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242. ASBURY, HERBERT.
The Barbary Coast. An Informal History
of the San Francisco Underworld. [15], 4-319, [1], xi, [1]
pp. Twenty-one illustrations on eighteen unpaginated plates. 8-1/2x5-3/4,
cloth-backed pictorial boards. First edition.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1933.
This is an entire book devoted to the "shady" side
of San Francisco to which B. E. Lloyd devoted only a few chapters
in his book, Lights and Shades in San Francisco [see item
#353]. Bookplate of Harry L. Rhodes mounted on front pastedown
and news clipping from a 1967 Los Angeles Times tipped to front
free endpaper - otherwise in fine condition.
Included with this is a 24x36" color reproduction of a
colorful Barbary Coast poster in the archives of the California
Historical Society. (40/70).
243. ATHERTON, GERTRUDE.
Golden Gate Country. [8], ix-xi,
[3], 3-256 pp. 8-1/4x5-1/2, tan cloth with gilt spine title and
brown cover ornament, endpaper maps. First edition, second printing.
New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, [1945]. * My San Francisco:
A Wayward Biography. [14], 15-334 pp. Frontispiece and eighteen
other unpaginated plates from photographs of various sources.
8-1/2x5-3/4, blue cloth with gilt spine and cover title. First
edition. Indianapolis, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, [1946].
Norris #144 and #145. Together two books by Gertrude Atherton
on San Francisco. Both lacking dust jackets, second spine faded
- otherwise first in fine condition, second very good. (40/70).
A unique early San Francisco cultural and charitable
event
244. [AUTHOR'S CARNIVAL]
Author's Carnival, Oct. 23, 1879.
37-95 pp. 12-1/4x5-1/4, leather-backed marbled boards. San Francisco:
[1879].
This is a ledger book full of tipped-in news clippings and advertisements
about a unique San Francisco event held at the Mechanic's Pavilion
Oct. 23-Nov. 1, 1879. This affair was organized by the women of
the city to raise money for several women's benevolent societies
including the Young Women's Christian Association, the Ladies'
Protective and Relief Society, S.F. Female Hospital, Infants'
Shelter, Old Ladies' Home, and the Pacific Dispensary. The elaborateness
of the event is suggested by the advertisements and the very full
press coverage. According to the announcements in the press, it
included "individual characterizations, groupings, dramatic
sketches, tableaux vivant, in the booths and grand tableaux on
the grand stage, rendered by 600 ladies, 400 gentlemen, and 300
masters and misses." It apparently was very well attended
and a great success. This very comprehensive compilation of news
coverage was probably assembled by one of the planners, although
the reponsible party left no clue in the book. Very light wear
of the bindings and usual darkening of newsprint - otherwise in
very good condition.
(300/400).
245. BANCROFT, ANNE.
The Memorable Lives of Bummer & Lazarus
(citizens of San Francisco) 185?-1865. [10], 26 pp. Seven
unpaginated plates from contemporary cartoons about Bummer and
Lazarus. 8-1/2x5-1/2, blue cloth-backed gray boards with paper
spine label and printed cover title, printed dust jacket. Limited
edition of 500 copies.
Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1939.
Signed by the author on the half-title. Anne Bancroft was a grand-daughter
of Hubert Howe Bancroft. The story of two stray, mongrel dogs
in San Francisco of the 1860s. They were vicariously adopted by
the citizenry of San Francisco and their lives capriciously iconicized
by the press. The author provides canine biographical sketches
of these two curs reconstructed from the numerous contemporary
press accounts of the pair. Fine condition. (80/120).
246. BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE.
Some Cities and San Francisco and
Resurgam. [4], 64 pp. 7-1/2x5, gray cloth with gilt cover
title and decorations in white and gilt, top edges gilt. First
edition. New York: The Bancroft Company, Publishers, 1907.
Inscribed and signed by the author. Two essays on the rebuilding
of San Francisco, a little more than a year following the great
earthquake. Despite the enormous damage of that 1906 earthquake
and fire, Bancroft downplayed it with comparative statistics of
the deaths and damage in the East from floods, storms, weather,
and epidemics. Very attractive volume in fine condition. (60/90).
247. BARRY, T. A. AND B. A. PATTEN.
Men and Memories of San
Francisco in the "Spring of '50." [6], 7-296 pp.
7-1/2x4-3/4, brown cloth with gilt spine and cover titles and
blind-stamped ornamentation. Later chemise and morocco slipcase
with gilt spine title. First edition.
San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company, 1873.
Cowan p.36; Howes B192; Norris 219; Wheat #12. "One of the
most interesting works on 'Old San Francisco'" [Cowan]. The
first edition was apparently issued with and without the frontispiece
portraits. This copy issued without portraits [facsimile photocopies
laid in] - armorial bookplate ("Josselyn"), slight rubbing
to joints & spine ends, otherwise fine. (150/250).
248. BARRY, T. A. AND B. A. PATTEN.
San Francisco, California,
1850. Foreword by Joseph Sullivan. [12], 178, [1] pp. Two
paginated plates from photographic portraits of Barry and Patten
[pp. 64, 65], folded facsimile of an 1851 map of the City of San
Francisco by W. T. M. Eddy, City Surveyor, in rear pocket. 11x8,
cloth-backed, decorated boards with paper spine label, pictorial
dust jacket, uncut and partially unopenend. Limited edition of
650 copies printed by Johnck & Seeger. Oakland: Biobooks,
1947.
Fine press reprint of the previous item. Light wear of dust jacket
- otherwise in fine condition. (50/80).
The first six annual reports of the Bay Bridge
249. [BAY BRIDGE]
Annual Progress Report San Francisco Oakland
Bay Bridge. Six volumes [six annual reports]: 75 pp. plus
Appendices A-L; 79 plus Appendices A-H; 84 plus Appendices A-G;
121 plus A-H; 111 plus Appendices A-D; 132 plus Appendices [unlettered].
Numerous illustrations from photographs; charts and plans on folded
tissue in appendices. 11x8-1/2, pictorial wrappers. N.p.: Department
of Public Works, California, 1934-1939.
The first six annual reports of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge Division of the Department of Public Works of the State
of California, spanning the entire time of construction and beginning
operation. Numerous illustrations from photographs, drawings or
engineering plans throughout text. Beginning with the second annual
report each one also has a section of approximately sixteen pages
of just photographic illustrations showing the construction progress
in the previous year. This is a magnificent record of one of the
great engineering feats associated with the history of San Francisco.
Each of these reports is signed, on the front wrapper and/or first
page, by D.E. Marsh. All in near fine to fine condition.
Included with this item are two other items: 1) a sixteen page
souvenir and informational brochure on the San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Bridge measuring 8-3/4x4 prepared for the opening of the bridge
and 2) a news story about the 50th anniversary of the Bay Bridge.
(200/300).
250. BEAN, WALTON.
Boss Ruef's San Francisco. The Story of
the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution.
[6], vii-xii, [2], 345, pp. Eight paginated plates with eleven
illustrations from photographs and two woodcuts in text. 9x6,
blue cloth with gilt spine title. First edition.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1952.
The story of political corruption and turmoil in the early part
of the twentieth century in San Francisco. Fine condition. (40/60).
251. BEEBE, LUCIUS AND CHARLES CLEGG.
San Francisco's Golden
Era. A Picture Story of San Francisco before the Fire. [6],
7-255 pp. Profusely illustrated from various sources. 11x8-1/2,
tan cloth with spine title and cover illustration in black, pictorial
endpapers, pictorial dust jacket. Berkeley: Howell-North, 1960.
Fine condition. (40/60).
252. BOLTON, HERBERT EUGENE.
Outpost of Empire. The Story of
the Founding of San Francisco. xxi, [6], 4-334, [2], xvii,
[1] pp. Eleven maps [eight folded], and sixty-six illustrations
on 44 unpaginated plates. 9-1/4x6-1/4, dark blue cloth with gilt
spine title, printed dust jacket. First edition. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, 1931.
Norris 363. The story of the 1775-6 Anza expedition that resulted
in the founding of the first settlement on the Bay of San Francisco.
In this version Bolton constructed an unbroken narrative of this
epic event out of the years of scholarship that went into his
earlier five-volume work that included all of the Anza expeditions
[see item #44, catalog #2]. Irregular fading and abrasion of dust
jacket with modest chipping of edges [without loss of any printing],
tape repairs on verso - otherwise in very good condition. (100/150).
253. BROWN, JOHN HENRY.
Reminiscences and Incidents of "The
Early Days" of San Francisco. Actual Experiences of an Eyewitness,
from 1845 to 1850. [106] pp. [unpaginated]. Folded plan of
San Francisco streets with explanatory text. 8-3/4x5-1/2, tan
cloth with gilt cover title and blind-stamped decoration. First
edition.
San Francisco: Mission Journal Publishing Co., [1886].
Cowan p.77; Howes B853; Morgan p.xviii; Wheat 23; Zamorano 10.
Bookplate of Irvin Edelstein. As proprietor of San Francisco's
major hostelry, the Portsmouth House, in the heart of San Francisco
during the critical years of growth from village to city in 1846
to 1850, John Henry Brown had an ideal vantage point to witness
the key events and become acquainted with the principal participants
in the transition. Although he didn't record his memories until
forty years later, historians have ranked his reminiscences as
remarkably accurate based on those events which allow corroboration
from more immediately recorded sources. Light soiling of front
cover and a few pages, front hinge cracked - otherwise in very
good condition. (400/700).
254. BROWN, JOHN HENRY.
Reminiscences and Incidents of "The
Early Days" of San Francisco (1845-50). With an introduction
and reader's guide by Douglas Sloane Watson. [12], 138, [5] pp.
Folded street plan of San Francisco, 9-1/2x6-1/4, cloth-backed
marbled boards with paper spine and cover labels. Limited edition
of 500 copies.
San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
In addition to its value as a fine press reprint of an important
primary source of San Francisco history, the editor, Douglas Watson,
added a historical introduction and a very helpful glossary of
names that were grossly mispelled by the author [entitled "Reader's
Guide"] making this an important companion piece to the first
edition. Fine condition. (100/150).
255. BROWN, JOHN HENRY.
The Early Days of San Francisco, California.
[10], 147, [6] pp. One folded street plan of San Francisco with
explanatory text and one unpaginated color plate of early San
Francisco. 9-1/4x6, brown and green cloth with spine and cover
titles.
Oakland: Biobooks, 1949.
A third reprint with the valuable addition of an index which
was originally prepared by John Henry Brown but not used in the
first edition or the Grabhorn reprint. Fine condition. (50/80).
256. [BULKHEAD]
The Entire Official Testimony and the Report
of the Committee as to the Necessity of a "Bulkhead or Sea-wall
on the Water-front of the City of San Francisco Taken before a
Special Committee of 1859. 60 pp., 9-1/4x5-3/4, printed tan
wrappers. First edition.
Sacramento: Printed at the Daily Standard Office, 1860.
Unrecorded variant of Greenwood 1350 and Norris 3496. This variant
does not reprint the bill found on pages 61-67 of the one described
by Greenwood and Norris. Few issues generated more bitter controversy
in San Francisco and the state legislature than the idea of constructing
a bulkhead or sea wall around the water front of San Francisco.
The concept surfaced as early as 1856 but was strenuously opposed
by the Vigilance Committee of that year. The proposal that was
debated in this pamphlet would have given "the right [to
a private corporation] to build the sea wall or bulkhead, with
the necessary wharves, piers and docks appurtenant to the same,"
together with the right of levying a variety of usage fees for
fifty years. It promised to be a windfall for the financial backers.
Despite vigorous opposition from the great majority of San Franciscans,
it was approved by the state legislature. The bill failed to become
law, however, as a result of Governor John Downey's veto. Eventually
a bulkhead was completed in 1887 under the jurisdiction of a Harbor
Commission. Fine condition. (200/300).
Signed limited edition of
Cable Car Carnival
257. [CABLE CARS] Beebe, Lucius and Charles Clegg.
Cable Car
Carnival. [8], ix-x, 11-130, [6] pp. Numerous illustrations
from various sources. 10-3/4x8-1/4, decorated boards with spine
title, pictorial endpapers, pictorial dust jacket. Limited first
edition.
Oakland: Grahame Hardy, 1951.
Signed by the authors on a special limitation page [number of
copies not specified]. Several ephemeral items related to the
San Francisco cable cars laid in including: a four page prospectus
for this book, a package of six 6x8-1/2 in. color prints of old
cable cars, a prospectus for a subscription to Charles Clegg's
revival of the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City
and a Christmas card and its cover [postmarked 1951] with a cable
car design. Magnificently illustrated book which is really a history
of San Francisco from the start of the cable cars to the time
of writing. It ends with a description of the civic efforts of
San Franciscans in 1950 to save the cable cars. Small scratch
on spine of dust jacket - otherwise in very fine condition. (80/120).
258. [CABLE CARS]
California Street Cable Railroad Co. canceled
check. Vignette of cable car in one corner. 3-1/4x8-1/4, laid
in clear plastic sleeve. San Francisco: California Street Cable
Railroad Co. June 13, 1894. * Kahn, Edgar M. Cable Car Days
in San Francisco. xvi, [2], 3-124 pp. Frontispiece and chapter
headpieces by William Wilke, numerous black and white illustrations
from photographs of various sources. 10x6-3/4, beige linen with
paper spine label and pictorial paper cover label, pictorial endpapers
by William Wilke. Stanford: Stanford University Press, [1940].
* Parker, Frank. Anatomy of the San Francisco Cable Car.
[12], 13-62, [2] pp. Sixteen unpaginated plates and 33 figures
in the text. 8-1/2x6, pink cloth with maroon spine and cover titles,
pictorial dust jacket. Stanford University: James Ladd Delkin,
[1946]. * San Francisco California Street Cable Railroad Opening
Day April 10, 1878. 4 pp. Reproduction of painting on front
page. 4-1/2x7, folded prospectus for a limited edition of 750
prints of a painting by Alan Maley on the centennial of the founding
of the cable railway in San Francisco. San Francisco: Conacher
Galleries, [1978].
Check is signed by James B. Stetson, president. Stetson came
to California as a gold seeker in 1849, did well in prospecting,
fared even better as a merchant, and served as president of the
California Street Cable Railroad Co. from 1888 to 1911. The check
is made out to C. W. Randall who was a member of the Board of
Directors. "Dividend No." printed in one corner and
119 written after it. The check is in the amount of $50.00. The
third item is an unusual one - not for the casual tourist. It
provides a mechanical explanation of how the cable cars work -
complete with many excellent diagrams. For those disinterested
in mechanics, however, there is a section of 16 excellent black
and white plates from photographs of the cable cars in operation
on the streets of San Francisco. Together four items: chip off
top of dust jacket spine on second item, dust jacket on the third
item is lightly worn with one chip from the top of the spine -
otherwise all items in fine condition. (100/150).
Superb piece of San Francisco ephemera
259. [CABLE CARS]
California Street Cable Railroad Co. One
hundred shares. Certificate No. 341. Capital Stock $1,000,000,
Incorporated July 23rd, 1884. Large vignette of cable car
near center of certificate. 5-1/2x10-1/4, laid in clear plastic
holder.
San Francisco: California Street Cable Railroad Co., Jaunary
31st, 1887.
Perhaps no other physical feature is identified with San Francisco
as much as the cable cars with the exception of the Golden Gate
Bridge. This certificate signed by the president Charles Mayne
[president 1884 to 1888] and made out to J. B. Stetson who succeeded
him as president of the company the following year. It is also
signed by Thomas W. Hinchman, secretary and member of the board
of directors [see Kahn, Cable Car Days in previous item].
Fine condition. (200/300).
A few "firsts" from the present patriarch
of newspaper "tripewriters"
Its probably safe to say that no journalist has been so identified
with San Francisco as Herb Caen who has been writing a daily column
for newspapers in San Francisco since 1938. It is also true that
probably no columnist has ever identified himself as much with
a city as Herb Caen has identified himself with San Francisco.
It is undoubtedly one of his sources of popularity because most
San Franciscans are as devoted provincials as New Yorkers; the
"if you live in this city you don't need to know anything
about the rest of the world because here is where it's at"
attitude. His columns continue to inspire, inform, misinform [errors
always willingly corrected with good grace] and amuse not only
San Franciscans but those of us who love San Francisco despite
its incurable provincialism. So in honor of San Francisco's most
venerable punster we say "Long may he rave o'er the land
tween the sea, and Saint Francis's Bay."
260. CAEN, HERB.
Baghdad by the Bay. [6], vii-ix, [3],
276 pp. Four inserted double-page illustrations drawn by Howard
Brodie. 8-1/4x5-1/2, tan linen with silver spine title, pictorial
endpapers, pictorial dust jacket. First edition. Garden City:
Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1949. * Baghdad 1951. [10],
11-120 pp. 7-1/2x5, beige linen with spine title printed in black,
pictorial dust jacket. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc.,
1950.
Together two items - both first editions. The first inscribed
and signed by the author. Two defects on front of the first dust
jacket, some rubbing or soiling of the second - otherwise in near-fine
condition. (50/80).
261. CAEN, HERB.
Don't Call It Frisco. [12], 13-287 pp.
8-1/4x5-1/2, yellow cloth with spine title printed in gray, top
edges stained, pictorial dust jacket in color from painting by
Hubert Buel. First edition. Garden City: Doubleday & Company,
Inc., 1953.
Inscribed and signed by the author. Fine condition. (30/50).
262. CAEN, HERB.
Only in San Francisco. [5], 6-286 pp.
8-1/4x5-1/2, gray cloth with gilt spine and cover titles, pictorial
dust jacket in color from a painting by Dong Kingman. First edition.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1960.
Inscribed, signed and dated Dec. 1960 by the author. Fine condition.
(30/50).
263. CAEN, HERB.
The San Francisco Book. [5], vi-viii,
[3], 2-119 pp. Numerous illustrations from photographs by Max
Yavno. 9-1/2x6-1/2, green cloth with spine and cover titles in
black, pictorial dust jacket. First edition.
Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948.
T.L.S. of Herb Caen to Mrs. Ferguson dated April 30, 1975 laid
in. Slight wear of dust jacket - otherwise in fine condition.
(80/120).
Limited edition signed by Herb Caen and Dong
Kingman
264. CAEN, HERB AND DONG KINGMAN.
San Francisco: City on Golden
Hills. [11], 12-191 pp. Numerous illustrations in color and
black and white by Dong Kingman. 12-1/4x8-3/4, white linen with
spine title in red, matching linen-covered slipcase with printed
side label. Limited edition of 350 copies. This is copy No. 93.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1967.
Signed by Herb Caen and Dong Kingman. Fine condition. (100/150).
265. CAEN, HERB AND DONG KINGMAN.
San Francisco: City on Golden
Hills. [11], 12-191 pp. Numerous illustrations in color and
black and white by Dong Kingman. 12-1/4x8-3/4, beige linen with
gilt spine title, pictorial dust jacket from a painting by Dong
Kingman. First trade edition. Garden City: Doubleday & Company,
Inc., 1967.
Fine condition. (40/60).
266. CAMERON, ROBERT.
Above San Francisco. A New Collection
of Nostalgic and Contemporary Aerial Photographs of the Bay Area.
[2], 5-157, [2] pp. Profusely illustrated in color from aerial
photographs by Robert Cameron. 11x13-3/4, blue cloth with gilt
spine title, pictorial dust jacket. Third printing. San Francisco:
Cameron and Company, [1976]. * and Herb Caen. Above San Francisco.
A New Collection of Nostalgic and Contemporary Aerial Photographs
of the Bay Area. [2], 3-158 pp. Profusely illustrated in color
from aerial photographs by Robert Cameron. 11x13-3/4, beige linen
with spine title, pictorial dust jacket. First printing. San Francisco:
Cameron and Company, [1986].
Two editions of this sensational photographic essay on San Francisco
with entirely different photographs in each edition. Herb Caen
in his introduction to the second volume expresses my own feelings
about these views. "Of all the artists of the lens who seek
to capture the San Francisco - and the Bay Area - of today, no
one does it as well, I think, as Robert Cameron." Together
two volumes - both in fine condition. (50/80).
267. CAMP, WILLIAM MARTIN.
San Francisco, Port of Gold.
[6], vii-xv, [3], 3-518 pp. Nine illustrations on eight unpaginated
plates. 8-1/4x5-1/2, blue cloth with gilt spine title and decorations,
pictorial endpapers, pictorial dust jacket. First edition.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1947.
Very fine condition. (40/60).
268. [CHINATOWN] Dobie, Charles Caldwell.
San Francisco's Chinatown.
[6], vii-xiv, [2], 336 pp. Thirty-three unpaginated plates and
twenty chapter headings with original illustrations by E. H. Suydam.
8-3/4x6, red cloth with gilt spine and cover titles and decoration,
pictorial endpapers and dust jacket by E. H. Suydam. First edition.
New York, London: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1936.
In his chapter entitled "Dens," the author describes
the opium dens that flourished in an earlier time in "Chinatown."
Included with this book is a copy of Between the Gates
by Benjamin F. Taylor published by S. C. Griggs and Company in
1878 in which the author describes his own tourist-eye view of
one of these dens. Together two volumes: the first is in fine
condition, the covers of the second are worn - otherwise in very
good condition. (60/90).
269. [CHINATOWN]
Official Map of Chinatown in San Francisco.
Prepared under the Supervision of the Special Committee of the
Board of Supervisors, July 1885. Folded single sheet. Printed
in color. 8-1/2x21-1/2, disbound, laid in clear plastic holder.
San Francisco: Board of Supervisors, July 1885.
This street plan of the area in San Francisco surrounding Portsmouth
Square occupied largely by Asians is color coded to indicate the
uses of the buildings on the ground floor [other floors are not
coded]. Six categories were coded: 1) Chinese occupancy 2) Chinese
gambling houses 3) Chinese houses of prostitution 4) Chinese opium
resorts [sic] 5) Chinese Joss houses and 6) Caucasian houses of
prostitution. It appears from even a casual glance at the map
that there was no shortage of any of these places but it is probably
underestimated by virtue of the number of places of prostitution
and opium dens confined to other floors. One neat tear of a vertical
fold skillfully repaired with archival tape so as to be almost
imperceptible - otherwise in fine condition. (100/150).
270. [COMMERCE] Wilson, Neil C.
400 California Street. A Century
Plus Five. The Story of the Oldest Commercial Bank in the West
and its First 105 Years in the Financial Development of the West
Coast. [8], 106, [2] pp. Numerous illustrations from various
sources. 10-1/4x7, tan linen with gilt spine and cover titles.
Second edition. San Francisco: The Bank of California, 1969. *
Levine, Bernard R. Knifemakers of Old San Francisco. [8],
9-160 pp. Numerous illustrations from various sources. 11x8-1/2,
gray paper-covered boards with spine title printed in black, pictorial
dust jacket. First edition. [San Francisco]: Badger Books, [1978].
Together two books - both in fine condition. (40/60).
271. COWAN, ROBERT ERNEST.
Forgotten Characters of Old San
Francisco. cloth-backed boards with paper spine label. First
edition - limited to 500 copies. [Los Angeles]: Ward Ritchie Press,
1938. * and Anne Bancroft and Addie L. Ballou. The Forgotten
Characters of Old San Francisco Including the Famous Bummer and
Lazarus and Emperor Norton. [4], v-xi, [3], 3-103, [3] pp.
Frontispiece portrait, 21 paginated plates interspersed in the
text and a suite of eleven plates from photographs of Emperor
Norton at the end of the text. 8-1/2x5-1/4, beige linen with black
spine title and cover ornaments in orange, pictorial dust jacket.
First of this edition. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, [1964]
The first volume signed by Cowan on the limitation page. The
second volume is a compilation of the two earlier publications
of the Ward Ritchie Press and an article by Addie Ballou first
published in the San Francisco Sunday Call of September 28, 1908
[also see Bancroft, Anne, Bummer and Lazarus item #245].
Included with these volumes is a 12x7-3/4 six page folder by
David W. Forbes entitled Emperor Norton & Hawaii. This was
issued as a 1988 Roxburgh-Zamorano Keepsake. All in fine condition.
(80/120).
272. CUTLER, LELAND W.
America Is Good to a Country Boy.
[6], vii-xiii, [1], 271 pp. 11x8, linen-backed green boards with
printed spine title, printed dust jacket. First edition.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1954.
Autobiographical memoirs of a native Californian who was raised
on a modest farm in Colusa County, graduated from Stanford University
and achieved considerable financial success in the insurance business.
A public-spirited man, he also contributed generously of his time
and/or money to many notable projects such as the Panama-Pacific
Exposition, the development of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate
Bridge, the Pageant of the Pacific International Exposition of
1939 and of course, his alma mater, Stanford University. Fine
condition. (40/60).
The Argonaut Edition with an extra embellishment
273. DAVIS, WILLIAM HEATH.
Seventy-five Years in California:
A History of Events and Life in California: Personal, Political,
and Military; under the Mexican Regime; during the Quasi-military
Government of the Territory by the United States, and after the
Admission of the State into the Union: Being a Compilation by
a Witness of the Events Described; a reissue and enlarged illustrated
edition of "Sixty Years in California", to which much
new matter by its author has been added which he contemplated
publishing under the present title at the time of his death.
Edited by Douglas Watson. [1 inserted p.] [6], vii-xxxii, 422
pp. Illustrated with sixty-eight chapter headings [from original
sketches and decorations by Douglas Rodger]; thirty-four single
or double page plates, six woodcut illustrations in the text,
endpaper illustrations and a facsimile reprint of the March 15,
1848 issue of the Californian with the first published
report of the discovery of gold. 10x7, cloth-backed blue boards
with paper spine label, pictorial endpapers. San Francisco: John
Howell, 1929.
This is the Argonaut edition [limited to 100 copies] which has
several embellishments: 1) a page of Davis's original manuscript,
2) a receipt made out to Davis in 1856 for a $177 payment on the
Estudillo house, 3) an original broadside of the San Francisco
Mayor's famous Proclamation on the day of the 1906 earthquake,
announcing that security forces were authorized to shoot to kill
anyone found looting, 4) a photocopy of a 1734 map of Baja California
and 5) a photocopy of an 1848 document regarding the status of
California. This copy signed by the publisher, John Howell and
the editor Douglas Watson on inserted colophon page. [See items
393-5 in Catalog #2 for more information about William Heath Davis
and this book.]
Added to this copy of the Argonaut edition is a notice of the
San Francisco Street Commissioner's office to William Heath Davis
to remove his house on Jackson Street within five days of the
notice, dated August 6, 1850 laid in. Both items in fine condition.
(400/700).