse-tamer, and locomotive engineer (said to have been successful at all but the second!) whose background as a Freemason strongly influenced his concept of a society which would offer insurance for workers and arbitration that treated capital and labor equally fairly.
Upchurch's account of his life and accomplishments includes descriptions of the founding of various lodges and the establishment of their rules, his observations on visiting chapters in California and a number of other states, and (in passing) the poor living conditions in San Francisco's Chinatown; it is illustrated with portraits of the author, depictions of lodge charters and regalia, and other memorabilia. Poems and eulogies were added by Samuel Booth, the editor, who also did his best to shape the plain-spoken Upchurch's thoughts into publishable form while not making any attempt at literary polish.
Binding: Publisher's roan, front cover with decorative gilt-stamped frame and gilt-stamped facsimile of Upchurch's signature ("Fraternally yours"), back cover stamped in blind. All edges gilt.
This is the original first edition, not a modern reprint. Actual holdings (as opposed to microform or online files) are uncommon in U.S. institutions.
Bound as above; rubbed overall most notably at edges and joints, front joint cracked but holding, spine with paper shelving label. Front pastedown with institutional presentation bookplate, lines unused. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean; one leaf with small edge chip. (29694)
