Hittell's hand-book of Pacific Coast travel. By John S. Hittell. San Francisco: The Bancroft Company, Publishers, History Building, 1887. 16.5x11.5 cm, pp. [1-3] 4 [5] 6-10 [11] 12-263 [264: blank], inserted fold-out illustrated advertising leaf for Pacific Grove, Monterey, California, on recto, and Summer and Winter Resorts of California on verso, inserted at rear, woodcut illustrations in the text, maps, including 2 inserted folded maps, original decorated smooth grain green cloth, front panel stamped in black and gold, blue endpapers with Southern Pacific Sunset Route and Bancroft Company ads printed on the paste-downs. Third edition in this format. In July 1869 H. H. Bancroft & Company published the first number a series of guidebooks 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 (which includes the southern part of the Cascade Range as well). Hittell compiled the first guide book to Yosemite, published in 1866. The folded maps are "Bancroft's Map of California and Nevada, 1887" and "Bancroft's Map of Washington Territory and Oregon, 1887." See Currey and Kruska 6. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends and corner tips, a very good copy. Provenance: Ownership stamps of Roy Hill, San Francisco, California, on the free endpapers and in the upper left margin of the "Map of Washington Territory and Oregon, 1887." (#169958).
No statement of printing.