Hittell's hand-book of Pacific Coast travel. By John S. Hittell. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co., Publishers, 721 Market Street, 1885. 17.2x11.5 cm, pp. [1-2: ads] [1-3] 4 [5] 6-10 [11] 12-263 [264: blank] [1-16: ads], illustrations, maps (including 2 inserted folded maps), original green cloth, front panel stamped in black and gold, advertisements on endpapers. Second edition in this format. Between 1869 and 1873 H. H. Bancroft, later A. L. Bancroft published a series of guidebooks, the first of which, dated July 1869, was titled "Bancroft's guide for travelers by railway, stage, and steam navigation in the Pacific States. Comprising routes and modes of travel, distances, fares; concise descriptions of the principal towns, scenery, etc.; tourist's guide to Yosemite, Tahoe, the Geysers, and other noted resorts; through route by the great Pacific Railroad to Chicago, St. Louis, etc.; ocean routes, via Panama and Nicaragua, to New York; all inland and ocean routes on the coast, etc., etc." The Bancroft guides were prepared to meet the growing demand for a reliable tourist guide to the Pacific states following the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Apparently, the publisher anticipated quarterly publication, but the second number was issued in August 1869, and at least fifty-two monthly numbers were issued, the last appearing in October 1873. Description of routes to and accommodations at Calaveras Big Tree Grove and Yosemite Valley appear in each number. Issues through October 1873 have descriptions of Yosemite Valley averaging a page and a half in length. Though brief, these descriptions provide concise details of interest, including stage lines, routes, schedules with duration of travel time, costs of transportation and lodging, and other details. In 1882 Bancroft's Guide for Travelers ... was revived as Bancroft's Pacific Coast Guide Book with compiler John S. Hittell's name on the title page. A revised edition titled Hittell's Hand-Book of Pacific Coast Travel was issued in 1885 with a further revision appearing under the latter title in 1887. The section on the Sierra Nevada, substantially the same in these Hittell compilations, comprises chapter five, pages 149-188. The two folded maps are "Bancroft's Map of California and Nevada, 1885" (not colored) and "Bancroft's Map of Washington Territory and Oregon, 1885" (not colored). In 1866 Hittell published the first guide book to Yosemite. Currey and Kruska 6. Hint of wear to cloth at spine ends and corner tips, else a bright, fine copy. (#168618).
No statement of printing.