L. W. Currey, Inc.

BUNNELL, LAFAYETTE HOUGHTON. Discovery of the Yosemite, and the Indian War of 1851, which led to that event. By Lafayette Houghton Bunnell, M.D. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 148 and 150 Madison Street, [1880]. 19.4x13.1 cm (octavo), pp. [1-4] 5-331 [332-334: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, 7 inserted plates, 13 illustrations in text, 1 inserted map, original decorated taupe cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold, brown coated endpapers. First edition. A presentation copy with penciled inscription by Bunnell on the front flyleaf: " To / Mrs. Gertrude Gale / With highest regards of / The Author. / July 27th 1882." Printer's slug on copyright page reads: "Stereotyped and printed by the Chicago Legal News Company." It is probable that the Walker party saw Yosemite Valley from its rim in 1833, and more than one prospector or hunter (including William Penn Abrams and U. N. Reamer in October 1849) viewed it prior to March 27, 1851 when the Mariposa Battalion pursued Indians into the valley. The narrative of Bunnell and the diaries of Robert Eccleston, published as The Mariposa Indian War 1850-1851, Diaries of Robert Eccleston: the California Gold Rush, Yosemite, and the High Sierra, ed. C. Gregory Crampton (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1957), are the principal sources of information on the Mariposa Indian War, which indirectly brought the valley to the attention of the general public. For a biographical sketch of Bunnell see Howard A. Kelly, "Lafayette Houghton Bunnell, M.D., Discoverer of the Yosemite," Annals of Medical History, 3 (1921), 179-93. See Francis P. Farquhar, Yosemite, the Big Trees and the High Sierra: A Selective Bibliography (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1948), title 15. Currey and Kruska 27. Farquhar 15a. Upper spine end lightly frayed, mild rubbing at spine ends and corner tips, tiny $10 price inked on title page, library call number and inventory number on copyright page, else a nearly fine copy. A lovely copy of a book seldom found in nice condition and rarely found signed by Bunnell. (#166006).