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EARLY ACCOUNT OF GOLD DIGGINGS
683. Woods, Daniel B. Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings. [iii]-viii, [9]-199 + 6, [2] ad pp. 7-1/2x4-1/2, original blindstamped cloth, spine lettered in gilt. First Edition. New York: Harper, 1851. Cowan p.694; Graff 4741; Howes W651; Kurutz 696a; Rocq 15417; Sabin 105123; Streeter 2696; Wheat
Gold Rush 235; Zamorano Eighty 80 - Conceived by the author as a kind of a miner's manual based on his time spent at the mines, and written in diary form, the result is a lively volume with much on the details of mining life as well as route by sea and across Mexico. Woods was a clergyman who embarked from Philadelphia on February 1, 1849, arrived at San Francisco on June 25, and headed directly for Sacramento and the Gold Country. Streeter writes that the book "has the freshness which comes from a narrative written almost contemporaneously with the events it relates. It is one of the best for that exciting period," and the Zamorano Eighty notes that his work "is a valuable contribution to the history of mining camps and communities, and the laws and regulations adopted by them for the protection of claims and property." Just a little wear to spine ends & corners; free endpapers lacking, front flyleaf partially detached, rear flyleaf with portion clipped off; foxing to contents, else very good. (400/600).
684. [Wright, William]. DeQuille, Dan. A History of the Comstock Silver Lode & Mines; Nevada and the Great Basin Region; Lake Tahoe and the High Sierras... The Mineral and Agricultural Resources of "Silverland." 158 pp. (incl. front wrapper). 6-3/4x5, original printed wrappers. First Edition. Virginia [City], Nev.: F. Boegle, [1889]. Graff 4758; Howes W711; Paher 2221 - Wright, a close friend of Mark Twain, was an editor of the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise; besides covering the discovery and development of the Comstock, the book contains colorful stories about the other towns nearby, Lake Tahoe, and travel options. In addition to the importance of the text, it is one of the more important Virginia City imprints. Several chips to wrappers, portions of paper missing from spine ends, else very good. (150/200).
685. Wyeth, John B. Oregon: or a Short History of a Long Journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Region of the Pacific....1833. [&] Townsend, John K. Narrative of a Journey Across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River....1839. Ed. with notes & intro. by Reuben Gold Thwaites. Illus. with plates from engravings, facsimiles of original title pages. Red cloth lettered in gilt on spine, t.e.g. 1 of 750 copies.Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1905. (Howes W717; T319); T255 - John Wyeth was with Nathaniel Wyeth's first expedition to Oregon, abandoned the party early to return home and publish this narrative, the 1833 first edition of which was the "first printed account of the first emigrant party across the plains." Townsend was with Nathaniel Wyeth's second expedition, of 1834. This edition issued as Vol. XXI in Thwaites' Early Western Travels series. Near fine with slight fading to spine. (100/150).
686. Wyllys, Rufus Kay. The French in Sonora (1850-1854): The Story of French Adventurers from California into Mexico. xii, 319 pp. Plates from photographs & other sources; folding map. Blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. First Edition. Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1932. French filibusters attempt to set up shop in a Mexico reeling from recent reverses in the war with the U.S. Volume 21 of the U.C. Publications in History. Fine, with the pencil name of E[dgar] B. Jessup to front free endpaper. (100/150).
FICTIONALIZED ACCOUNT OF MUIR
687. Yelverton, Therese [pseud. of Maria Theresa Longworth]. Zanita: A Tale of the Yosemite. iv, 296 pp. Original cloth. First Edition. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1872. Cowan p. 699; Farquhar 11 - "The lady who styled herself Viscountess Avonmore spent the summer of 1870 in Yosemite, where she attached herself to the Hutchings family and made eyes at John Muir. He escaped to the woods, but not before she had noted enough of his conversation and his ways of life to make him over into Kenmuir, the hero of her novel. Florence Hutchings became Zanita...whose demise by falling from Half Dome into Mirror Lake is the climax of the story." The first (and only) printing comprised 2,000 copies. Sunning to spine, chipping to spine head, spine slightly leaning; old name to verso of front free endpaper, else very good - scarce. (250/350).
688. (Yosemite) Yosemite - "El Capitan." Chromolithograph. 23-3/4x29-3/4. No place: c.1880. Large and somewhat fanciful chromolithograph of Yosemite Valley and surrounding monuments, with a few Indians standing on the bank of the Merced River. Some darkening to the image with a few vertical streaks from old wooden backing boards, a few marginal dampstains, a few minor creases or hairline tears to the image, still very good, worthy of cleaning & restoration, in old gilt gesso frame under glass. (500/800).