MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS OR RECOLLECTIONS OF A BURNT JOURNAL by Frank Marryat ... With Illustrations by the Author. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1855. 19.3x12.5 cm (12mo), pp. [1-2: blank] [3-4: frontispiece] [i-iii] iv-v [vi-vii] viii-x [xi-xii [13] 14-393 [394: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, 26 illustrations, some full page, publisher's black cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold and blind, yellow endpapers. First U.S. edition. "Excellent narrative of experiences in the diggings ..." (Wheat). "Howell calls this one of the best descriptions of life in the mines ... In the summer and fall of 1851, the author engaged in quartz mining in the Tuttletown, Tuolumne County, region. Marryat penned vivid descriptions of saloons, fires, claim jumpers, bears, fleas, mining techniques, mining camps, Chinese, transportation, theaters, and señoritas ... Marryat wrote that his journal and drawings had been destroyed in one of San Francisco's fires, resulting in his tongue-in-cheek subtitle ... The talented writer and artist died on August 12, 1855, not yet thirty" (Kurutz). The British edition is renowned for its eight hand-colored lithographs; this American edition, also published in 1855, provides 26 engravings of drawings by Marryat in place of the colored lithograph plates. Cowan (1933) p. 416. Howes M299. Kurutz 429b. Wheat, Gold Rush, 137. Zamorano Eighty 52. Bookplate of Roger K. Larson affixed to the front pastedown. Touch of wear to cloth at spine ends and corner tips, a very good copy. A lovely copy of this classic. (#179490).
Price: $500.00
No statement of printing.