Lithographed map. 27x22.2 cm (10¼x8¾"). The scrapbook is 192 pages, created using a copy of the 1860 U.S. Census report. 11½x9, quarter calf & marbled boards.
Important map of the California Gold Region, from Monterey and Tulare counties in the south, to Klamath and Siskiyou in the north, with a portion of Nevada (called Utah) in the east. There is a "Table of Distances from the Capital Sacramento City to the principal towns" in the upper right corner, and at center right is a table of "Population of California 300,000” giving the populations of various towns and cities, with San Francisco leading at 50,000. Wheat does not list this 1854 first issue, but does describe the 1855 issue, noting that “George Holbrook Baker was born in Boston on March 9, 1827, his grandfathers having been revolutionary soldiers… Baker was a student at the National Academy of Design when gold was discovered in California, and he left Boston on Hanuary 8, 1849, arriving in San Francisco on May 28. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, operated an `express’ to the high diggings of the Middle Fork of the Feather River, and took a trip to Oregon and return, but finally settled in Sacramento where he engaged in editing and publishing…and his maps, lithographs and woodcuts of California scenes were much in demand…” The map is lithographed by Fishbourne, San Francisco. It was published as a pictorial lettersheet, but the blank conjugate is not present. The scrapbook was put together by Roscoe G. Smith, who has signed on the front pastedown, "Roscoe G. Smith, Cornish, York Co., Maine...May 20th A.D. 1892," and on the top of the first page (on which the map is mounted), "R.G. Smith, A.D. 1854-5-6-7, Nevada City, California." There is also an inscription on the front pastedown, "Roscoe G. Smith, from Hon. James Guthrie, U.S.S., March 6th, 1864." Smith, following his sojourn in California, returned to Maine, where he was a practicing attorney. Its seems he put together this scrapbook from materials he had gathered in California during the 1850’s, and also later newsclippings. The California-related material, which includes clippings from The Sierra Citizen in Downieville, The Golden Era, and many unidentified newspapers, covers the first 65 pages, and is a very significant compilation in itself. Included are many engravings of scenes and people in the Gold Region, articles and accounts of mining activities and adventures, vigilance committees, Chinese, Californios, and much more. Later additions include material on the Civil War, poetry, travel, literature, and other items typical of a 19th century scrapbook. Baird, California Pictorial Lettersheets, 154; Wheat, Maps of the California Gold Region, 273 (citing 1855 issue).
Condition:
Just light wear to the binding; the leaf upon which the map is mounted is detached, the map itself is trimmed to the neat lines, a few edge chips, two tiny surface chips, several minor stains; other soiling and staining with, fairly minor, some discoloration from glue used in creating the scrapbook, else very good overall.