Nice set of two excellent books on the California Gold Rush. The first one, A California Gold Rush Miscellany, is a limited edition of only 550 copies with explanatory text by Jane Bissell Grabhorn, and printed by The Grabhorn Press of San Francisco in 1934. The title continues with "…Comprising: The Original Journal Of Alexander Barrington, Nine Unpublished Letters From The Gold Mines, Reproductions Of Early Maps and Towns From California Lithographs; Broadsides, Etc., Etc." Included are views of the mining communities of Weaverville, Shasta and Yreka. 7.5" x 10.8". 8vo. Complete. Hardbound in original glossy, red paper covered boards with gilt titling on front and pastedown section on spine. Covers are rubbed, corners are bumped. Binding is starting to loosen but still sound. Cloth spine is worn and has some short splits along the hinges. Contents very good with some minor edge toning and some light damp staining has caused some of the red dye in the covers to bleed into the lower margins of several pages. Grade B+.

The second book in this set,Gold Rush Album, is a terrific, first edition pictorial history of one of the world's greatest treasure hunts, and is extensively illustrated with 352 authentic photographs, daguerreotypes, woodcuts, lithographs and line drawings. In the foreword, the author describes how the discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to common citizens closing their shops and soldiers and sailors abandoning their posts all in a desperate search for wealth. The unsuccessful attempts by Californians to suppress the news from reaching the eastern U.S. served only to delay the inevitable, when, in 1849 nearly 80,000 people had found their way to the region, quadrupling the population. Complete. 239 pp. Written by Joseph Henry Jackson and published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1949. 8" x 11". 8vo. Complete. Hardbound in original black cloth with gilt title on spine. This example has its original dustjacket. Contents are very good with only a hint of toning along edges. Covers are very good with some minor shelf wear. Spine is sound and binding is good with only a couple signatures showing signs of wear. Dustjacket is worn, and has some small areas of loss. Grade A.

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