A COMPLETE RUN OF THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF THE EARLIEST CALIFORNIA STATE STATUTES, FROM THE FIRST THROUGH THE TENTH SESSIONS. 1849 THROUGH 1859

1859. The bindings are generally tight, with some inner hinges reinforced. Binding styles and paginations vary: some legal buckram, others sheep; some with morocco spine labels, others issued without spine labels. Several volumes include folding tables. The majority have the usual institutional marks, which are rarely obtrusive. Occasional text spotting and light wear, but generally clean and Very Good.

The stated printing locations are San Jose and San Francisco for the first two Sessions, but these were actually printed in New York. The third and fourth Sessions were printed in San Francisco, the others in Sacramento.
These volumes present the earliest legal history of the State of California. The First Session includes, not only the Statutes enacted, but the Treaty of Peace with Mexico and documents supplementary thereto, the 1849 California Constitution, the U.S. Constitution with amendments, and other foundation enactments. Joint Resolutions, Index, Table of Contents for each Session are printed along with the Laws. The 1852 and 1853 volumes are evidently rare. The Statutes treat the significant events of that interesting ten-year period: the settlement of the State, the development of infrastructure and unfolding of commercial life, the multiple social and political institutions, the Gold Rush, immigration, the political strife that engulfed the Nation, and other aspects of early Statehood.
FIRST EDITIONS. Greenwood 167 note. Cowan, California 610. Wagner, California Imprints 147, 149, 150.