137, [1], + [6] ad pp. Engraved map with slight hand-coloring in outline and wash. (8vo) 21.5x14 cm. (8½x5½"), original printed wrappers, page edges untrimmed, custom cloth clamshell box. First Edition.
Early notice of California during the Gold Rush, intended, as the author notes in his preface (dated December 1848), "to make a fair exposition of the most authentic accounts of California and the gold region." Gary Kurutz notes that "Robinson assembled a fine anthology of several of the earliest reports of the gold discovery, conditions in California, history of the region, and ways to reach the diggings. He squeezed between the covers letters and reports by Mason, Frémont, Larkin, Emory, Kearny , and others. The appendix adds information drawn from newspapers and government reports on conditions in San Francisco and on the Panama route. While discussing various routes to California, Robinson recommends the northern Overland Trail, with Council Grove as the departure point... The excellent map is important for delineating the various sea and overland routes to California. On the map and one of the small insets, the gold region is tinted in yellow..." The map, by J.H. Colton, is titled "Map of the United States, the British Provinces, Mexico &c. Showing the Routes of the U.S. Mail Steam Packets to California and a Plan of the Gold Regions," 38.7x55 cm. (15½x21½") plus decorative border. With insets of: Map of the Gold Region; view of Pyramid Lake; sea route to San Francisco via Cape Horn. Several overland routes have been indicated in blue hand-coloring - from Independence, MO, to Walla Walla, to San Francisco, and to San Diego, also across Mexico and the Isthmus. The map is in the present copy is loose, and was acquired by Mr. Heckrotte from a different source than the book. However, it is the earlier state of the map, as issued in the Robinson book, not the later state issued by Colton in a folder with 11 pages of text. There were two printings of the first edition of the book, with different pagination. Kurutz lists the present one second, but does not state a clear priority. Some copies have a view of San Francisco as frontispiece, not present here, with no evidence of every having been present. With ink name in script on cover: Geo.S. Montague. Name inkstamped on front cover: Chester M. Black.
Provenance: Text: California Book Auction, 10/81. Map: Alta California Books, 1/66
References: Graff 3527; Howes R366; Kurutz, 539b; Norris 3291; Rocq 16029; Sabin 72070; Streeter 2595; Wheat Gold Region 70; Wheat Transmississippi 591