Search Results: California from Alcuin Books, ABAA-ILAB

(San Fransico, 1941): Grabhorn Press for the Book Club of California. Limited Edition. Quarto. 6 preliminary leaves, 74 pages, 4 color plates (including frontispiece) limited to 350 copies. The historical introduction by Edith Coulter shows the interaction of the ships which came for supplies but for whom inner California was still a mystery. There was much on the Presidio with a lovely frontispiece when it was still under the control of Mexico. Bound in 1/4 linen over beige patterned cloth, paper spine label lettered in orange, light wear to corners, small stain to upper board. A very good copy.

Farmland, Indiana: W.C. West Publisher, 1896. Small Octavo. Portrait frontispiece, 200 pages. Shaw was one of 50 men of the Mount Washington Mining Company, which made their way to California where the lust for gold was accompanied by a reasoned teamwork. On their journey, they faced sickness from cholera, horse thieves, and many contacts with the Blackfeet tribe. Upon their arrival to Sacramento City they found, instead of buildings, tents, lean-to's as well as a sign on painted canvas "City Hotel" (although it was a year before there was an actual hotel building). Much on the prices in Sacramento where the exchange was not as much money as gold dust. One meal for the four of his associates was 1 ounce of gold dust. He lists prices for beans, oats, barley, tea, and black molasses. With gold you could buy a full corner of a city lot though attempts to use other currencies were often met with rejection. One of the most interesting of early accounts of Sacramento before 1850. A nice copy bound in brown… Read More

Np./Nd (Los Angeles): Np. Octavo. 75 pages. As automobile use and streetcar ridership skyrocketed, the city introduced the Hill Street tunnels. By 1913 the tunnel had been built and was a fate accomplished but the issue in the case asks: whether the city had the right to do so. Once the subterranean shortcut shaved tens of minutes off travel time between Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles when it opened. A few days later, local citizens celebrated its opening with a Tunnel Day joyride down Sunset Boulevard, motorcars and horse-drawn carriages racing alongside the Los Angeles Pacific's streetcars. Once the 101 became the solution to the traffic issue with construction beginning in 1949, the Hill Street Tunnel came to an end. The only recorded copy is in the Huntington Library (OCLC: 77975582). Our copy has extensive staining though the entire text and footnotes but can easily be read, corners torn away to first few leaves not affecting text with its wide margins. One of the major documents and the… Read More

Los Angeles: Arroyo Guild, 1990. Octavo. 67 pages, 16 pages of ads. Facsimile. One of the highlights of George Whartons James work was this issue which brought together some of the finest designers and artisans of Southern California. Besides his article "Collecting Indian Baskets" and "Hanson Puthuff" is his editorial on the vision and work of the Arroyo Guild. The article on the Arroyo House (Robert F. Train and Robert Edmond Williams, architects) that graced Santa Barbara. A fine copy of a classic work on the art and design of Southern California at the opening of the 20th century with the 16 pages of ads showing the major suppliers of fine materials in that era. Bound in printed wraps.

Chicago: Coronet, 1937. 6 pages mimeographed, sent from Coronet Magazine (originally published June 1937) in original mailing envelope from Coronet. Accompanied with A.B. Lee's, Houses of Earth; an illustrated booklet on how to build rammed earth houses. 32 page booklet expands on Coronet article. Article was sent to William B. Wade who was the chief draftsman in the late 1930's and early 1940's for the firm of Edwards and Plunkett (one of five architectural firms in Santa Barbara in 1938). William Albert Edwards formed the firm of Edwards and Plunkett in 1928. Rammed earth is an ancient building technique that is ideally suited to a desert climate. Rammed earth walls are built by compacting a soil-cement mixture into a forming system. The final result is a beautifully striated natural wall system.

This item is currently on reserve; please contact dealer for more details. Los Angeles, nd[1918]: American Institute of Banking. First Edition. Octavo. The first issue published by the American Institute of Banking to inform the Southern California region on major changes, recent legislation, personal news of interest and related categories. Neither NUC or OCLC indicates any of these earliest issues are in US Libraries (the California State University Library has the volumes from 1923-1927). Besides including announcements of adjustments spouses and girl friends are making because of their men entering World War I, it announces engagements from couples working at a local bank, and Miss Wunderlich who has been made Chief Ladies Teller. The interesting cartoons show typical every day banking problems with several showing women as rather dumb but interesting diversions. The volume is accompanied with an original photograph of the editor Wilbur Edgar Zimmerman (whose picture is also found on page 2… Read More

New York; (1914): Hearst's International Library Co. First Edition. Octavbo. . Color frontispiece map of California. 400pp., illustrated with photographic images. Inscribed by the author to Ben Field, a close friend and fellow poet. The author presents California as it was when he moved there 40 years ago as a child [1874]. He had lived in Washington and Oregon previously. He had covered every area of California, from the redwoods to the desert. His neighbors for many of those years included Joaquin Miller, Ambrose Bierce and William Keith. A lovely copy bound in brown cloth with a scenic view with accent colors of black, blue and gilt. There is a bookplate on the rear pastedown and a faint mark on spine which may have been a small label or numbers? light rubbing to upper joint and upper corners lightly bumped. A very nice copy.

[Frederick W. Beinecke, 1964). Limited Edition. Quarto. Limited to 450 copies. Two very long letters in facsimile written by William Tecumseh Sherman in 1848 from his California post and transcribed and with notes. Bound in red paper wraps with paper label. Yapped edges worn with a few chips or small tears. A very good copy.

Sacramento, CA: Soloman Alter, 1953. First Edition. Octavo. 261 pages, 7 Plates. The remarkable Rev. Joseph Benton saw the Gold Rush in Sacramento at its wildest. Using the imagery rooted in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he depicts a social history of a place where gambling, drinking and its allied vices seemed to predominate. He notes how barrels of vinegar were unloaded and the markings were changed to read claret or sauterne. He viewed the library (including his own continual buying of books] a missionary outreach since there was a paucity of better literature in the earliest day of the Gold Rush. He describes the drunken state of many of the city's inhabitants until the great conflagration of 1852 took place that left the city in ruins. He intermixes debates about the judgments of the deity and yet the conditions of travel, social mores, and the struggle of the good who were in the minority to those predisposed toward evil which clearly were in the majority. Bound in black cloth, nicely… Read More

Los Angeles; (1972): Cultural Assets Press. First Edition. Octavo. 344pp. Foreword by Lawrence Clark Powell. A biography of a Renaissance Man: The man who said "See America First," who founded The Southwest Museum, who saved many Spanish Missions. Many historical photographs. Bound in brown cloth, spine lettering gilt, one bumped corner, near fine in near fine unclipped pictorial dust jacket.

New York; (1982): E.P. Dutton. First Edition. Octavo. Signed and inscribed by the author, 238pp., This is the first complete narrative history of the people who explored and settled the fabled lands surrounding the Colorado River. It is a region of diverse landforms and harsh climates but includes some of Earth's most celebrated scenery. Bound in beige paper covered boards, backed in beige linen, spine lettering copper. A near fine copy in near fine pictorial dust jacket.

Chicago: G.F. Cram, 1908. Folio. 180 pages, maps. index. Expanded from the 164 page version with full page color maps of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and California, etc., (many photographic images including several on Nevada. The maps of Arizona and New Mexico were issued just four years before they moved from Territories to becoming states. Bound in green cloth lettered and pictorially stamped in gilt, spine plain, wear through to corners and spine ends, some spotting to both boards, front inner hinge starting. There were two issues: One with a folding map of California and one without. This copy is without the folding map. A very good copy.

Quarto. 33pp. and 9 pages. Record of journey from Delaware, Ohio April 2, 1850 to arrival in California on December 8, 1850. with the Delaware Mining Co., by way of St. Louis, St. Joseph, Blue and Platte Rivers, South Pass, Salt Lake City, and Humboldt and Carson Rivers, to Sacramento and then to Sierra mining camps. Information on the Columbus Company of Calif. emigrants also included. Discusses prospecting at various places such as Negro Bar, (where he notes a company of Negro miners), Foster's Bar, and elsewhere on the Yuba River. Describes Jan. 1850 flood on the Sacramento River. The accounts of the hardships crossing the desert are remarkable. One of the most fascinating of the overland accounts. One of 10 typed copies, most of which are in university Special Collections, not listed in Mattes Or Mintz Diary. pictorial front wrapper with two holes punched with two brass Fasteners.

(Santa Barbara, Ca:1984): Capra Press. Limited Edition. Octavo. Limited to 200 copies signed by Powell and by Ward Ritchie, this copy not numbered. 129 pp. bound in tan paper covered boards backed in black cloth, upper board lettered in black, spine lettering gilt. foot lightly bumped otherwise a very good copy.

Pasadena, CA: The Radiant Life Press, 1917. First Edition. Octavo. Inscribed by the author "be good if you will be/----lonesome---/Mark Twain says/ God will be with /you/Cordially Yours, /George Wharton James. Frontispiece, 216pp., with an introduction by Caroline Remondino Franklin, a chapter by Bertha Bliss Tyler and the prose and poetic writings of San Diego writers read at the exposition. Illustrated with photographic illustrations. A very nice near fine copy bound in dark blue pictorial gilt cloth depicting a mission accented in purple, gray and gilt, lettering gilt, pictorial gilt spine, previous owner's gift inscription.

(Scottsdale, Az 1985): Desert Wind Publications. First Edition. Quarto. . 106pp. inscribed by the author. beautifully illustrated with full color illustrations. The author traveled to the Baja region for well over twenty years. He has seen and studied the beauty of the land overlooking the degradation of the poor lifestyle of its people. He writes, paints and photographs his exploration of the area via pack mule with friends. bound in light brown cloth lettered in gilt, spine lettering gilt, a near fine bright copy with light bump to upper edge in fine pictorial dust jacket.

Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1967. First Edition. Quarto. xxv, 206 pages, maps, illustrations, portraits. Bibliographic references, p. 197-201. One of the half dozen best of the travel diaries of the California gold rush, rising above the merely routine and often momentous accounts. Here he was able to capture the anticipation, the drama, and the terror. The work has also the pen sketches of Robert James Foose. A book that can be read by both the general reader as well as the scholar. The maps that often accompany the text helps bring to life the details with specific details often missing from average maps. How this group from Marietta left in search of gold mostly to find frustration and hardship but this account by Elisha Douglass Perkins tells the story with great fascination even for the modern reader. Bound in gold cloth spine lettering dark brown, endpapers are maps, upper corners bumped. A very good copy in an unclipped pictorial dust jacket illustrated by Robert James Foose,… Read More

Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1910. First Edition. Octavo. Frontispiece, 515pp., illustrated with photographic illustrations. This is the story of many heroes from California. Many tell their story in their own words and about those who have been known of their heroism. This work helps to arouse thought, excite desire for further study of the lives of the pioneers, builders, and heroes of the state and stimulated longing to be filled with their heroic spirit, so that the rising generation may bring to the problems that will confront them, and the work they must accomplish. A near fine copy bound in light blue pictorial cloth depicting a cross on a mountain top with accents in blue, brown, green, and purple within a gilt double ruled frame, lettering, and top edge gilt. Only very minute spots of rubbing to corners and spine ends. A lovely copy.

Los Angeles: California Club, 1997. First Edition. Octavo. Bound in green cloth 183pp. B&W and color photographs.

Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1905. First Edition. Large Octavo. First printing. 392pp., (1) pp. publisher's ad. illustrated with 142 photographic illustrations. The dedication was to his newfound friend, a small, injured sparrow named Scraggles. Scruggles died just as the last pages were written. James had at one time, or another visited all the missions in California James states that much of his work had been taken from Bancroft's work by selecting, rearranging, and bringing it together for convenient use. A fine copy save for a little off-setting to front end sheets from an old clipping once laid in. Bound in green pictorial gilt cloth depicting a mission, spine lettering gilt. An exceptionally nice copy.