The Pioneers of '49; A History of the Excursion of The Society of California Pioneers of New England from Boston to the Leading Cities of the Golden State April 10 - May 17, 1890
Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1891. First edition. Hardcover. 4to. [7], x-xv, [2], 2-288, [4] pp. Brown publisher's cloth with black lettering and decorations in gold on the front board and spine. Illustrated by a frontispiece of Nicholas Ball, nine full-page illustrations, and seven plates. Illustrations depict Santa Fe, Pueblo Indians, Mexican men whom the Society encountered along the way, images from Salt Lake City, Nebraska, and Colorado Springs (including the Royal Gorge and Pike's Peak), with images from Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Fransisco's Chinatown, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Public Library of Pasadena, Donner Lake, Mount Shasta, Stanford, and of Niagara Falls (captured on the return trip to Boston). Inscribed by Nicholas Ball on the front flyleaf, with the inscription dated 1892, in Block Island, Rhode Island. Howes B67. The Society of California Pioneers (website). The society was started in the mid-nineteenth century, to preserve the history and stories of the white pioneers who moved to California. Nicholas Ball was a Director of the New England chapter. The New England chapter undertook the voyage to tour the largest cities of California: L.A., San Fransisco, Sacramento, and San Jose. Ball describes the Native Americans the party met along the way, and delves into a long discussion of the Donner Party and its history (as the society members had to cross the Sierra Nevada to get to California). In the San Fransisco chapter, Ball also discusses Chinese immigration, from a nineteenth-century, white, prejudiced perspective. The book also includes biographies of prominent members of the society. He praises the miners of '49, and writes his recollection of his voyage to advance (what was then) the mission of the Society of California Pioneers. A descriptive piece of Western Americana, difficult to find signed by the author. Good+. Item #00009156
A Good+ book with some soiling to the tops of the boards, leaves show minor spotting and two blindstamps. Recent endpapers and pastedowns, with the original endpapers intact.
Price: $275.00