SIGHTS IN THE GOLD REGION, AND SCENES BY THE WAY. BY THEODORE T. JOHNSON. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS ... SECOND EDITION -- REVISED AND ENLARGED. New York: Baker and Scribner, 145 Nassau Street and 36 Park Row, 1850. 18.2x11.5 cm (12mo), pp. [i-v] vi [vii] viii-xii [1] 2-324, 7 inserted plates with wood-engraved illustrations, including colored frontispiece with tissue guard, 1 folded map, rebound in modern three-quarter leather and cloth, spine panel lettered and tooled in gold and blind, t.e.g., brown endpapers. Second edition, revised and enlarged. The important second edition, the first to include the plates and the important map of the gold region (not present in all copies). "One of the earliest published accounts by an actual 'returned Californian,' who asserts that he 'visited California to dig gold, but chose to abandon that purpose rather than expose his life and health in the mines'" (Wheat, Gold Rush). "Johnson's book provided one of the earliest, liveliest, and most detailed accounts of the Gold Rush ... Johnson began his journey on February 5, 1849, on board the steamer Crescent City, and sailed for Panama. Much of the text is devoted to the crossing, delays, and life on the Isthmus. Boarding the Oregon, Johnson and 280 fellow-passengers headed north, entered San Francisco Bay on April 1, and, by April 12, arrived at Sutter's Mill. Johnson then spent the next several days in the Mother Lode, making observations of camps and towns, [and] prominent individuals like Captain Sutter, Old Greenwood, and John Sinclair. He also wrote about the Indians and their mistreatment, Peruvians, social life, mining methods, and the natural wealth of California. Meeting with little success, worried over health, and faced with stiff competition in San Francisco, Johnson left California on May 1. He reached Philadelphia on June 26, via the Isthmus" (Kurutz). Cowan (1933), p.315. Graff 2223. Howes J154. Kurutz 363c. Sabin 36329. Wagner, Camp and Becker (1982) 167g:3. Wheat, Maps 163. Wheat, Gold Rush 112. Mild rubbing to leather, map is tanned, a very good copy. (#167043).
Price: $1,500.00
"SECOND EDITION -- REVISED AND ENLARGED" on title page.