CALIFORNIA AND ITS GOLD REGIONS; WITH A GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MINERAL AND AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES...

New York: Stringer and Townsend, 1849.. 137pp. plus [6]pp. of advertisements. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers nearly detached and soiled, heavily worn and scuffed, especially near the spine, where they are almost completely effaced. Titlepage a bit dusty, but generally quite clean internally. A decent copy, lacking the large folding map. According to Wheat, "One of the best of the early books on California printed for gold seekers." Robinson, who had produced a book on the Mexican-American War shortly before, drew on both official and unofficial sources for this book. Kurutz calls this work "a fine anthology of several of the earliest reports of the gold discovery, conditions in California, history of the region, and ways to reach the diggings." Among the sources drawn on are reports by Mason, Fremont, Larkin, Emory, and Kearny, as well as newspaper accounts. Robinson discusses several routes to California, recommending the northern Overland Trail as the best. The map, lacking from this copy, is also highly praised. Howes and Kurutz note two issues of 137 and 144 pages, respectively, of which this is the former. HOWES R366, "b." WHEAT GOLD RUSH 168. GRAFF 3527. COWAN, p.537. KURUTZ 539b. SABIN 72070.