CALIFORNIA COAST TRAILS A HORSEBACK RIDE FROM MEXICO TO OREGON by J. Smeaton Chase WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, MDCCCCXIII [1913]. 20.5x13 cm (octavo), pp. [1-2] [i-ix] x-xi [xii-xiii] xiv-xviii [xix-xx] [1] 2-326 [327-328: blank], 16 inserted plates with illustrations from photographs, publisher's pictorial olive green cloth, front panel stamped in blue, black and gold, spine panel stamped in white and gold, top edge gilt, other edges rough trimmed. First edition, first printing. Signed by Chase on the half title page. "Of all the books written by Smeaton Chase, his third, CALIFORNIA COAST TRAILS, is the best, perhaps because his imagination was excited more by the seacoast than by the other physical features of the state. Our shore is a unique feature. Other states have valleys, mountains, and deserts, but only California has a coastline of such length and variety. It inspired Chase to write his finest book, the narrative of two horseback rides he took, the first in 1910 from El Monte through Laguna Canyon and down coast to San Diego; and then in 1911, May to November, from El Monte again to the coast at Malibu and on north to the Oregon border. CALIFORNIA COAST TRAILS is one of the few California travel books to approach TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST as literature" (Powell). CALIFORNIA COAST TRAILS "is essential reading for those who want to envision the California coast as it was at the turn of the twentieth century. Then it was possible to travel the length of the state by horseback and camp almost anywhere when the day's journey was at an end ... Chase (1864-1923) was an Englishman who came to California at age twenty-five and remained for the rest of his life, ultimately making Palm Springs his home. The curiosity and desire for adventure in his blood led him to set out on lengthy journeys to Yosemite, the California coast, and the vast California deserts. He recounted these experiences in several books, but CALIFORNIA COAST TRAILS is generally recognized as the best of them" (Gordon J. van de Water). Powell, California Classics 17. Zamorano Select 14. Early owner's name and date at the top edge of the front free endpaper. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends and lower corner tips, a bright, clean, very good copy in good pictorial dust jacket priced $2.00 on the spine panel with shallow chipping along the top and bottom edges, mostly front and spine panels, and front flap separated along the flap fold. This book is rarely found in jacket. (#179107).
Price: $1,750.00
"Published February 1913" on copyright page.