A Tour of Duty in California; Including a Description of the Gold Region: and an Account of the Voyage around Cape Horn; with Notices of Lower California, the Gulf and Pacific Coasts, and the Principal Events Attending the Conquest of the Californias.

New York and Boston: C. S. Francis & Co. and J.H. Francis, 1849 First edition. 12mo. Collated complete: 3 leaves, [iii]-vi, 1 leaf, 305 pages, [306 blank], Lacking ads at rear. Six lithographed plates after sketches by the author, folding lithographed map of the harbor of San Francisco. Folding map backed with linen. Handsomely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in three-quarter tan morocco, marbled sides, spine with detailed gilt decoration between bands, maroon leather spine labels, top edges gilt. Small ink number to title page. A superior copy, very fine and clean throughout with literally no foxing to the text or plates. A very important work and the cleanest copy we have handled. Beautiful! Lieutenant Revere was a graduate of Annapolis and a grandson of Paul Revere. His Tour of Duty is one of the outstanding authorities on the period of the Conquest, and his descriptions of California and the gold regions are among the best. The book contains valuable chapters on land law and land titles, as well as the complete report of Col. Mason on the gold fields. Revere became so enamored of the country that he acquired a rancho near Sonoma and returned to California to live the life of a ranchero. "Revere was the first to raise the American flag at Sonoma, and for a while served as commander of that garrison" (Van Nostrand). "One of the truly important books of the days preceding the gold discovery, with a chapter on that event, and outstanding illustrations of the early period" (Wheat). The plates include "Sutter's Fort-New Helvetia," "Monterey, Capital of California," "Quicksilver Mine-Near Santa Clara," "Monte Diablo-From the Sacramento River," "A Ranchero Feat," and "A 'Pui' Day." [Barrett: 2092; Bennett, American Book Collecting: p.102; Cowan: p.530; Graff: 3474; Hill: pp. 251-252; Howell: 50: 208; Howes I: R-222; Howes II: R-216; Kurutz: 529a; Peters, California on Stone: p.119; Van Nostrand, The First Hundred Years of Painting in California: pp. 22, 118-19; Wheat, Books of the California Gold Rush: 165; Zamorano Eighty: 63]..