The Gold Rush Alexandre DUMAS, Jr. History of the Lottery...
The Gold Rush
Alexandre DUMAS, Jr. History of the Lottery from the First to the Last Lottery. The Gold Ingot Lottery. Paris: Available at all bookstores, 1851.
In-12, caramel-colored percaline, 2 bookplates.
16 pp., vignette on the title page, vignettes in the text.
First edition. This text first appeared in *La Presse* on March 9, 1851.
Created by decree on August 3, 1850, this lottery was organized by the “Société des lingots d’or.” The grand prize was a 116-kilo gold ingot worth 100,000 francs, on display on Passage Jouffroy. The official purpose of this lottery was to transport 5,000 unemployed Parisian workers to California free of charge (unofficially, to rid the capital of undesirable individuals and the destitute).
Candidates for the journey, who had been promised a new Eldorado, signed up in registries. Between 1851 and 1853, the proceeds from the lottery made it possible to transport some 3,300 aspiring gold prospectors to California.
An uncredited newspaper clipping pasted onto the upper endpaper notes: “He [Dumas Jr.] reproaches himself for having, in this early work, stirred up a passion for games of chance, and he pays, it is said, two louis for every copy of the prospectus brought to him.”
Vicaire III, 459.
Extremely rare.
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Time, Location
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The Gold Rush
Alexandre DUMAS, Jr. History of the Lottery from the First to the Last Lottery. The Gold Ingot Lottery. Paris: Available at all bookstores, 1851.
In-12, caramel-colored percaline, 2 bookplates.
16 pp., vignette on the title page, vignettes in the text.
First edition. This text first appeared in *La Presse* on March 9, 1851.
Created by decree on August 3, 1850, this lottery was organized by the “Société des lingots d’or.” The grand prize was a 116-kilo gold ingot worth 100,000 francs, on display on Passage Jouffroy. The official purpose of this lottery was to transport 5,000 unemployed Parisian workers to California free of charge (unofficially, to rid the capital of undesirable individuals and the destitute).
Candidates for the journey, who had been promised a new Eldorado, signed up in registries. Between 1851 and 1853, the proceeds from the lottery made it possible to transport some 3,300 aspiring gold prospectors to California.
An uncredited newspaper clipping pasted onto the upper endpaper notes: “He [Dumas Jr.] reproaches himself for having, in this early work, stirred up a passion for games of chance, and he pays, it is said, two louis for every copy of the prospectus brought to him.”
Vicaire III, 459.
Extremely rare.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
