Upham, Samuel C.

NOTES OF A VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA VIA CAPE HORN, TOGETHER WITH SCENES INEL DORADO IN THE YEARS 1849-'50.

1878 1st 34 pp. plates with 8 textual illustrations. Philadelphia: Published by the Author, 1878. First edition. Upham's lengthy journal of sailing around Cape Horn to San Francisco, lasting from January 15, 1849 to August 5, may be the best account next to Richard Henry Dana's of a sea voyage to California. Landin in San Francisco, Upham observed, "It seemed as if every nation on the face of the earth had sent their representatives to this place and that they had all arrived with their credentials. Such a medley of languages and jargon of tongues the world has never seen. It is a modern Babel." Upham eventually made his fortune through business ventures rather than panning for gold. In the spring of 1850, he started one of the earliest newspapers in California, "The Sacramento Transcript," and sold his interests for $10,000 just a few months later. This work contains some invaluable appendices, including a history of the pioneer press in California, and numerous descriptions of various commemorative activities by Forty-niners some thirty years after the Gold Rush. Kurutz states that the first edition consisted of only 600 copies. Red pebbled cloth binding. Front hinge tender. Boards lightly worn along the bottom edge, with some mild fading to the spine; otherwise a very good copy. Kurutz, G.: The California Gold Rush, #647; The Zamorano Eighty #76.

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• ordernr.: BOOKS017402I

• bookseller: Anthology Rare Books, Ltd. (USA)