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64. [GODDARD, GEORGE] Shumate, Albert.
The Life of George Henry
Goddard, Artist, Architect, Surveyor and Mapmaker. Preface
by Francis P. Farquhar. [4], 13 pp. Large folded map in rear cover
pocket. 13-3/4x9, stiff brown printed wrappers.
Berkeley: The Friends of the Bancroft Library, 1969.
The map is a facsimile of the famous 1857 Britton and Rey map
of California which was prepared by Goddard. This was the first
complete map of California based on actual surveys. The detail
in this map compared to earlier maps is striking. J. D. Whitney
honored Goddard's pioneer surveying in California by naming a
mountain peak in the Sierra for him. Slight wear of covers with
several dark streaks on rear cover - otherwise very good with
text and map in fine condition. (30/50).
65. GOLDSTEIN, MILTON.
The Magnificent West: Yosemite.
xii, 210 pp. Illustrated with 60 paginated color plates from photographs
by the author-photographer. 11-1/4x9-3/4, tan cloth with silver
spine and cover title, endpaper maps, pictorial dust jacket.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., n.d..
Superb color photographs of Yosemite that come close to revealing
the natural beauty of that special place. Fine condition. (40/60).
66. GORDON CUMMING, C. F.
Granite Crags of California.
x, 384 pp. Five unpaginated autotype plates made from drawings
by the author and one folded map. 8x5-1/4, light blue pictorial
cloth with gilt spine title and black cover title. New edition.
Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1886.
Cowan p.152; Currey and Kruska 128; Farquhar 17b. Constance Frederica
Gordon Cumming [aka Gordon-Cumming] was engaged in world travels
in 1878 when she arrived in Yosemite intending to stay only a
few days. She was so taken with the scenery, she postponed some
of her other travels and stayed for three months while she sketched
and painted the scenery and wrote the detailed letters that were
to become the basis for this book. The first edition was published
in 1884 and is essentially the same as this second printing except
that there were eight illustrations instead of five. Spine very
slightly sunned, offset to endpapers, still in fine condition.
(100/150).
67. GRINNELL, JOSEPH AND TRACY IRWIN STORER.
Animal Life in
Yosemite. An Account of the Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians
in a Cross-Section of the Sierra Nevada. xviii, 752 pp. Twelve
unpaginated color plates, 48 paginated half-tone plates, 65 text
figures, and two folded maps in color. 10-1/4x6-3/4, blue cloth
with gilt spine titles. First edition.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1924.
Norris 1440. The scarce first edition of this classic on the
natural history of the Yosemite region. A bit of rubbing to covers,
ink name to front pastedowns, else in near fine condition. (200/300).
68. GRINNELL, JOSEPH, JOSEPH S. DIXON, AND JEAN M. LINSDALE.
Fur-Bearing
Mammals of California. Their Natural History, Systematic Status,
and Relations to Man. Two volumes: [4] vii-xii, 375, [1];
[4], vii-xiv, 377-777 pp. Thirteen unpaginated plates and 345
illustrations in the text. 10x6-1/2, brown cloth with gilt spine
titles, printed dust jackets. First edition.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1937.
Slight sunning to jackets, else in fine condition. (200/300).
69. GRISWOLD, N[ORMAN] W.
Beauties of California Including
Big Trees, Yosemite Valley, Geysers, Lake Tahoe, Donner Lake,
S. F. '49 & '83., etc. [70] pp. Twenty-six color plates
on thirteen leaves. 9x5-3/4, chromolithographed pictorial wrappers
with title printed on top and bottom margins of both covers. First
edition.
San Francisco: H. S. Crocker & Co., 1883.
Currey and Kruska 133. Wrappers decorated with a chromolithographed
scene from the Calaveras grove. "Eastern edition Price 50
[cents] Copyright 1883 by N. W. Griswold" printed on front
wrapper. It does not have the advertisements called for in Currey
and Kruska on the versos of the covers, however, and this copy
has 26 color plates on thirteen leaves instead of 28 plates on
14 leaves as described in Currey and Kruska. It appears to have
been issued that way as there is no evidence that any leaf has
been removed, and Dennis Kruska has seen other copies with this
number of plates [personal communication]. Although four of the
color plates are part of a fourteen page section of advertisements
at the back of the booklet, these plates and advertisements are
not without interest. The plates show the H. S. Crocker building,
the inside of the Taber Studio in San Francisco, the Baldwin Hotel
in San Francisco and the Hartford Fire Insurance Co. building.
In addition to the advertisements associated with these plates,
there are full-page advertisements for the Pacific Grove Retreat
at Monterey with illustrations of the resort, for the Hotel Del
Monte, for a Giant Tonic for men and women which "gives vigor
and freshness to exhausted constitutions" and in front of
the book an advertisement for Bristol's Sarsaparilla and sugar-coated
pills, "the great purifiers of the blood and liver."
Altogether a fascinating historical souvenir of the Victorian
age in California. Slight wear to spine, one small stain on back
wrapper, light foxing - otherwise in near fine condition. (200/300).
70. HALL, ANSEL [EDITOR].
Handbook of Yosemite National Park:
a Compendium of Articles on the Yosemite Region by the Leading
Scientific Authorities. xiv, 347 pp. Twenty-seven plates from
photographs and one folded map. 7-1/2x4-1/2, pictorial cloth with
printed spine and cover titles. First edition. New York and London:
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1921.
Signed presentation inscription by the editor dated May 18, 1923.
Contemporary, undated, 11-1/2x9, folded U.S. Geological Survey
map of Yosemite Valley and an 80 page, 1929 Yosemite guide-book
by Ansel Hall entitled Yosemite Valley , an Intimate Guide
laid in. Together three items - all in fine condition. (40/70).
71. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
In the Heart of the Sierras.
The Yo Semite Valley, both Historical and Descriptive: and Scenes
by the Way. Big Tree Groves. The High Sierra with its Magnificent,
Ancient and Modern Glaciers, and Other Objects of Interest; with
Tables of Distances and Altitudes, Maps, etc. xii, 13 - 496
pp. 29 unpaginated plates [including one map], one folded map
and 124 illustrations in the text [one illustration on p. viii,
Pom-pom-pa-sa not listed]. 8-1/2x6, green cloth with front
cover and spine illustrations, gilt spine and front cover titles
and blindstamped bear on rear cover, all edges gilt, in modern
protective slipcase. First edition, first issue, printed at the
Pacific Press Publishing House, Oakland, California.
Yo Semite Valley: The Old Cabin, 1886.
Farquhar 18a; Currey and Kruska 175. This volume meets all of
Farquhar's and Currey and Kruska's criteria for the first issue
of the first edition. Although this is not Hutchings' first separate
publication on Yosemite, it is his finest. Hutchings was associated
with the Valley in one way or another from his first visit in
1855 to his death in 1902. He was intimately involved with the
promotion of the Valley as a major tourist attraction and served
as state-appointed guardian of Yosemite from 1880 to 1884. It
is probable that no one was more familiar with the human history
of Yosemite than Hutchings and this aspect is extensively covered
in the book along with the Valley's physical description, routes
to the Valley and even scientific theories about its formation.
An interesting aspect of the last is Hutching's complete omission
of any credit to his former employee, John Muir, even though he
gives prominence to the role of glaciers in the Valley's geologic
genesis in opposition to Whitney. This work is greatly enhanced
with plates by photographers George Fiske, S. C. Walker, Carleton
Watkins and I. W. Taber. They were reproduced by a variety of
techniques: phototype, heliotype and artotype and by two lithographers,
Gutekunst of Philadelphia and Britton and Rey of San Francisco.
The plates by Gutekunst are considerably superior in quality and
are found only in this first issue.
Included with this volume is an original promotional broadside
for this book. At the top of the page is an illustration used
in the book ["Bear with Its Prey," p.ix] with the title
of the book, In the Heart of the Sierras underneath. The
remainder of the broadside is taken up by the text of a resolution
of the Yosemite Board of Commissioners and a note of the secretary
in transmitting the resolution to Hutchings. The resolution reads
as follows: "Whereas J. M. Hutchings is engaged in the preparation
of an historical and descriptive work relating to Yosemite Valley;
and, Whereas, in the opinion of this Board, Mr. Hutchings is eminently
qualified for the work he has undertaken; therefore Resolved,
That this Board tender to Mr. Hutchings its hearty encouragement,
and hereby requests its Officers to afford him every reasonable
facility in the prosecution of his work."
Together two items. This copy of In the Heart of the Sierras
is undoubtedly one of the finest copies in existence. The covers
appear as if new with stunningly bright gilt. The pages are clean,
crisp and unfoxed. In deference to the book's pristine condition,
the Larson bookplate is laid in rather than tipped in. There are
a few small unobtrusive marginal tears of the broadside, otherwise
it is in fine condition.
(700/1000).
72. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
In the Heart of the Sierras.
The Yo Semite Valley, both Historical and Descriptive: and Scenes
by the Way. Big Tree Groves. The High Sierra with its Magnificent,
Ancient and Modern Glaciers, and Other Objects of Interest with
Tables of Distances and Altitudes, Maps, etc. xii, 13-496
pp. 29 unpaginated plates [including one map], one folded map
and 124 illustrations in the text [one illustration on p. viii,
Pom-pom-pa-sa not listed]. 8-1/2x6, tan cloth with cover
and spine illustrations, gilt spine and cover titles. First edition,
second issue, printed at the Pacific Press Publishing House, Oakland,
California.
Yo Semite Valley: The Old Cabin, 1886.
Farquhar 18a; Currey and Kruska 175. This volume meets Farquhar's
and Currey and Kruska's criteria for the second issue of the first
edition. There is light wear at the top and bottom of the spine
and corners, otherwise in near fine condition. (200/300).
73. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity
in California. Illustrated by Ninety-two Well-executed Engravings,
Including the Mammoth Trees of Calaveras; Caves and Natural Bridges;
the Yo Semite Valley; the Mammoth Trees of Mariposa and Frezno
[sic]; Mount Shasta; the Quicksilver Mines of New Almaden and
Henriquita; the Farallone Islands; the Geyser Springs, etc.
[3], 4-236 pp. 93 illustrations [one on p.33 is not listed]. 9x5-3/4,
black cloth with blindstamped decorations and gilt spine title.
First edition, first printing.
San Francisco: Hutchings & Rosenfield, Publishers, [1860].
Currey and Kruska 164; Farquhar 4a. This copy meets Farquhar's
criteria for the first printing of the first edition. [Currey
and Kruska are not as clear with regard to the criteria for this
item and contain a typographical error in the number of illustrations.]
This work "provided the first book length description of
the state's natural attractions and was the first work to describe
the big trees and the Yosemite region in detail" [Currey
and Kruska p.85]. Hutchings assembled this book from material
in the first four volumes of his magazine including the illustrations
[1856-1861, see item #79]. Faint water stains on front cover,
owner's name in pencil on front free endpaper dated Dec. 1860
- otherwise in fine condition. (300/500).
74. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity
in California. Illustrated by Ninety-two Well-executed Engravings,
Including the Mammoth Trees of Calaveras; Caves and Natural Bridges;
the Yo Semite Valley; the Mammoth Trees of Mariposa and Frezno
[sic]; Mount Shasta; the Quicksilver Mines of New Almaden and
Henriquita; the Farallone Islands; the Geyser Springs, etc.
[3], 4-236 pp. 93 illustrations [one on p. 33 is not listed].
9x5-3/4, red cloth with elaborate gilt spine and cover decorations
and spine title, all edges gilt. First edition, first printing.
San Francisco: Hutchings & Rosenfield, Publishers, [1860].
Currey and Kruska 164; Farquhar 4a. This copy also meets Farquhar's
criteria for the first printing of the first edition but is in
a binding which he only describes with the second printing of
the first edition. [This only illustrates how impossible it is
to describe all the combinations and permutations of printing
and binding of a book that is popular enough to be reprinted many
times. Currey and Kruska don't even attempt to describe bindings
in their bibliography.] Covers modestly worn at extremities and
considerably soiled. Owner's name, S. A. Austin, Knight's Ferry,
Jan. 22 - 61 written in pencil in three places on endpapers. Scattered
light foxing - otherwise a very good copy. (200/300).
75. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity
in California. Illustrated by 105 Well-executed Engravings, including
the Mammoth Trees of Calaveras; the Caves and Natural Bridges
of Calaveras; the Yo Semite Valley; the Mammoth Trees of Mariposa
and Frezno [sic]; Mount Shasta; the Quicksilver mines of
New Almaden and Henriquita; the Farallone Islands; the Geyser
Springs; the Riffle-box Waterfall; Deer Creek; Lake Bigler; Scenes
on the Sacramento; the El Dorado County Cave etc. [3], 4-267
pp. 105 illustrations. 8-1/4x5-3/4, brown cloth with gilt spine
and cover decorations and spine title, all edges gilt. Second
edition, second printing. San Francisco: J. M. Hutchings &
Co., 1862.
Inscribed by the author to George Phillips, San Francisco, April
14th, 1863. Currey and Kruska 164; Farquhar 4d. This is described
in Currey and Kruska as the second printing of the second edition.
It is the smaller edition [21 cm vs. 23 cm] described by Farquhar
under 4 d. This edition has three additional chapters containing
descriptions of the places listed in the expanded title. Covers
rubbed, lightly worn at extremities and unevenly faded - some
internal soiling, otherwise in very good condition. Armorial bookplate
with printed name, "Chase" [J. Smeaton ?]. (300/500).
76. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity
in California. Illustrated with Over 100 Engravings. A Tourist's
Guide to the Yo-Semite Valley, the Big Tree Groves - the Natural
Caves and Bridges - the Quicksilver Mines of New Almaden and Henriquita
- Mount Shasta - the Farallone Islands, with Their Sea Lions and
Birds - the Geyser Springs - Lake Tahoe, and Other Places of Interest.
Also Giving Outline Map of Routes to Yo-Semite and Big Tree Groves
- Tables of Distances - Rates of Fare - Hotel Charges, and Other
Desirable Information for the Traveller. [4], 5-292 pp. 102
illustrations and two maps. 8-1/4x5-3/4, period full morocco with
raised spine bands, gilt spine and cover decorations, gilt spine
title, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.
New York and San Francisco: A. Roman and Company, Publishers,
1870.
Currey and Kruska 164; Farquhar 4f. This copy corresponds to
the third edition, first printing of Currey and Kruska. Lacking
4 pp. of advertising called for by both bibliographers. [Although
this was sold to me as an original binding and certainly looks
the part, it may be a special binding of the publisher or an early
rebinding - in view of the absent advertisements.] This edition
has been considerably revised and updated with special regard
to travel arrangements, facilities, etc. compared to the previous
editions. Light wear of spine - otherwise in fine condition. (200/300).
77. HUTCHINGS, J[AMES] M[ASON]
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity
in California. Illustrated with Over 100 Engravings. A Tourist's
Guide to the Yo-Semite Valley, the Big Tree Groves - the Natural
Caves and Bridges - the Quicksilver Mines of New Almaden and Henriquita
- Mount Shasta - the Farallone Islands, with Their Sea Lions and
Birds - the Geyser Springs - Lake Tahoe, and Other Places of Interest.
Also Giving Outline Map of Routes to Yo-Semite and Big Tree Groves
- Tables of Distances - Rates of Fare - Hotel Charges, and Other
Desirable Information for the Traveller. [4] 5-292, [4 adv.]
pp. 102 illustrations and two maps. 8-1/4x6, brown pebbled cloth
, gilt spine and cover titles.
New York and San Francisco: A. Roman and Company, Publishers,
1871.
Currey and Kruska 164; Farquhar 4f. This copy corresponds to
the third edition, second printing of Currey and Kruska. Modest
chipping of top and bottom of spine, short tear in cloth of rear
cover - otherwise in very good condition. (150/250).
78. HUTCHINGS, J. M.
Souvenir of California. Yosemite Valley
and the Big Trees: What To See and How To See It. [12 adv.],
[2 fr.], [5], 6-101, [2], [7 adv.] pp. Folded map and numerous
photographic illustrations. 6-3/4x5, stiff red wrappers with cover
illustrations and gilt title and printed spine title. Second or
third edition. San Francisco: J. M. Hutchings, [c. 1895].
Currey and Kruska 182. This corresponds to Currey and Kruska's
second or third edition with the addenda on page 103 and multiple
pages of advertising. This edition is prized almost as much for
its advertisements as for its information and illustrations. Advertisements
include the Wawona Hotel, the Sentinel Hotel, Mount Tamalpais
Scenic Railway, Yo Semite Stage and Turnpike Co., Hotel Nevills
in Jamestown, the Sierra Railway, Crocker's Station, Fiske's Photographic
Studio, and others. Spine faded and wrappers slightly worn and
stained - otherwise in very good condition.
(100/150).
79. [HUTCHINGS, JAMES MASON]
Hutching's Illustrated California
Magazine. Five volumes [i-iii], iv-viii, 576 [pagination the
same in all five volumes]. Illustrated with numerous wood engravings.
9x5-1/2, three quarter leather and cloth with gilt spine titles.
San Francisco: Hutchings & Rosenfield, Publishers, 1856-1861.
Hutchings was a native of England who emigrated to the United
States at a young age and then went to California at the age of
25 with other forty-niners. After a run at prospecting he "hit
it rich" with publication of a humorous pictorial letter
sheet called The Miner's Ten Commandments, followed by
more in the same vein. He used the proceeds from the letter sheets
to finance his California Magazine which ran until June 1861,
then was merged with the California Mountaineer. Hutchings used
the natural grandeur of Yosemite to introduce his publication.
He organized the first sight-seeing visit to Yosemite valley with
an artist [Thomas Ayres] and two other companions in the summer
of 1855 and made it the subject of his lead article in the inaugural
issue, with Ayres engravings becoming the first published views
of Yosemite. Thereafter, Hutchings frequently featured articles
on the natural beauty and wonders of the State, although much
of the magazine was filled with more mundane journalistic matter.
Even the latter, however, is not without interest today for the
window it provides to the mores, philosophies, attitudes and customs
of an earlier time in California. For example volume III, No.
3 has an unsigned article written in the first person [presumably
by Hutchings] entitled "A Californian Blood-stain" detailing
how the author and his partner in the diggings summarily executed
a young Indian man they discovered in their camp on the presumption
of guilt because their camp had been robbed a few days earlier.
The first four volumes are ex-library with Bancroft Library bookplates,
withdrawn stamp, spine labels, and remnants of a library card
envelope on inside back cover of one volume. Three of the volumes
appear to have been recased in original bindings. Volume V is
a maverick and in much poorer condition than the others [it has
three damaged leaves affecting the text of six pages and is missing
the original title page]; otherwise in good condition.
(2000/3000).
80. HUTCHINGS, J. M.
Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity Selected
by Roger R. Olmsted from Hutchings' California Magazine, 1856
through 1861. xii, 413 pp. Three hundred illustrations. 9-1/4x6,
tan cloth with printed spine and cover titles and illustrations,
pictorial dust jacket. First edition. Berkeley: Howell-North,
1962.
Reprint of some of the best articles and illustrations from all
five years of Hutching's California Magazine with an interesting
historical introduction by the editor. Although the editor selected
the best [most complete] article on Yosemite Valley for this reprint,
it is unfortunate that he didn't also include the one that was
most important historically, i.e. the inaugural article that launched
the magazine and introduced the world to Yosemite. Fine condition.
(40/60).
81. JACKSON, HELEN HUNT.
Ah-Wah-Ne Days. A Visit to Yosemite
Valley in 1872 by "H H" [Helen Hunt Jackson]. Introduced
by Oscar Lewis. 84 pp. Chapter head-pieces by Mallette Dean. 10-1/2x7,
linen-backed decorated boards with paper spine label, original
plain dust jacket. First edition limited to 450 copies printed
by Mallette Dean.
San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1971.
Included with this volume is a fine copy of Six California
Tales: Number Six. My Day in the Wilderness by Helen Hunt
Jackson in printed brown wrappers [San Francisco: Book Club of
California, 1939]. Just on the threshold of her writing career,
after the death of her first husband and then her nine-year old
son, Helen Hunt [as she was known before she married William S.
Jackson] planned a trip to California on the newly established
transcontinental railroad to be financed by writing articles about
her travels for the New York Independent, a popular Eastern
weekly. Seven of the articles that she wrote described her visit
to Yosemite and are reprinted in this book. Helen Hunt adds to
the literature of Yosemite the perspective of a cultured Eastern
woman with the expressiveness of an accomplished author on the
people and facilities encountered on the trip as well as on the
natural beauties of Yosemite. Fine condition. (60/90).
82. JAMES, GEORGE WHARTON.
The Wonders of the Colorado Desert
(Southern California). Its Rivers and Its Mountains, Its Canyons
and Its Springs, Its Life and Its History, Pictured and Described,
Including an Account of a Recent Journey Made down the Overflow
of the Colorado River to the Mysterious Salton Sea. Two volumes:
xliv, 270; xiv, 271-547, [1], [2 adv.] pp. Thirty-three unpaginated
plates from photographs by various photographers and numerous
figures in the text from drawings by the artist Carl Eytel. 8-1/2x5-3/4,
blue and gray cloth with gilt spine titles and cover ornamentation.
Second printing.
Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1907.
Cowan, who listed 16 books by George Wharton James in his bibliography,
failed to record this one, which is James' greatest work. It has
received uniform praise from all the other bibliographers and
writers on the subject of the California deserts, including Farquhar,
Edwards and Lawrence Clark Powell. The latter selected it for
a California classic status in his book by the same name. Edwards
was even more lavish in his praise calling it the "classic
and definitive account of the Colorado desert" and stating
further that "In the quality of its realistic approach to
the subjects covered, in the appeal of its versatility, and in
the extensiveness of its scope, James' superlative effort stands
majestically alone." James explored the Colorado Desert on
foot and on mule - alone and with his most informative companion
and contributor to the quality of this work, Carl Eytel. James
was a true lover of the desert and this is probably his most inspired
writing although his work on the Grand Canyon is a close second.
He found in Carl Eytel a kindred spirit and a source of inspiration
and knowledge. Eytel's numerous drawings greatly enhance the value
of this work. It was first published in 1906 and despite the relative
obscurity of the subject and the high price [for that time] it
was reprinted the very next year. For some reason, however, this
printing today is much scarcer than the first. The spines are
slightly faded and the hinge is cracked between pp. xliv and 1
- otherwise these volumes are in near fine condition.
(100/150).
83. Jordan, David Starr.
The Alps of the King-Kern Divide.
22 pp. Six unpaginated plates from photographs by J. N. Le Conte
with titled tissue guards. 6-3/4x4-3/4, pictorial boards with
cover titles. Second book edition. San Francisco: A. M. Robertson,
1907.
Farquhar 19b. This is the second separate printing in book form
of an article first published in Land of Sunshine in March
1900. The first book publication was by Whitaker and Ray in 1903.
"These articles were inspired by a camping trip to the headwaters
of the Kings in August, 1899...." [Farquhar]. The author,
who was the first president of Stanford University details his
experiences on the 1899 camping trip in his autobiography, Days
of a Man [pp. 648-655]. Fine condition. (40/70).
84. Kellogg, Charles.
Charles Kellogg, the Nature Singer. His
Book. [10], 11-243, [4] pp. One hundred and two illustrations
from photographs by the author on sixty-four unpaginated plates.
7-3/4x5-1/2, green cloth with gilt spine and cover titles. First
edition.
Morgan Hill: Pacific Science Press, 1929.
Signed by the author. Another remarkable mountain man, Charles
Kellogg was born and raised in a remote section of the northern
Sierra. His mother died in his infancy and Charles was raised
on his father's ranch under the guidance of local Indians and
his father's Chinese kitchen hand. While roaming freely alone
as a child in his natural surroundings, he developed an unusual
talent for mimicking the sounds of birds, insects and other wild
creatures. This was the time of the public lecture as a popular
form of entertainment. As Kellogg matured he turned his talent
to the lecture platform where he spoke on wildlife and demonstrated
his ability to "converse" with a variety of creatures
in their natural state. Fine condition. (40/70).
85. KING, CLARENCE.
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada.
[6], 292 pp. 8x5-1/4, maroon cloth with gilt spine title. First
edition, first issue.
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1872.
Cowan p.328; Currey and Kruska 224; Farquhar 12; Howes K148.
Clarence King was a recent graduate of Yale's new Sheffield College
of Science and in the full exuberance of young manhood when he
accepted Brewer's invitation to join the staff of the geological
survey of California as a volunteer in 1863. He pursued his assignments
in the Sierra with passionate enthusiasm, brilliance, and courage
to the point of bravura; but, with no previous experience in geological
surveys, his formal report on the Yosemite area was less than
satisfactory to J. D. Whitney, who assigned Charles Hoffmann to
complete the survey and report the following year. Though Whitney
was less than enthusiastic about King's formal report, the public
and the critics have been more than enthusiastic about King's
journalistic [and fictionally embellished] account of his mountaineering
experiences which appeared first as a series in the Atlantic Monthly
and a year later in this book. Lawrence Clark Powell chose it
as one of his California classics and in answer to his own rhetorical
question about what conferred it greatness concluded: "Foremost
is its vitality...King transfused his prose with the same vigor
which marked his life...King and Cotter were the first to climb
the highest Sierra. However comparatively easy it has become to
do...the pioneer effort was altogether heroic." Powell also
credits King's fertile imagination for transforming what others
might see only as dull routine into exciting, amusing, or romantic
adventure. Later King was able to parlay this investment in practical
geological field experience into leadership of the first U.S.-sponsored
geological survey [the remarkable fortieth parallel survey - see
item #154 in the first catalog of this series] and from that to
an appointment as the first director of the newly formed U.S.
Geological Service in 1879. Fading of backstrip with light rubbing
to ends, very light soiling of covers; offset to title-page -
otherwise in near fine condition. (250/400).
86. KING, CLARENCE.
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada.
Edited by Francis Farquhar. 320 pp. Frontispiece and seven unpaginated
plates from photographs by varous photographers including three
by Ansel Adams. 8-1/2x5-3/4, blue cloth with gilt spine and cover
titles.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, [1935] .
Reprint of the 1872 edition with added photographs, a valuable
introduction and notes by Francis Farquhar. An essential companion
to the first edition. A few spots to title-page, else in fine
condition. (40/60).
87. KING, CLARENCE.
The Helmet of Mambrino. Introduced
by Francis Farquhar. xx, [2], 21, [2] pp. 7-3/4x5-1/4, vellum-backed
marbled boards with gilt spine title, original slipcase. Limited
edition of 350 copies printed by the University of California
Press.
San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1938.
Originally a letter of Clarence King to a friend in San Francisco,
this brief piece was first published in Century Magazine in May
1886. It was reprinted in the Clarence King Memoirs in
1904 and for the third time in this fine press edition by the
Book Club of California. This brief piece showcases King's talent
for creative writing perhaps better than any other and has led
to the lament of his biographers for a remarkable talent never
fully realized. Fine condition. (60/100).
88. [KING, CLARENCE] Wilkins, Thurman.
Clarence King: A Biography.
ix, [5] 441 pp. Five unpaginated plates from photographs including
frontispiece. 8-1/4x5-1/2, black cloth with silver spine and cover
titles, printed dust jacket. First edition.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1958.
Printed review notice, photograph of the author, and publisher's
advance laid in. Thoroughly researched and tightly composed biography
of one of the most interesting characters to appear on the California
scene. Probably not even John Muir excited such awe and devoted
affection among his followers as Clarence King. His close friend
and schoolmate, Henry Adams wrote in The Education of Henry
Adams that "men worshipped [King] not so much [as] their
friend, as the ideal American they all wanted to be." What
were the characteristics that made King the icon of the American
ideal? He was brilliant and self-assured but not pretentious,
he was sophisticated but egalitarian in his philosophy and practice
[he secretly married an African-American housemaid], he worked
hard, and played even harder, he was a bon vivant and effortless
raconteur, he was daring almost to the point of being reckless
and he was iconclastic without being offensive or tedious.
As a result of all this or perhaps even in addition to this
he had that personal charisma [like John Muir and Franklin Delano
Roosevelt] that somehow defies analysis but is readily recognizable
when experienced. Aside from the imprint of his personality on
those who surrounded him, however, he left only a few permanent
monuments to his memory; they were 1. his book Mountaineering
in the Sierra Nevada 2. his role in discovering the scam of
the Great Diamond Hoax, 3 his magnificent report of the 40th
parallel survey 4. The Helmet of Mambrino and 5. a mountain
peak in the Sierra named after him.
A copy of the revised and enlarged edition of Wilkins biography
edited by Caroline Lawson Hinkley and published by the University
of New Mexico Press in 1988 [with pictorial dust jacket] included.
Together two volumes - both in fine condition. (50/80).
89. [KING, CLARENCE]
Clarence King Memoirs. The Helmet of Mambrino.
viii, 429 pp. Frontispiece portrait and eight paginated plates
from photographs. 8-1/4x5, vellum-backed boards with gilt spine
and cover titles and ornamentation, uncut, top edges gilt. First
edition. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904.
Cowan p.328. Reprint of King's most revered writing, The Helmet
of Mambrino with essays of tribute to King written by friends
such as William Dean Howells, John Hay, John LaFarge, Henry Adams,
etc. Perhaps no other publication demonstrates the admiration
and affection that King inspired in friends and acquaintances
better than these "memoirs." Vellum worn and discolored,
corners worn, owner's name, Elizabeth Barton Campbell, written
in pencil on front flyleaf with notations there and in several
text margins - otherwise in very good condition. (150/250).
90. KING, THOMAS STARR.
A Vacation among the Sierras. Yosemite
in 1860. Edited, introduced and annotated by John A. Hussey.
xxxiv, 78 pp. Frontispiece portrait of Thomas Starr King and four
unpaginated plates from old photographs. 8-3/4x6, linen-backed,
decorated boards with gilt spine title. Limited edition of 400
copies printed at the Ward Ritchie Press. San Francisco: The Book
Club of California, 1962.
Thomas Starr King was a popular Unitarian minister in Boston
who came to San Francisco in April 1860 to assume duties as pastor
of the First Unitarian Church. A little more than two months later
he made an extended visit to Yosemite and wrote of his experiences
in a series of letters that were published in the Boston Transcript.
Thomas Starr King, like his namesake Clarence King, was a lover
of mountains. While in the eastern United States he was an avid
hiker and explorer of the White Hills of New Hampshire and had
previously published a series of articles on those mountains in
the Boston Transcript. Those articles were published in
a book, generally regarded as the best on the subject, just a
year before his emigration to California. This is the first publication
of his Yosemite letters in book form. Although his articles on
the Sierra were not hailed with the enthusiasm that greeted his
White Hills work, they served an important role in informing the
opposite end of this nation of the natural treasure they had acquired
with the conquest of California. Fine condition.
(50/80).
91. KNEELAND, SAMUEL, A.M., M.D.
The Wonders of the Yosemite
Valley and of California. [6], [xi], [1], 13-79 pp. Ten unpaginated
plates with original mounted photographs by John Soule, two maps
and three woodcuts in the text. 10-1/4x6-3/4, maroon cloth with
elaborate gold and black spine and cover titles and blind-stamped
title and ornamentation on back cover. Second edition. Boston:
Alexander Moore, Lee & Shepard, 1872.
Cowan p.333; Currey and Kruska 225; Farquhar 10b; Kimes #3 and
#4. Samuel Kneeland, a professor of zoology at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, visited Yosemite in 1870. The first edition
of his guide book was published a year later. This second edition
is the same except for two additional chapters entitled "The
Yosemite in 1872" and "The Recent Earthquake in Yosemite."
Although not identified, Muir is quoted in both chapters - this
being the first quotation of Muir in a book [see Kimes p.2: #3
and #4]. Kneeland's Yosemite book is especially valued for its
original mounted photographs of Yosemite and the Calaveras grove
of Sequoias attributed on the title page to John P. Soule, a Boston
photographer. Fading of spine and the top of the front cover,
light wear of cover extremities, one signature loosening - otherwise
in near fine condition.
Included with this volume are two stereoscopic cards on Sierra
subjects by the photographer of this book, John P. Soule. One
is of a large sequoia in the Mariposa Grove and the other of trees
in the Calaveras Grove. "Entered according to Act of Congress
in the year 1870 by John P. Soule" appears on both cards
as it does on the verso of the title page of the above book. Although
Farquhar and Weston Naef [the latter in Era of Exploration...
1975] question whether Soule was the photographer, it is not clear
why they do, other than the fact that Soule's studio was in Boston.
Many a professional photographer from other parts of the U.S.,
however, visited California especially after the transcontinental
railroad was completed. It seems unlikely that Soule would have
tried to copyright the views or that he would have used the words
"with original photographic illustrations by John P. Soule"
on the title page if he had purchased them from another photographer.
Perhaps the strongest evidence, however, is the fact that the
copyrights were applied for in 1870, the year that Kneeland visited
California [rather than 1871, the year that the book was published],
suggesting that Soule might have accompanied Kneeland on his trip
in 1870 in order to take the photographs to be offered in his
stereoscopic series. Both in fine condition. (500/800).
92. KRUSKA, DENNIS.
Sierra Nevada Big Trees. History of the
Exhibitions, 1850-1903. 63, [1] pp. Frontispiece in color
and sixteen paginated black and white illustrations from various
sources. 10-1/2x7, orange cloth with gilt spine title. First edition,
limited to 500 copies.
Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1985.
Signed by the author. Carefully assembled and illustrated history
of the entrepreneurial exploitation of California's remarkable
forest giants soon after their discovery, this is almost a ministudy
of American character and certainly an essential piece in any
Sierra collection. Fine condition. (50/80).
93. LE CONTE, CARRIE E.
Yo Semite, 1878. Adventures of N &
C. Journal and Drawings of Carrie E. Le Conte. Introduced
by Susanna B. Dakin. xviii, 99, [14] pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece
portrait, nine of Carrie Le Conte's drawings in the text and eleven
unpaginated plates of her drawings at the end of the book. 10-3/4x7-1/2,
linen-backed, decorated boards with paper spine label. Limited
first edition of 450 copies designed and printed by Mallette Dean.
San Francisco: The Book Club of California, MCMXLIV [see below].
Prospectus laid in. Although the date given above in Roman numerals
is the date as printed on the title page and prospectus, it is
a typographical error as the book was published in 1964 [not 1944].
Carrie Le Conte was a daughter of Joseph Le Conte Sr. and sister
of Joseph N. LeConte ["Little Joe"] [see item #98].
Carrie followed the family tradition of keeping records of their
summer expeditions to the Sierra. Before his death in 1950 "Little
Joe" bequeathed all his papers to the Bancroft Library and
this charming journal of his sister written at the age of 14 was
found among them. Carrie's later life was less conventional than
her brother's. She was interested in art and fell under the spell
of the artist, William Keith, who became her aesthetic mentor
and then her "foster father" during a period of "nervous
prostration" [probably a severe depression]. Brother Cornelius
comments on her relationship to Keith repeatedly in his biography
of the artist. Carrie also embraced the Catholic faith in defiance
of family tradition and spent many years in a Franciscan convent
in Europe. Fine condition.
(60/90).