Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1901. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good+/Good+. First American edition. Maroon cloth boards with silver lettering. Light wear to spine ends. Interior is clean and unmarked. One inch split at the bottom of the rear inner hinge. A few pages have small chips along their bottom edges. Eight plates (including frontispiece) with illustrations from photographs. pp. viii, 393. Dust jacket chipped; light soiling on front panel; in an archival mylar sleeve. Scarce in jacket. An Englishman's varied and vivacious observations, reminiscences and anecdotes of California in the 1880s and 1890s, including detailed commentary on the character, morals, and culture of the people (with praise and plenty of criticism), its newspapers, ranching life, hunting and fishing, agriculture, and more. Contents: [I] The Land of To-Morrow. [II] The Men of the West. [III] The Women of the West. [IV] The Children of the West. [V] Ranch Life, I. [VI] Ranch Life, II. [VII] Business Life. [VIII] Anglo-Franco-Californians. [IX] The Englishman in the West, I. [X] The Englishman in the West, II. [XI] The Side-Show [literal circus side-shows]. [XII] Pot-Pourri. [XIII] Ethical. [XIV] Big Game Shooting. [XV] Small Game Shooting, I. [XVI] Small Game Shooting, II. [XVII] Sea Fishing. [XVIII] Fresh Water Fishing. [Appendices]: [I] A Few Statistics. [II] Horticulture. [III] Viticulture. [IV] Beet Culture. [V] Irrigation. [VI] Hints to Sportsmen. Horace Annesley Vachell (1861-1955) was an English writer, novelist and playwright. He lived in California between 1882 and about 1900.