Beschreibung:

Title: Life in California: During a Residence of Several Years in That Territory, Comprising a Description of the Country and the Missionary Establishments, with Indicents, Observations, Etc. Etc. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings. By an American. To Which is Appended a Historical Account of the Origin, Customs, and Traditions, of the Indians of Alta-California, Translated from the Original Spanish Manuscript Author: Robinson, Arthur Place: New York Publisher: Wiley & Putnam Date: 1846 Description: xii, [2], 341 pp. Illustrated with 9 lithographed plates. 7½x4½, late 19th/early 20th century half green morocco & cloth, spine lettered in gilt raised bands, top edges gilt. First Edition. This is the first book in English on California to be written by a resident of the province. Alfred Robinson came to California as a super-cargo in 1829, and married into the de la Guerra family, one of the most prominent in the territory. Zamorano maintains the book is "unquestioned as an authority, his work is undoubtedly the most important book for the period it treats... Robinson originally intended his Life in California to be a preface for Fray Boscana's Chinigchinich [the appended historical account of the Indians of Alta-California], but in the end the `tail wagged the dog' and for historians the Life in California is vastly more important." Cowan p.536-7; Graff 3525; Howes R363; Sabin 72048; Zamorano Eighty 65. Lot Amendments Condition: Fading to spine, joints a bit rubbed; light stain to page fore-edges, very good or better. Item number: 168082