Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1963. Hardcover. Reproduced in Facsimile, with an Introduction by Ward Ritchie and early Commentaries by J.M. Guinn. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1963. First edition thus, limited to... More about THE FIRST LOS ANGELES CITY AND COUNTY DIRECTORY, 1872
San Francisco: Pacific States Telephone Companies, 1899. Hardcover. Scarce telephone directory for California, Oregon, and Washington from the end of the 19th century, with the names, numbers, and addresses of nearly 45,000 individuals. Of particular... More about LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS OF THE PACIFIC STATES TELEPHONE COMPANIES: March, 1899
Denver, Colorado: The Smith-Brooks Company, 1906. Hardcover. The great San Francisco earthquake struck in the morning on April 18, 1906 and aftershocks would come for the next few hours, followed by three days filled with... More about SAN FRANCISCO IN RUINS: A Pictorial History of Eight Score Photo-Views of the Earthquake Effects,...
Melbourne, Australia: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1928. First Edition. Hardcover. Never published in the United States. Founder of both Ontario and Etiwanda, California, Chaffee (1848-1932) was an ambitious engineer whose irrigation systems transformed the Inland... More about THE LIFE OF GEORGE CHAFFEY: A Story of Irrigation Beginnings in California and Australia
Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1921. Hardcover. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Monumental history of Orange County, California, gathering a vast array of information about the land, its people, industry, and resources. Includes chapters on... More about HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, with Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of...
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902. First Edition. Hardcover. "As quoted by Lawrence Clark Powell, in his California Classics, bibliographer and historian Phil Townsend Hanna proclaimed Atherton’s Splendid Idle Forties as 'the finest stories ever..... More about THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES: Stories of Old California
London: Adam and Charles Black, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. One of the best titles in the Black's Beautiful Books series. Palmer's vibrant illustrations nicely compliment Austin's vivid descriptions of some of California's best natural scenery... More about CALIFORNIA: The Land of the Sun
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903. First Edition. Hardcover. This paean to the high California desert consists of fourteen sketches based on personal observation following solitary sojourns tramping through desert trails and... More about THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN
New York and London: The Century Co., 1930. First edition. Hardcover. Documents the influence of stagelines on the development of California and the West, with information on Tom Bell and other early stage robbers. Captain... More about SIX HORSES
New York and London: The Century Co., 1930. Hardcover. Second printing. Documents the influence of stagelines on the development of California and the West, with information on Tom Bell and other early stage robbers. Captain... More about SIX HORSES
San Francisco: Privately Printed, 1992. First Edition. Hardcover. Limited to 100 copies printed by the Arion Press. A companion to William C. Bark's work covering the Camp's first thirty-five years. Includes sixteen photographs. Octavo. Original... More about DIES DULCAE ET LARGO: The History of Silverado Squatters Camp, 1940-1990
Placerville, California: The Davis Press, 1936. First Edition. Hardcover. Foreword by Lillian Wagner Beach. Frontispiece portrait. Placerville, California: The Davis Press, 1936. First edition. Signed and dated by Beach on the frontispiece. Octavo. Original green... More about WHITE QUARTZ AND GOLD: Stories of the Mother Lode and The Book Town Shylock
Pasadena, California: Ward Ritchie Press, 1976. First edition. Hardcover. 230 p. 26 textual illustrations and photos. Pasadena, CA: Ward Ritchie Press, 1976. First edition. Eyewitness accounts of California during the Gold Rush from a fresh... More about WE WERE 49ERS! Chilean Accounts of the California Gold Rush
Santa Barbara, California: Wallace Hebberd, 1927. Second Edition. Hardcover. Bell (1830-1918) was an incendiary attorney who was fond of the seamier side of life. This true account of the lawless days of Los Angeles during... More about REMINISCENCES OF A RANGER or Early Times in Southern California
Los Angeles: Helen Gilman Bowen, 1978. First edition. Hardcover. 189 p. Eight photographs, with a map and sketch by Ernest Maxwell. First edition, printed at The Plantin Press. Based on the actual diary of Helen... More about MOUNT SHASTA OR BUST: A Family Travelogue in the 1890's
Richardson, Texas: The Havilah Press, 1972. First edition. Hardcover. Foreword by Rodman W. Paul. Frontispiece map, with eight plates. Richardson, Texas: The Havilah Press, 1972. First edition, limited to 1,500 copies. With a chronological scope... More about A CALIFORNIA MIDDLE BORDER: The Kern River Country, 1772-1880
Chicago: The Western Historical Association, 1922. First edition. Hardcover. 1528 p. Three volumes. Illustrated with engraved portraits, etc. Quarto. Original pebbled blue cloth bindings, with gilt titles. Internally crisp and clean. The spines are a.... More about HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES, with Selected Biography of Actors and Witnesses...
San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1950. First edition. Hardcover. 42 p. Illustrated with a portrait of the author, a tipped-in facsimile, and textual sketches. First edition, limited to 400 copies printed at The... More about MULEBACK TO THE CONVENTION: Letters of J. Ross Browne, Reporter to the Constitutional Convention,...
Washington, D.C. John T. Towers, 1850. First Edition. Hardcover. This work preserves in detail the workings of California’s 1849 constitutional convention in Monterey and consequently may be regarded as the most important printed document pertaining..... More about REPORT OF THE DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF CALIFORNIA, ON THE FORMATION OF THE STATE...
Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1959. First Edition. Hardcover. Edited and with an Introduction by John W. Caughey. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1959. First edition thus. Buffum, an officer in the New... More about SIX MONTHS IN THE GOLD MINES: From a Journal of Three Years' Residence in Upper and Lower...
San Francisco: Fearon Publishers, 1961. First edition. Hardcover. 166 p. Numerous textual photographs. Signed by Cain on the title page. Octavo. Original yellow cloth binding, with black titles. Internally crisp and clean. The bottom corners... More about THE STORY OF EARLY MONO COUNTY: Its Settlers, Gold Rushes, Indians, Ghost Towns
Boston: John P. Jewett, 1854. First Edition. Hardcover. As the commercial agent for several major mercantile houses in New York, Elisha Smith Capron traveled to California via Nicaragua in 1853, visiting the principal cities and... More about HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA FROM ITS DISCOVERY TO THE PRESENT TIME; Comprising Also a Full Description...
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1948. First edition. Hardcover. 321 p. Four illustrations, with vignettes by W.R. Cameron. Detailed history of the discovery of gold in California and its subsequent influence on... More about GOLD IS THE CORNERSTONE
San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933. Hardcover. Introduction and Notes by Carl I. Wheat. Two volumes. Textual illustrations. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933. Limited to 500 copies. First published serially in "The Pioneer" magazine... More about CALIFORNIA IN 1852: The Letters of Dame Shirley
San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933. Hardcover. Introduction and Notes by Carl I. Wheat. Two volumes. Textual illustrations. Limited to 500 copies. First published serially in "The Pioneer" magazine in 1854-55, these celebrated letters offer... More about CALIFORNIA IN 1852: The Letters of Dame Shirley