Wonderland; or, twelve weeks in and out of the United States. Brief account of a trip across the continent -- short run into Mexico -- ride to the Yosemite Valley -- steamer voyage to Alaska, the land of glaciers -- visit to the great Shoshone Falls and a stage ride through the Yellowstone National Park. By Edward S. Parkinson. Trenton, N. J. MacCrellish & Quigley, Book and Job Printers, 1894. 18.6x13 cm, pp. [1-5] 6 [7-9] 10-259 [260: blank], inserted frontispiece, 23 illustrations in the text, most full page, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, white endpapers with floral pattern printed in gold. First edition. An East Coast journalist's account of a three month grand tour of California, with side trips to Mexico, Alaska and Yellowstone National Park, in the spring and summer of 1892. The author, part of an excursion party of twenty-eight, most of whom resided in or near Philadelphia, describes a transcontinental trip, organized by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and led by a travel agent and his female assistant (referred to by Parkinson as a "chaperone"). While in California, he and seven other members of the party traveled to the Yosemite Valley by way of Raymond and Wawona. On their return trip to Raymond they made a side trip to the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. One of the best of the late nineteenth century accounts of a trip to Yosemite Valley. Good detail on stage travel and lodging. The Yosemite trip is described on pages 103-139. Some of the book's illustrations were supplied by I. W. Taber, of San Francisco, California, and by M. M. Hazeltine, of Baker City, Oregon. Others are "from Kodak views taken by Miss Serrill, of Philadelphia." Early owner's name (Elizabeth Thompson) in ink on the recto of the frontispiece. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends and corners, a very good copy. (#166468).
No statement of printing.