Search Results: Californiana from Walkabout Books

New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1884. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 148 pp + publisher's catalog. Red cloth decorated in black and gilt. A volume in the Standard Library series. Spine lightly sunned, corners rubbed, text clean, binding sound. BAL 13799; Wright III: 3740, Cowan p. 429. Gold rush fiction.

Washington: Gideon & Co, 1850. First Edition. Softcover. Very good. 28 pp, in original sewn self-wrappers (not disbound from a larger volume as often found). Light foxing; very good. "Winthrop emphatically advocates the immediate admission of California and exhorts Congress to refrain from the injustice of omnibus tactics which would "embarrass, and perhaps peril her admission" (Eberstadt). Cowan p. 691.

San Francisco: Press of San Francisco Photo-Engraving Co, 1895. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 56 pp, illustrated. Publisher's maroon cloth with gilt illustration on front board. Very good, with some light abrasion to the cloth. Internally sound and clean. Published in the same year Sutro became Mayor of San Fransciso, having made a name (and fortune) for himself in mining and real estate.

San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1934. Hardcover. Very Good-. Title continues: A series of original illustrated letters, written by one of California's pioneer miners, and dedicated to that class of her citizens by the author. Reprinted from the only edition (1853) with illustrations by Charles Nahl and a new foreword by G.Ezra Dane. pp xxii, 80, with color frontispiece and illustrations. Cloth -backed boards with mounted color illustration. No dust jacket. Light wear to edges, spine label chipped, mild ripple to text block. One of 500 copies printed.

NP, ND, but ca. 1902. 7 x 10 inches, 23, [1] pp., in attractive illustrated wrappers. Upper corners of front wrap are chipped and spine is partly split. Good. Illustrated promotional booklet, with most text reprinted from the September 1902 issue of Sunset Magazine. A preliminary page describes the attractions of the city of Paso Robles and the Hotel El Paso and touts the "curative properties of the hot sulphur springs and mud baths," which "are known from one end of the country to the other." There are also four pages of testimonials to those same curative properties and the obligatory chemical analysis of the spring waters.

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903. Hardcover. Very good. 891 pp; original brown cloth boards. Corners rubbed, tear in cloth at head of spine, just a bit wobbly. Binding otherwise sound, text and endpapers clean. Text in English, French, and Spanish.

San Francisco: San Carlos Park Syndicate. Undated, ca. 1907. Single-page circular, or possibly a removed advertisement, backed on linen. 9 x 6 inches, printed in green and red, illustrated with half-tone photograph of the San Carlos railroad depot. Minor damage to lower left corner; very good. An effusive promotional piece for the newly developing San Francisco suburb of of San Carlos Park (now San Carlos, population 28,000) in San Mateo County. The Syndicate promises an ideal home for the "the business man, the professional man, the merchant, the banker, and the captialist," with "orchards, vineyards, and acreage, in the most beautiful tract of land on the San Francisco Bay Shore--rolling, picturesque, and grand," where streets will soon be "graded, macadamized, sewered, and lighted," the climate is perfect, and the scenery "charming and picturesque.

Chino, CA: E.C. Hamilton, 1897. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 244 pp, indexed and illustrated, + ca. 20 unnumbered pages of interesting ads at the end. Bound in plain (no titles) black cloth that seems to have clear glue on it (not sticky) -- possibly from someone having affixed a paper cover to it in the past. This theory is supported by the presence of a bit of paper residue on the back cover. No dust jacket. Internally clean and sound. Signature of Lamont E. Hill on title page. Includes detailed description of procedures and apparatus for analyzing sugar contents of different forms of the sugar beet, including wet and pressed pulp, diffusion juice, thin juices, sweet waters, thick juice, syrups, and massecuites and sugars. The author worked as a chemist at the Chino Valley Sugar Beet Co.

San Leandro, CA: City of San Leandro, 1971. Softcover. Very Good. 39 pp, with illustrations, subscription form, in original illustrated wrappers. Very light handling wear, internally clean and sound. A compilation of "San Leandro Recollections" articles assembled to celebrate the city's 99th anniversary.

Los Angeles: John Henry Nash, 1964. Hardcover. Very Good. v, 926 pp, indexed. Bound in three-quarter green buckram over patterned paper boards, with paper label on spine. Light soiling to edges of text block and spine label, ink notation of an old price on front free endpaper, else clean and sound. Signed "Robert G. Cowan" on front free endpaper. Updated version of the 1914 edition of this important bibliography of works relating to the discovery, exploration, colonization, and history of California.

Hollywood, CA: Cooper Ornithological Club, 1917. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 127 pp, with one map, index. Text and original wrappers bound into an attractive later binding of three-quarter red leather and red cloth, with blue marbled endpapers. Bookplate of Henry E. Childs, Jr. on front pastedown, otherwise unmarked, clean and sound, with some scuffing to the leather.

Mexico: Fondo Pagliai, 1973. Hardcover. Very good. 8vo, 133 pp, illustrated with maps and facsimiles. One of 1000 copies printed, this one unnumbered. Bound in full leather with gilt lettering on spine. Extremities rubbed, a few scuff marks to the leather; binding sound, text clean. Previous owner's name on front pastedown. Explorer Pedro Fages' account of his travels in California during the 18th century, edited with introduction and notes by the Mexican politician and man of letters Andres Henestrosa.

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. Hardcover. Very good/very good. 467 pp., with illustrations and maps. Evidence of bookplate removed front rear endpaper, light bump to lower right corner. Binding sound, text clear. Dust jacket has an old price written in ink on the front flap and a few small chips and tears. Arranged alphabetically, with hundreds of entries providing historical information, folklore, etc.

Boston: The Page Company, 1914. Hardcover. Very good. Second impression, November 1914. A volume in the See America First series. Title continues: The History of it Old Missions and of its Indians, A Survey of its Climate, Topography, Deserts, Mountains, Rivers, Valleys, Islands and Coast Line. A Description of its Recreations and Festivals, a Review of its Industries, An Account of its Influence upon Prophets, Poets, Artists and Architects and some Reference to what it Offers of Delight to the Automobilist, Traveller, Sportsman, Pleasure and Health Seeker. 433 pp, including index and bibliography, with 72 plates from photographs (8 in color) and folding map. Original dark blue art nouveau-style pictorial binding with decoration in gilt, yellow, and purple. Corners and spine ends rubbed, internally sound and clean. The book's opening line, "Romance and Beauty are words inseparably connected with California" sets the tone for the work. James' travel guide was intended to capture the essence of the… Read More

New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1888. First Edition. Hardcover. Good+. viii, 377 pp + 3 folding maps (two in color), publisher's catalogue, with 32 illustrations, frontispiece. Red cloth with decoration in gilt and black. Spine sunned, some pale water stains on cover. two previous owners' bookplates on front pastedown, one map with a small repair on the back. Covers climate, attractions, natural resources, and other details of interest to tourists and potential settlers for Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties. Also includes "comparative valuation of lands and products" and short articles on Orange Culture and on Trees and Wild Flowers of Southern California.

San Francisco: Bolte and Braden, 1916. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 299 pp, with numerous illustrations from photographs, in original pictorial boards with interesting faux-hinge design. Rubbing to edges, small splits starting at joints, dent to top edge of rear board, contemporary gift inscription on front free endpaper. Otherwise unmarked, clean and sound. Sanders was a British physician who found himself in California in the course of his work as a ship's doctor. He took a patient to visit a mineral spring resort and, impressed with the results, decided to remain in California to "make a tour of it and find out all about these springs, using the railroad when available--walking and bicycling when not." He writes in the Introduction that he traveled from Klamath Springs at the northern border of the state all the way to San Diego, visiting "scores of springs," taking samples of their waters for analysis, and concluding that many had "decided curative properties." Details are recounted in… Read More

New York: Duffield and Company, 1913. Hardcover. Good. 346 pp + illustrations, with frontispiece, index. Rear hinge cracked, front hinge starting, light general wear to boards, very light spotting to pages; else clean. No dust jacket. Johnson's personal impressions of travel in California, including popular sites such as Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Salinas, Monterey, San Francisco, and Mt. Shasta.

San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft & Company, 1869. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 704 pp + illustrations, with frontispiece, index. Rebound in blue cloth with leather spine label. Light shelf wear and bumping to corners, small bookplate on front pastedown; otherwise clean and sound. The subtitle sums it up: "Comprising choice selections of prose and poetry, tales and anecdotes, historical, descriptive, humorous, and sentimental pieces, mainly culled from the various newspapers and periodicals of the Pacific Coast." Authors represented include Bret Harte, John Bidwell, Bayard Taylor, E.C. Kemble, T. Starr King, Mark Twain, and many others.

San Bernardino, CA: San Bernardino County Museum Association, 1974. First Edition. Softcover. Very good. 499 pp, approx. 7.5 x 10.5 inches. Spine sunned, base of spine bumped, otherwise sound and clean. Includes images of the brands recorded in San Bernardino County between 1853 and 1917, with an index of owners and date.

[Los Angeles]: Dawson's Book Shop, 1965. Hardcover. Fine. Baja California Travel Series #3. One of 600 copies printed by Grant Dahlstrom at the Castle Press in Pasadena. 35 pp, illustrated. Fine copy in original brown cloth boards.