Beschreibung:

PLEASANTS, William J. (fl. 1849-1860). Twice Across the Plains 1849... 1856 . San Francisco: Walter N. Brunt, 1906.
PLEASANTS, William J. (fl. 1849-1860). Twice Across the Plains 1849... 1856 . San Francisco: Walter N. Brunt, 1906. 8 o (170 x 123 mm). 12 half-tone plates. Original green pictorial cloth; green morocco slipcase. Provenance : Walter Neat Brunt, THE PUBLISHER (bookplate, presentation inscription to:) Thomas Wayne Norris (bookplate); Dr. Henry W. Plath (his sale Parke Bernet, 20-22 October 1959, lot 890, purchased by Dawson for); Thomas W. Streeter (bookplate, his sale part V, Parke Bernet, 23 October 1968, lot 3212). A VERY FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY FROM THE PUBLISHER, inscribed by Brunt on the front free endpaper: "To Thomas Wayne Norris from the Publisher W.N.B." Pleasants made two overland journeys, the first in 1849 and the second in 1856. He searched for gold with his father near Bidwell's Bar, at Oregon Flat and on the South Fork of the Yuba River. He eventually settled in Winters in Pleasants Valley (named for his family). He returned home via Panama in 1856 to bring out the rest of his family. Graff records a contemporary note stating that most copies were burned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Decker 36:327; Graff 3305; Holliday sale 881; Howes P-241; Kurutz 510a; Mintz 372; Rader 2684; Streeter sale V:3212 (this copy).