PENINSULAR CALIFORNIA Some Account of the Climate, Soil Productions, and Present Condition Chiefly of the Northern Half of Lower California

New York: Harper & Brothers. Very Good+. 1888. First Edition. Hardcover. 130, 2, 4 (ads) pages; Contents clean and secure in original navy blue cloth binding with gilt lettering and decorative borders blindstamped, minor rubbing at head of spine and lower corners. Quite a nice book. Publisher's advertisement (Shepard Book Company) tipped in at rear. Twelve b&w photographic plates (including frontispiece), 2 maps (one double-page). The author owned property near the Bay of Todos Santos. This investigative and descriptive book on the lower part of California was an invaluable resource for potential immigrants and investors. Charles Nordhoff (1830 – 1901) was an American journalist, travel and miscellaneous writer. He was born in Erwitte, Germany (Prussia) in 1830, and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1835. He was educated in Cincinnati, and apprenticed to a printer in 1843. In 1844, he went to Philadelphia where he worked for a short time in a newspaper office. He then joined the United States Navy in 1845 (aged 15), where he served three years and made a voyage around the world in the USS Columbus, which was engaged in first attempts at opening up Japan to the U.S.A, and in establishing full diplomatic relations with China. After his Navy service, he remained at sea from 1847 in the merchant service, and then whaling, mackerel fishery ships until 1854 (aged 24). From 1853 to 1857, he worked in various newspaper offices, first in Philadelphia, then in Indianapolis. He was then employed editorially by Harpers in 1857 until 1861, when he transferred to the New York Evening Post (1861-1871), and he later contributed to the New York Tribune. From 1871 to 1873 Nordhoff traveled in California and visited Hawaii. He then became Washington correspondent of the New York Herald 1874-1890. Nordhoff died in San Francisco, California. .