Mountains And Molehills Or Recollections Of A Burnt Journal

FRANK MARRYAT

Publication: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855, London

First edition. 8vo. Quarter leather and marbled boards, raised bands, titles and devices stamped in gilt on the spine, x [2], 443 pp., preface, frontispiece, complete with eight tinted tipped-in color, lithograph plates, appendix. This is one of the best descriptions of life in the mines during the California Gold Rush. This English first edition is sought after for its 8 hand-tinted plates by the author, that did not appear in the American edition of the same year. Marryat arrived in San Francisco in June of 1850, by the fall of 1851 he was mining quartz in Tuttletown. These descriptions of this era are rich and vivid and describe mining life: saloons, fires, claim jumpers, bears, fleas, mining techniques, mining camps, yellow fever, etc. Eberstadt 114: 153 says: "Original edition. One of the most interesting narratives of the gold fever days, detailing the author's trip to California; life at the mines and towns; hunting adventures; gambling experience, etc. The plates, according to Cowan, are "the most attractive of the period." Reese "The Best Of The West" #136 says: "An excellent picture of life at the California gold diggings, big game hunting in the Rocky Mountains, and life in the pioneer West. Reliable observations are also included on early political and legal affairs in California, such as the Vigilance Committee and other attempts to impose order on the rambunctious populace." "...One of the best descriptions in print of life at the mines and of conditions at San Francisco and the ranchos in the 1850's ..." Leather at the spine and corners is rubbed and lightly worn, with text clean and tight for an overall very good plus condition.