California Illustrated with 12 plates 1853

Heading:
Author: Letts, J. M.
Title: California Illustrated: Including a Description of the Panama and Nicaragua Routes
Place Published: New York
Publisher:R.T. Young
Date Published: 1853
Description:

224 pp. Illustrated with 12 lithograph plates. (8vo) 23x14 cm (9x5½"), original embossed cloth with gilt vignette of a miner on front cover, spine lettered in gilt.

Letts traveled the Panama route, arriving in San Francisco on July 4, 1849, and from there headed for Sacramento, Mormon Island, and other points. He departed Sacramento on November 22, and headed for Central America and back to the States. Kurutz notes that "drawing on his personal experience, Letts produced one of the best accounts of gambling, violence, and life in the mines." G.V. Cooper, who executed the drawings from which the lithographs were made, was a traveling companion of Letts. Usually issued with 48 plates, but, as Howes notes, "There was evidently a deficiency in the supply of engravings [i.e. lithographs] prepared; for the number varies greatly." Cowan p.390; (Graff 2469); Howes L300; Kurutz 978d.
Condition Report: Wear and soiling to cloth, edges frayed particularly at foot of spine, corners bumped; marginal toning, some dampstaining to rear leaves; about very good.