Beschreibung:

Title: Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California, Illustrated by Twenty-Three Drawings, Taken on the Spot Author: Ryan, William Redmond Place: London Publisher: William Shoberl, Parry & Co. Date: 1852 Description: 2 volumes in 1. vi, [2], 347, [1]; vi, 413, [1] pp. Illustrated with 23 plates, including 3 duotone lithographs, the rest being wood engravings. 7¾x4¾, original blindstamped cloth, rebacked with original gilt-lettered spine cloth laid on. Uncommon one volume edition of the 1852 printing, not recorded by Kurutz. Ryan, an Englishman, enlisted in 1847 in Stevenson's First Regiment of California Volunteers and reached Monterey on the Isabella in 1848. When the regiment was disbanded in August, 1848, he went to the Stanislaus River for an unsuccessful try at mining, returning to Monterey in the winter of 1849. Cowan calls the book "The charming narrative of an artist and bohemian who left unrecorded but little that he saw. His descriptions are among best of his time." Howes lauds the pictures as well as the text. First published in 1850. Cowan p.547; Howes R558; Kurutz 548d; Sabin 74532; Wheat Gold Rush 173. Lot Amendments Condition: Some soiling and rubbing to covers, in name to the back of the frontispiece, else very good. Item number: 229433