Following the opinion is an appendix providing “history of the legislation of the Supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco against the Chinese . . . compiled by one of the counsel in the above case [i.e., B.S. Brooks] from the records of the Supervisors and the newspapers of the city.” The text was printed from a revised copy, according to the title-page.

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers; corners and edges chipped, paper lost over spine, front wrapper with short tear from outer edge (not touching text), back wrapper with outer edge shortened. The whole now housed in a quarter navy morocco clamshell case with deep blue cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Pages slightly age-toned. A landmark document of American Constitutional law.  (34196)

•  Publisher's quarter cream textured cloth with light blue fleur-de-lis printed paper sides, spine with printed paper label; lacking the blue dust-wrapper, small spot of staining at head of spine, otherwise a very nice example.  (28209)

•  Publisher's paper wrappers, very slightly darkened, spine and one corner of cover rubbed. One vertical crease and a few others throughout; pages faintly age-toned. A nice demonstration of Eulalie's appeal.  (36533)

Oscar Lewis in his introduction to this work aptly and succinctly describes its translator Morris Jastrow, Jr. (1861–1921) as “[t]he most highly accredited Orientalist in the United States” [p. 5]. Born in Poland, he was raised from the age of five in Philadelphia and returned to Europe to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Leipzig (1884). In 1892 he was elected the chair of Semitic languages at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1898 was appointed the librarian of the university, and later was a research professor of Assyriology.

The Gentle Cynic was publication 27 of the Book Club of California and was a companion piece to its earlier-printed (1922) Jastrow translation of The Song of Songs.

•  Heller, Grabhorn Press 1915-1940, 91; Magee & Magee, Book Club of California, 27.   Publisher's stiff parchment with ties (originally green, now faded to off-white), in a brown paper–covered open-back slipcase. Cockling of the paper; fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Very good.  (38867)

This is one of 150 copies printed and bound by Vance Gerry.

Bliss was the son of one of Henry Huntington's original crew of librarians, was himself a librarian at the Huntington, and was the father of Tony Bliss who was, until his retirement, the rare books curator at the Bancroft Library.

•  Publisher's tan and maroon printed paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label, in original cream and red dust jacket. Crisp and clean.  (35694)

the Book Club of California

Uncut and unopened copy of a beautifully accomplished volume.

•  Not in Penzer, Annotated Bibliography of Sir Richard Burton.   Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum darkened, corners bumped. Pages clean.  (28273)

•  Removed from a nonce volume and now in wrappers. A very good copy.  (11350)

•  Publisher's textured cream paper wrappers, top edge soot-darkened with this intruding intermittently into top or foremargins. Generally a clean, good copy.  (36760)

Michael Davidson (b. 1944) was the first curator of the Mandeville Special Collections Library at the University of California, San Diego, where he has taught American Literature since 1988.

•  Stitched in orange paper wrappers with matching orange paper jacket, title and author printed in light brown surrounded by black ornamental frame on front cover. Fine, in a mylar slipcase.  (30796)

•  Publisher's plain paper wrappers. Clean and fresh.  (29721)

•  Fine.  (19234)

The volume is illustrated with43 lithographed plates done by Weber & Co., including a portrait of “A New Mexican Indian Woman,” a fish of the Gila River, a map of “the actions fought at San Pasqual in upper California between the Americans and Mexicans Dec. 6th & 7th 1846,” and a view of cliffside hieroglyphics, as well as a series of 14 botanical images.

•  Cowan & Cowan 195; Graff 1249 (other 1848 issues only); Haferkorn 38; Howes E145; Sabin 22536 (for House ed. only); Wagner-Camp, Plains & Rockies, 148:2; Zamorano 80, 33.   Recent black cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Oversized, folding map lacking. Plates and pages with some light to moderate foxing; one leaf with tear from upper margin, extending into text without loss. Clean, strong.  (27364)

•  Publisher's red cloth, spine with black-stamped title. Offsetting to endpapers. Clean.  (35691)

In sum, thiscomplete array of the blocks used for printing a substantial and well-regarded Titanic-era book looks like something that was put on a printing house shelf one afternoon in 1912 at the end of an ordinary project for the pressmen and simply stayed there. Seeing it on its present PRB&M shelf, coherent and unmessed-with more than 100 years later, is like walking up to that shelf through one of time's “wrinkles.”

•  On the Beginnings, see: Cowan & Cowan, Bibliography of the History of California, 193. For a list of all its images and notes on their origins, see: http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hbbegidx.htm.   The paper wrappers present are variously just fine or age-toned or browned, chipped, torn along folds. ALL the blocks are in good condition; this is not a sort of thing easily damaged!  (29741)

Here Frémont presents to the U.S. Senate his formal report on his third expedition to the West. The map referred to in the title wasissued separately under title “Map of Oregon and Upper California. . . 1848" and is not present; hence the affordable price here.

The original edition, not a reprint. A government publication: [U.S.] 30th Cong., 2d sess. House. Misc. [doc.] 5.

•  Sabin 25837; Howes F366; Wagner-Camp-Becker, Plains and Rockies, 150:2.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards with leather label on front cover. Occasional light foxing.  (24883)

This is anuncommonly nice copy, still housed in its original publisher's box, which features the front cover image reproduced in color.

•  Not in Brown, Culinary Americana.   Publisher's spiral-bound wrappers, front wrapper color-printed with image of Dutch girls baking, in publisher's box (as above); one edge of box rubbed and corners of box bottom reinforced. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription and pencilled date (March 24, 1956). A clean, fresh, virtually unworn copy — and very uncommon as such.  (29584)

•  Publisher's paper wrappers, printed in mauve and maroon; showing light shelfwear and traces of dust-soiling, with small area of light discoloration towards lower edge of front wrapper. Internally clean and fresh.  (36145)

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers. A clean, fresh copy.  (26075)

The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks atThe Plantin Press, Los Angeles.

Binding:  In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298.   Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy.  (30117)

The recipes show a penetration of Mexican cooking that extends beyond tacos, tamales, and guacamole to Mexican coffee, avocado soup, salad dressing, fish dishes, and even a soufflé. And it is notable that now the Mexican dishes are no longer segregated.

•  Publisher's tan cloth-covered boards in original dust jacket; jacket evenly sunned with a few edge nicks. A very nice copy of an interesting, attractive, historically oriented cookbook.  (36107)

Presentation/Provenance: The presentation is on the dedication page and reads: “For Mr. James L. Carhart. With the best sentiments of the author. Eugenia Kellogg. (Mrs. E. B. Holmes). June 2nd 1918. San Francisco.” And the recipient has written in pencil, “Note: Mrs. E. B. Holmes is the widow of Mr. Edwin B. Holmes, a fellow actor with me in the celebrated American comedian, John E. Owens' company, which played at the Vanities Theater, New Orleans, La, the season of 1874-5.”

Carhart secured a second copy of the frontispiece portrait of Kellogg and on the verso has written: “E.B. Holmes was a member of John E. Owens' company, which played at the Vanities Theater, New Orleans, La, the season of 1874-5. Mr. Holmes played old men and character parts — same as I did.”

Binding:  Publisher' green ribbed cloth, stamped in gilt on front cover with the author's name, a shortened version of the title, and the image of Telegraph Hill in the era when it was surmounted by a “castle” — “Poccalito” in his pauper's rags framed between flourishes below this. A very interesting cover.

•  Not in Wright.   Bound as above with cloth and gilt fresh and bright; a clean, obviously always treasured, little volume. Very good condition.  (34675)

one of 350 copies printed at the University of California Press for the Book Club of California

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked gift inscription from historian Carl Wheat, author of Mapping of the Trans-Mississippi West, to Joe Blumenthal (of Spiral Press fame), a “fellow member of WOOFFB.”

•  Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author/title; minimal shelfwear to outer corners. A fresh, clean copy with an interesting inscription.  (30622)

Title-page has a handsome woodcut of the Mexican national symbol (an eagle on a nopal with a snake in its beak). The final leaf contains a listing of “Asuntes pendientes de resolucion del soberano Congreso General.”

•  Howes E-201.   Stitched as issued, lacking the original plain paper wrappers; light age-toning to some pages. Very good copy.  (29887)

Of course, by 1845 Texas was nine years past its 2 March 1836 Declaration of Independence from Mexico and was on the verge of being admitted to U.S. statehood, although Mexico still failed to recognize the fact.  But New Mexico and California were still one year from being wrenched away via the Mexican-American War (i.e., La intervención estadounidense en México, La Guerra de 1846).

•  Not in Streeter (rev.), Texas.   Fold as issued. with the integral blank leaf. Pencil notations of a bookseller, including a price code. Very good.  (36688)

Binding:  Publisher's grey silk, front cover with affixed color-printed illustration, spine with title stamped in black, in a striking lucite slipcase.

•  Binding as above, lucite showing predictable minor shelfwear, overall a beautiful copy. An uncommon printing of work by one of the most popular contemporary crime writers; actually, ofan all-star trio of writers.  (33332)

Perez de Ribas' work is exceedingly rare on the market. In forty years of bookselling, this is only the second copy we have handled. Very important and desirable.

•  Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 43; Alden & Landis 645/96; Sabin 60895, 70789; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 525; Servies 176. JCB (3), II, 333. Medina, BHA, 1083; Palau 222254; Streit 1745; Barrett 1984; Bell P169; Howgego R35; Brunet, IV, 21590; Graesse, VI, 106; Leclerc, Bibl. Amer. (1867), 1305; Huth, Catalog, IV, 1243; Heredia 6836; Salva 3376.   Contemporary vellum, manuscript spine title, marca del fuego; hinges (inside)cracking, light soiling. Very small ink stamp on title-page. Light foxing and tanning to text; some very slight worming, confined primarily to margins in rear of text block. A few ink notations and stains. A very good copy in a cloth clamshell case, leather label.  (34581)

Ridge's poems were collected posthumously and are here published by his widow, with a mounted albumen photograph of the author for the frontispiece; the preface includes a detailed account of the assassination of his father, John Ridge. The book was printed by Edward Bosqui & Co., considered San Francisco’s finest 19th-century printer.

Binding:  Chestnut-brown morocco presentation binding with bevelled edges, covers framed in black rules, with author and title in gilt in nice frames on each board (gilt stamping the same as seen on the cloth binding). Binding by Bosqui, with that firm’s ticket.

•  Cowan p. 533; Graff 3504; Kurutz, California Books Illustrated with Original Photographs 1856–1890, 43; Miles & Reese, Creating America, 122; Norris 3270.   Binding as above; rebacked, original spine somewhat unartfully reapplied, sides scuffed. Scratched markings on pastedowns; title-page and a few others with old stains. A very decent copy, with the presentation binding copies being rare.  (39603)

Binding:  Original black cloth with cheerful red, green, blue, and yellow star print, spine with printed paper label, inside front cover with inset photograph of D'Ambrosio.

•  Binding as above. A fresh, clean copy of an uncommon tribute.  (35689)

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and fish vignette with blind-stamped decorative borders; spine slightly darkened, small spots of light discoloration, extremities rubbed. Sewing just barely starting to loosen but holding; pages clean. A more than decent copy of this interesting and, shall we say, “highly personal” work.  (35139)

Although not initially well-received by critics, according to Steinbeck's last wife he considered East of Edenhis magnum opus. He called it “the book,” saying, “I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this . . . Having done this I can do anything I want. Always I had this book waiting to be written.” A decade following its publication, Steinbeck would win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

First state dust jacket with author's photo on rear panel and no ads; contains spelling mistake “bite” instead of “bight” on p. 281, line 38.

•  Publisher's green cloth with navy-stamped lettering to front board; red spine-label with navy lettering and border. Edges of boards lightly faded. Price-clipped dust jacket present with minor age-toning and chipping at extremities, minor loss to spine-ends; small tears at top of front joint and bottom of front fore-edge, and some rubbing to fore-edges. Rear free endpaper pulling from binding slightly, exposing about an inch of webbing. A nice, sturdy and readable copy.  (37822)

Origin & Provenance: The writer was neither Lieutenant Colonel William Steuart, who died in 1839, nor William Steuart, chief statistician of the Bureau of the Census, who was born in 1861; rather, this was beyond a doubtthe William M. Steuart for whom Steuart Street in San Francisco was named — the acting chairman of the California State Constitutional Convention in 1849 and a one-time candidate for governor of the state.

Steuert first went to California as a secretary to Commodore Jones and maintained strong ties to the family.

•  Folded as mailed, with traces of original red wax seal; lower inner corner reinforced with cellophane tape some time ago. Two small spots of staining. A personal yet politically instructive window on contemporary opinion, written by someone who was surely (kindly!) “spinning” yet (also) knew whereof he spoke.  (36541)

one of 220 copies printed, of which only 130 copies were for sale

•  Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 23.   Publisher's gray Fabriano paper wrappers, front wrapper with title stamped in blind. A clean, fresh copy.  (30800)

•  Fine, Janus Press 1975–80, 41.   Publisher's navy cloth, front cover with illustration on paper as above; spine very slightly sunned, outer front corners showing most minimal wear. Van Vliet's lithograph bright and beautiful.  (32333)

This copy has the officers'official reports (pp. 197–300), sometimes lacking.

•  Howes T-236; Sabin 95665; Basic Texas Books 205.   Recently rebound in glazed black moiré cloth, title gilt on leather spine label, edges lightly speckled brown. Ex-library with pressure-stamps on added illustrated title-page and title-page; no other markings. Browning at edges throughout and light cockling from sometime damp on all leaves; brown-liquid spatters not impairing reading on ten or so pages. Only a “good” copy and so priced, this gives a fine glimpse of Mexico at the onset of theMexican-American War.  (26481)

The presenter of the volume was R.T. McLain, chief clerk of the Department of Agriculture; the Hon. J. Gregory Smith, the recipient, was the president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.

Binding:  A presentation binding of black morocco over boards with slightly bevelled edges. Covers with a gilt triple fillet border and a gilt floral vine inner “border.” Recipient's name in gilt in center of front board. Round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra; gilt roll on board edges, different gilt roll on turn-ins. Pink endpapers of a textured paper, printed with an overall pattern of small gilt interlocking circles. Green silk place marker. All edges gilt.

A very nice example of a mid-19th-century presentation binding.

•  Binding as above, lightly rubbed at the joints (outside) and board edges. McLain's presentation card pasted to front pastedown, above Smith's bookplate. A very good copy of a book that is, as we say here, “interesting for more than one reason.”  (35244)

It may interest the reader to know that half of the writings in this volume are by women.

Sole edition. The volume was a fund-raising effort: “The principal reason that these stories have been gathered together and given to the public, is to start a fund wherewith to erect a fountain on the Campus of the University of California to be in harmony with the great Hearst architectural plan.”

Binding:  Publisher's blue cloth stamped in gilt with title and a scene of a rolling hill with trees on it. Binding signed “Kales.”

•  BAL 15035.   Binding as above: gilt a little rubbed or dulled. Overall, very good.  (34834)

•  Publisher's tan morocco, front cover with gilt-stamped publication information and lamp device. All edges gilt. A clean, tight copy.  (35732)

•  Publisher's (appropriately) green morocco, front cover with gilt-stamped title and publication information. All edges gilt. A clean, tight copy.  (35703)

•  Publisher's maroon cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and the Press's lamp device, spine with gilt-stamped title. A crisp, fresh copy.  (35728)