A Biographical Sketch of the Life of William B. Ide: With a Minute and Interesting Account of One of the Largest Emigrating Companies (3000 Miles Over Land), from the East to the Pacific Coast. And What Is Claimed As the Most Authentic and Reliable Account of “The Virtual Conquest of California, in June, 1846, by the Bear Flag Party,” As Given by Its Leader, the Late Hon. William Brown Ide.

Claremont, New Hampshire: Published for the Subscribers, [1880]. First edition. Twelvemo. [2, half-title: Scraps of California History Never Before Published, verso blank], 239 [1, “The Inscription”] pp. Original half calf over brown cloth, gilt lettering to front cover, marbled endpapers, red edges. Some light rubbing to extremities, erasure marks to title page, bookplate to front pastedown. A very clean copy in an attractive contemporary binding.First edition of “the first book dealing exclusively with the Bear Flag Revolt” (LC, California Centennial 118n). "Simeon Ide, in assembling and printing these “scraps of history” about William Brown Ide, wanted to establish his brother’s place in history. He believed that too much credit and attention had been given to John C. Fremont (q.v.). For a short-lived period of twenty-two days, William Ide, one of the leaders of the famed Bear Flag Revolt of June 14, 1846, became “Commander-in-Chief” of the California Republic. Even with its adulatory, self-serving purpose, Simeon’s book contains a wealth of firsthand information on the activities of the Bear Flaggers, the capture of Sonoma and General Mariano Vallejo, establishment of a so-called republic, and the final conquest of California by the United States with the aid of a group of hardened, roughneck volunteers known as the California Battalion under Fremont. In addition, this sextodecimo includes biographical information on the pioneer before his arrival in California, an account of his overland trek from Illinois in 1845 written by his daughter Sarah E. Healey, and information on his life in Tehama County following the conquest. In the final analysis, although motivated by family pride and deep acrimony directed at a more successful self-promoter in Fremont, Simeon’s publication remains as a significant record of the Americanization of California."Streeter 2967 “Interesting account of the overland journey of 1845 and important source on the beginnings of American rule in California in 1846.” Zamorano 80 #45: “The edition was small and copies are now extremely rare.”