CALIFORNIA, IN-DOORS AND OUT;; or, How we farm, mine, and live generally in the Golden State

NY: Dix Edwards, 1856. First Edition. 8vo, pp. 508. Bound in leather-backed marble boards (hinges tender), some foxing, especially to the title-page, a good copy. Not in Graff; Sabin 23861; Cowan p. 203; Rocq 16835; Wheat 72. Scarce. Prison reformer, author, lecturer and early proponent of the superiority of the female sex, Farnham (1815-1864) was born in Rennsselaerville, NY. She is known for her Woman and Her Era, which glorified the reproductive role of women and espoused the notion that the female sex had been created for a higher and more refined sphere than the male, whose responsibility it was to provide the environment to nurture this higher calling for women. Farnham worked with Samuel Gridley Howe at Perkins Institute, then sailed from NY to Calif. She came to California to settle the estate of her husband and chaperoned a few "proper unmarried girls" to the gold fields to bring some civilization to the countryside. She arrived in Santa Cruz County in 1849 and wrote this book which discusses feminist issues while maintaining the narrative of her journey and subsequent experiences. Farnham has added an appendix with comments on the Donner Party and the San Francisco Vigilence Commitee of 1856.