The Writings of John Muir. Manuscript Edition. [10 volumes]. - Rare Book Insider
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Muir, John

The Writings of John Muir. Manuscript Edition. [10 volumes].

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York: 1916
First edition ["Manuscript Edition"], publisher's maroon leather binding. Number 192 of 750 sets. 10 volumes. Each volume with frontis photogravures with numerous photogravures, halftones and maps. Extra-illustrated (as issued) with added hand-colored gravure frontispieces in the first eight volumes. Portion of an original leaf of manuscript by Muir inlaid to front flyleaf of volume I. Publisher's handsome three-quarter maroon levant morocco with maroon cloth sides, gilt-stamped lettering and floral ornaments on spine, four raised bands, top edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Bound by hand at the Riverside Press. Spines uniformly toned to a dark golden brown. A bit of minor wear or rubbing to some corners with a few just showing. Overall, a beautiful set. "The Writings" were sold by subscription only and could be bound to order. The publisher's normal binding was green buckram with leather spine labels. Copies bound in morocco are excessively rare. Our set corresponds to Kimes' number 342, with the levant morocco binding, and with the additional and delicately hand-colored frontispieces in each of the first eight volumes. The first eight volumes were published from 1916 through 1918. The ninth and tenth volumes did not appear until 1923 and 1924. [Kimes, John Muir, a Reading Bibliography: 342].
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Letter of Hon. Whiting Griswold, in Reply to the Speech of Hon. Benjamin F. Butler, Delivered a Lowell, May 15, 1860, on the Proceedings of the Charleston Convention

GRISWOLD, Hon. Whiting First edition. Scarce. Octavo. 16pp. Sewn. Self-cover lightly soiled, 2 light horizontal creases to leaves, tiny light stain to fore-edge of text block. A fine copy. This speech was delivered at the official proceedings of the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. At Charleston, a number of nominations were made, and voting took place to decide the presidential ticket. However, delegates, at logger heads over the issues of slavery, failed to successfully reach the 2/3 vote necessary to nominate a presidential candidate at the 1860 Democratic Convention in Charleston. Whiting Griswold (1814-1874) was an American abolitionist, lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and in the Massachusetts Senate. The following, from part of this speech, says it all: "In conclusion you say you voted for Jefferson Davis of Mississippi. Among the chief reasons for this vote was the fact that he assisted Massachusetts in securing her just dues, which she ought to have had and which Mr. Davis if within his power, ought to have Obtained for her years before. Now I have nothing to say against Mr. Davis. Massachusetts thanks him for his exertions in doing tardy justice to our State. Mr. Davis is a man of courage, a statesman of the extreme Southern sectional school, honest I doubt not, and patriotic in his views. But it is a curious fact, that, after the long struggle, so honorable to you, in favor of non-intervention, you should select as a candidate the only prominent statesman, almost in the country, who never indorsed the Cincinnati Plat form, who entered his protest in the outset, against the great doctrine of popular sovereignty in the territories. You may be able to reconcile his course of action in your own mind. I cannot do it myself" (Griswold, Letter of. p.11). [Sabin: 28909].
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Official Guide Book – 1940. Revised Edition. Golden Gate International Exposition on San Francisco Bay (cover title)

Small octavo. 8x5½ inches. 96pp. Profusely illustrated with photographs (some in color) ads, etc. Large folding color "cartograph," 16x19½ inches. Index. Slighter stiffer pictorial wrappers printed in color; gray cloth spine. Interior leaves toned. A very good copy with the original folding cartograph in fine condition. First Revised edition. Scarce with the folding map intact. The official guide book for the Treasure Island exposition. How to get there, what to see, services and rest rooms, food and refreshments, courts and gardens, outdoor art, etc. Printed with an Art Deco style cover, this guide includes the large folding color oblique bird's-eye-view "cartograph" by Ruth Taylor showing the entire island and all the buildings and exhibits (keyed by number or letter), with a portion of San Francisco in the foreground and the East Bay in the background. The verso of the cartograph shows detailed sections of the island. First Revised edition. Scarce with the folding map intact. The official guide book for the Treasure Island exposition. How to get there, what to see, services and rest rooms, food and refreshments, courts and gardens, outdoor art, etc. Printed with an Art Deco style cover, this guide includes the large folding color oblique bird's-eye-view "cartograph" by Ruth Taylor showing the entire island and all the buildings and exhibits (keyed by number or letter), with a portion of San Francisco in the foreground and the East Bay in the background. The verso of the cartograph shows detailed sections of the island.
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Mark Twain’s Autobiography

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Report of Hon. T. Butler King On California

King, Thomas Butler Second and best edition, first published in Washington earlier the same year but with only 32 pages. Our copy is complete with original printed wrappers and the often-lacking errata slip. 72pp. Printed wrappers. Cover title within ornamental borders. Errata slip tipped-in. Minor crease to upper corner of cover, lower corner of cover chipped off, small reinforcement to verso of cover fore-edge, slight wear to spine. Overall, a fine and clean copy. King was the personal adviser to President Taylor on the statehood situation in California. He arrived in California on June 4, 1849 by way of the Isthmus of Panama (after resigning his seat in Congress). He became Collector of the Port of San Francisco, but left permanently in 1852. A prominent economist and politician, he touched, in his report, on every aspect of California's social and economic potential. King presents facts and figures on the region's climate, soil, agricultural products and population as well as, of course, gold. King discusses mining techniques, and seems to have visited the diggings himself. He also provides information about the various routes to reach California. An "outstanding report" (Wheat). "This report to the government by the Collector of Customs at San Francisco gave Washington its first official information on the gold strike" (Howes). "King reported on the conditions of California and its potential, and gave Washington its first official information on the gold strike King also recognized the serious plight of the miner: 'Those who purchase and ship gold to the Atlantic States make large profits: but those who dig lose what others make.'. King's text was appended to or translated for inclusion in several Gold Rush publications, including Bayard Taylor's Eldorado and Carl L. Fleischmann's Neueste Officielle Berichte" (Kurutz). [Cowan: p.330; Howes I: K-153; Howes II: K-153; Kurutz: 377b; Rocq: 16970; Wheat, Books of the California Gold Rush: 118].