Search Results: Authors starting with C from McBride Rare Books

Boston: Munroe y Francis, 1827. Very good.. 288pp. Original calf; rebacked with spine laid down. Some light foxing and soiling, light dampstaining to last few leaves. Some notes and annotations, particularly to endleaves. The first American printing of any of Cadalso's works. This edition was created specifically for American students, "con notas y acentos de prosodia, al uso de los estudiantes en las academias, colegios y universidades de los Estados Unidos de la America Setentrional." Sales was an instructor of French and Spanish at Harvard, and his edition has accents on the emphasized syllable of each word even is such accents are usually absent. Shoemaker 28356.

Coyoteville: September 12, 1855. Very good.. [2]pp., plus integral blank. Original mailing folds, moderate toning, staining, and ink spotting, but still easily readable. Bottom fourth of integral blank excised. An informative Gold Rush letter about mining in the long-vanished ghost town of Coyoteville, which was an extraordinarily rich gold area for a couple of years in the early 1850s. A noted tunneling method, nicknamed "coyoteing" was developed in the town, and subsequently inspired the name of the town. In the present letter, Moses Pine writes to "Catherine" in Branch County, Michigan, and signs his name simply as "Mose Esq" at the conclusion. The author informs Catherine, presumably his wife or sister, of his activities, some of the economic realities, and some of the practical details of prospecting for gold in California. Presuming that "it would be impossible for the whole of Branch County to raise $10 unless they sell a horse," Pine comments that he had ginger bread on the Fourth of July… Read More

San Francisco: Tourist Association of Central California, 1915. Very good.. 64pp. Original printed wrappers, stapled. Small chip to lower corner of front wrap. Internally clean. An uncommon guide to potential automobile excursions from the Bay Area, published for visitors to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco during 1915. The text describes over twenty routes and the attractions to be enjoyed along them, and is accompanied by maps for each tour and numerous halftone illustrations of motorists exploring the California countryside in their cars. Fewer than ten copies in OCLC, mostly in California institutions.

[N.p., but likely in or near San Mateo, Ca, 1950. Good.. Panoramic photograph, 8 x 52.25 inches. Moderate scuffing, soiling, some small creases, a few short closed tears, one repaired on verso, pinholes at corners and along edges. A wider-than-usual panoramic photograph capturing for posterity many of the commercial enterprises along Main Street in San Mateo, California in the mid-20th century. The unnamed photographer seems to have stood directly across from the Tecco Electric Construction Company and shot that side of Main Street from San Mateo Florist and Mohawk Gasoline to the left to well beyond the B.F. Goodrich on the right. Some of the other businesses include Sarganis Brothers Custom Interiors, Peninsula Wrought Iron Works, H.H. MacDonald Homes (offering houses in Glenwood Heights), Ferreira Paints, and L.K. Ward Home Appliances. A handful of blurry automobiles are pictured driving one way or another on the main thoroughfare. A wonderful snapshot of midcentury San Mateo that would make a… Read More

[San Francisco: Ward & Starin, 1890. Good.. [50] leaves. Oblong octavo. Original blue blind-stamped cloth, gilt titles on front cover. Some soiling, edge wear, and scuffing to covers, spine skillfully rebacked, new endpapers. Occasional minor wear to outer margins of text, scattered thumb-soiling and foxing, gutter of first leaf reinforced. A rare, late-19th century San Francisco business directory comprised entirely of full-page printed advertisements for notable local businesses, many with full-page photographic illustrations of the premises of said businesses on facing pages. For example, a full-page advertisement for Will & Finck, "Manufacturers of the Celebrated California Carvers" and other "Table, Pocket and Kitchen Cutlery" faces a full-page photograph of the "Interior of Will & Finck's Store." Another example pictures an illustration of the Goodyear Rubber Company building facing a full-page print ad for the store on Market Street. Often, print advertisements are not accompanied by a… Read More

Monrovia, Ca: Press of the Monrovia News, 1907. Very good.. [24]pp. Original printed wrappers. Light edge wear to wraps. Light tanning, occasional foxing. Scarce illustrated promotional for the community of Monrovia, California, just east of Pasadena. The booklet contains numerous photographic illustrations of nearby natural sights and town architecture, as well as street scenes featuring early automobiles. Several leaves of text expound on the advantages of the town -- "Schools unexcelled anywhere. Churches of all leading denominations. No Saloons." OCLC locates five copies, at Berkeley, Azusa Pacific, UCLA, the California State Library, and Yale.

San Francisco: October 4, 1852. Very good.. [2]pp., with integral address leaf. Old folds, mild staining and soiling, three-inch closed tear to address leaf. An interesting letter documenting the family side of the California Gold Rush, in which a San Francisco man writes to his brother, offering to send his wife and daughters to Placerville as helpers. Interestingly, at first Phillips addresses the letter to his brother in Ohio, then scratches it out and writes in "Cal;" this most likely indicates the Phillipses hailed from Ohio and trekked to California along with scores of others in hopes of untold riches in the California gold fields. In his letter, Phillips writes that his wife, who has long been in San Francisco looking after a sick friend, can now leave as he is better, "And if you think best she will come up with the little girls and fix your carpets and superintend your affairs for a month or two untill your wife comes..." The formerly sick friend, Mr. Gardner, could also accompany them,… Read More

Oakland: Howe Print Company, 1895. Still very good.. 43pp. Original printed wrappers, stapled. Light wear and dust soiling to wraps, heaving along spine and at staples points. Paper somewhat browned, but sturdy. A scarce anti-everything screed by late 19th-century Oakland politician and crank, John H. Fones. In the present work, financial policy is the principal target, as Fones dedicates individual sections of this tirade to his anti-bank, anti-debt, anti-gold, anti-greenback, and anti-tariff agenda -- "Money has a legal but no intrinsic value." Nevertheless, he also reserves space to attack the character of both major political parties, contemporary school and college curricula, and religious organizations, "one of the greatest obstacles in the way of good government." The only solution, according to Fones, is government entirely by referendum, with members of the People's Party elected to enact the stated will of the people. An 1896 article in the San Francisco Chronicle characterized Fones as,… Read More

San Francisco: Fred S. Bain, Inc, 1922. Very good.. Folding map, approximately 13 x 17 inches. Light wear along folds. Minor staining and dust soiling. A neat promotional map of early-1920s Los Angeles, distributed by the Security Trust & Savings Bank. The reverse of the map carries a detailed street index as well as lists of hotels, railroad offices, and other significant municipal and commercial buildings. The map itself delineates Los Angeles from Hollywood and Highland Park in the north to Huntington Park in the south. Attached is a volvelle indicator which can be used to locate streets on the map in conjunction with the index. A second map, oriented along the left edge of the sheet, shows the major rails and roads of greater Los Angeles, from Santa Monica and San Pedro to San Bernardino and Riverside.

Woodland: C.P. Sprague & H.W. Atwell, 1870. About very good.. viii,602pp. plus folding map. Original marbled boards, rebacked and recornered in reverse calf with original gilt leather spine laid down. Light scuffing to boards. Light, vertical tide lines through leaves of center section; light tanning and scattered foxing. Map with small, unobtrusive tape repair at gutter margin and a couple of short separations along folds. The first general directory of Yolo County, the first Yolo County history, and one of the most comprehensive of all 19th-century California county guides and directories, only issued in a small number of copies to subscribers. The initial 200 pages comprise the extensive general history of the county, followed by the lengthy directory, which is separated into residential and business registers. The map is quite fascinating and shows the county split into townships, with its few towns, railroads and rivers delineated; it was drawn by Grafton Tyler Brown, the pioneering… Read More

Fresno: Kamiyama, 1954. Very good.. Panoramic photograph, 10 x 38 inches. Minor wear and occasional soft creasing. A substantial panoramic photograph depicting the somber scene of the funeral of Fresno resident Shigeki Yokota on September 8, 1954. A couple of hundred mourners pose for the camera at the corner of 9th and P streets in Fresno, with several wreaths of flowers flanking each side of Yokota's casket. Shigeki Yokota (1902-1954) was a Japanese-American doctor who moved his family to Fresno following the World War II internment period. Evidenced by the signature etched into the negative in the bottom left of the image, the photograph was produced by noted and prolific Fresno photographer Urasaburo "Frank" Kamiyama. Frank Kamiyama (1886-1974) was an important Japanese-American chronicler of his own community in Fresno and the surrounding area beginning in the early 20th century. He was arrested on March 27, 1942 as one of eight "named Japanese alien enemies" and interned at Angel Island in… Read More

[Belmont, Ca, 1947. Very good.. Sheet map, 11.25 x 15.25 inches. Previously folded. Light wear at folds. Light tanning. Scarce post-World War II street map of Belmont, California, south of San Francisco. The map depicts the layout of the area between San Mateo, San Carlos, and Hidden Canyon Park, and was issued for the use of a local insurance agent, Harry Walden ("When the subject of the conversation is Insurance, talk with Walden"). Provides a good delineation of a town on the San Francisco peninsula that numbered approximately 5,000 inhabitants after the end of the war, but today is home to over 25,000. Ephemeral, with no copies located by OCLC.

Los Angeles: Franklin P. Borgnis, 1923. Very good.. Folding map, 9.5 x 11.75 inches. Original printed wrappers. Very light wear to wraps. A couple of small separations along fold lines. A small but attractive double-sided folding map that depicts the street layout of Pasadena as well as well as the major motor routes in the Los Angeles region. The map of Pasadena is quite detailed, and delineates the principal roads of the city in red. It also provides a street index to the right of the map. The other side of the sheet prints a "Motor and Relief Map of Southern California," which provides a bird's-eye view of the region south of the San Gabriel Mountains as well as two small insets of the routes from San Diego to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to San Francisco. The map was distributed as a promotional by local branches of the Pacific-Southwest Trust & Savings Bank. We locate only one copy, at the Pasadena Public Library.

San Francisco, 1917. Good plus.. Sheet map, 28 x 22.75 inches. Folded. Somewhat rumpled; a few small chips at edges, not affecting text of map image. Several scattered patches of staining. A scarce real estate map of Berkeley, California, printed for and distributed by local agents Mason-McDuffie Company in 1917. Blocks are overprinted with lot numbers and letters, as well as tract and neighborhood names, and a street index is printed at the foot of the map. A large red arrow points to the location of the Mason-McDuffie office, just west of the University of California campus, and an area shaded in red, labeled "Northbrae Properties" at the northern edge of the city limits, indicates the principal real estate interests of the agents. We locate four copies, at Berkeley, Stanford, the California State Library, and the Oakland Public Library.

[San Francisco and Los Angeles: The Heald-Menerey Company, 1928. Very good.. Large color map, measuring 44 x 64 inches, cut into eight sections and folded into book form. Original black limp textured cloth, yapp edges, titled in pale yellow on front cover. Moderate edge wear, titles on front cover almost completely worn away. Internally clean. A rare portable version of the large and impressive Heald-Menerey's Geographical, Commercial and Recreational Map of California, produced in the late-1920s. According to the sheet of instructions bound before the map: "The first of its kind ever devised for desk, home or automobile use. It consists of the California Survey, 44 x 64 inches in size, cut into eight strips and folded to make a book of 64 pages. Page No. 1 is the extreme northwest corner of our Survey and page No. 64 is the extreme southwest corner." The instructions proceed to inform the user on how to locate points on the map given its form as a book. The verso of the instructions page is a… Read More

Long Beach: Inman Co, 1940. Good.. Panoramic photograph, 7 x 17 inches. Small chip to right edge, small area of loss along left margin, just touching the image area, minor darkening to edges, minor surface wear. A small-format panoramic photograph picturing a few dozen mourners attending a Japanese-American child's funeral outside Mottell's Mortuary & Chapel in Long Beach, California. Along with the attendees, the scene captures several bouquets of flowers accompanied by messages written in Japanese. The image was produced by the Inman Company of Long Beach.

Rio Bravo, Ca, 1914. Very good.. [18],30pp. of manuscript on lined paper. Contemporary handmade plain wrappers, stitched. Minor edge wear and light staining to wrappers. A holographic diary and short story written by in 1914 by Rosy Thomas, a young California woman in Rio Bravo, a former settlement in Kern County along the Santa Fe Railroad near Bakersfield. The first portion of eighteen pages encompasses Thomas's diary, which begins on January 30 and runs through February 14, 1914. Thomas records her daily activities , including playing with friends, doing odd chores around her house (where she lives with her sister and aunt), and more. A sample entry from February 2 reads: "Monday I got up at seven o'clock. We were hurrying around so as not to be late for school. Then we went out and brushed and harnessed the horse. After breakfast we got ready and went to school. But we were around 10 minutes late. We got home late from school and we had to get in wood and get supper, and we went to bed about… Read More

San Francisco, 1863. Very good.. Six issues, each 8pp. Folio, on single folded sheets of newsprint. One issue separated along spine, minor foxing, creasing, and edge wear. A small collection of early issues of a notable scientific journal published in San Francisco beginning in 1860; the present issues were all issued during the opening years of the Civil War. The issues present here include Vol. V, No. 5 (April 9, 1862); Vol. V, No. 13 (June 9, 1862); Vol. V, No. 16 (July 2, 1862); Vol. V, No. 21 (August 8, 1862); Vol. VI, No. 4 (November 8, 1862); and Vol. VI, No. 38 (July 20, 1863). The articles present a wide range of scientific subjects, such as mining news, new inventions, lectures, extracts from scientific publications, metallurgy, balloon ascensions, patents, and more. Illustrations in the present issues include a map of Sinaloa, Heath's Spiral Spice Mill (and various other machines), the Coffey & Risdon Boiler Factory, and sectional illustrations of the Colorado River, among others. There… Read More

Secret Ravine, Ca, 1857. Very good.. Four autograph letters, signed, totaling [8]pp., on differently-sized writing papers. Old folds, minor wear, toning, and dust-soiling. A collection of four informative manuscript letters written by J. Gilbert Paddleford, a struggling miner working in Secret Ravine, California during the Gold Rush. Secret Ravine was a hotbed of placer mining activity during the Gold Rush, though apparently less so by the time Paddleford set up there. Paddleford writes these four letters to his brother, Curtis and his sister, Ruth, over the course of four months, between December 2, 1856 and April 29, 1857. Paddleford discusses challenges and activities pertaining to his mining efforts, as well as discussing homefront matters such as romantic prospects for himself and his sister, inquiring about various family members, writing about his reticence to settle anywhere, and so forth. In his first letter, Paddleford discusses the impact of the weather and the lack of water on his… Read More

[Various locations in California, mostly Sausalito and other locations in Marin and Sonoma Counties, 1930. Very good.. Nine photograph albums in a variety of bindings, containing approximately 810 photographs, the great majority paper prints but with a fair share of tintypes and CDVs in the earliest two albums, plus 102 loose negatives, three negative rolls, and a metal container housing 135 later color slides. A phenomenal collection of photographs from noted but still somewhat obscure California artist, teacher, and amateur shutterfly Isabel Margaret Porter Collins. The collection numbers over 800 images ranging from early family images featuring dozens of Collins' antecedents from the 1870s to 1890s, personal albums featuring Collins with her family and friends in various locations in California over the course of about thirty years, and an album and some further images produced by Collins' son Henry Benjamin Collins, whom she called Ben. The collection was most likely retained by Ben. Isabel… Read More