Mountains and Molehills; or, Recollections of a Burnt Journal (Classics of the Old West series).

Alexandria, Virginia:: Time-Life Books, 1982.. Reprint Edition.. Hardbound . BINDING/CONDITION: from a uniformly bound series: dark brown bonded leather with gilt text, stamped decoration on the front cover, all edges gilt, ribbon place marker; embossed ownership seal on the blank page that has publisher's statement on the verso; otherwise in Very Good condition.. 8vo (8.5 inches tall) . Appendix. Marbled endpapers. Description: Color frontis plus seven additional color plates by the author; several woodcut illustrations by Mr. L C Martin, from designs by the author. This is a volume from the Time-Life Classics of the Old West; a facsimile reprint of the original 1855 London edition. This classic Gold Rush account was originally published in 1855 in London, and in that same year in Near York, although the U.S. edition lacked the color illustrations of the London edition. Marryat's eye for the picturesque and his zest for the unusual was a birthright from his father, the author of the sea adventures with Midshipman / Captain Easy. This robust depiction of the pageant of the Gold Rush opens in 1850, when Frank Marryat, with his valet and three bloodhounds, arrived in California to find San Francisco gutted by ''a great fire'' but ''full of feverish excitement''. Written as a journal, this is the record of Marryat's every experience -- whether camping uncomfortably at gold diggings or homesteading on the Russian River. Some of Marryat's on the spot engravings have been so often reproduced as to become as familiar as the book's title. An ''excellent narrative of experiences in the diggings''. (Wheat's Gold Rush Number 137). Includes the publisher's insert.