A Voyage; To California, the Sandwich Islands, & Around the World in the Years 1826-1829
San Francisco: The Book Club of California [Printed by Patrick Reagh], 1997. Limited Edition. Hardcover. One of 350 copies, quarto size, 385 pp., with prospectus. Fine. Item #23110106
From the prospectus, this "is...the first full publication in English of the richest and perhaps best description ever written of early California....written by Captain Auguste Duhaut-Cilly and newly translated and edited by August Frugé and Neal Harlow". Per the Zamorano 80 entry for this work, "Duhaut-Cilly, a French trader, arrived at Yerba Buena...in January 1827...he traversed the coast of California, visiting virtually all the missions, presidios, and pueblos, and many of the ranchos...He was the first outlander to become intimately acquainted with, and describe, the then thriving Spanish California".
This work designed and printed via letterpress by Patrick Reagh and bound by Marianna Blau, and is in every aspect of the highest quality; a work to be treasured both for its content as well as for book-as-object.
___DESCRIPTION: Quarter red cloth over decorated paper boards, spine label with black lettering and decorations, pictorial endpapers, frontis a tipped-in reproduction of a sketch of "Captain Duhaut-Cilly", title page in red, green and black, nicely illustrated with ten illustrations in addition to the frontis; printed letterpress in Digital Monotype Walbaum on Mohawk Supefine, the offset illustrations printed by Singer Printing, Inc., quarto size (11" by 8 1/4"), pagination: [i-viii] ix-xxix [1, blank] [1-2] 3-252 [1, blank] [1, bio of translator and editor] [1, colophon]; one of 350 copies, unnumbered. With the plain white paper wrapper, loosely laid in is the prospectus, a single sheet folded once to four pages, the first page being the book's title page, a full-colour photograph of the binding of the book mounted onto the third page, the second and fourth pages the prospectus information (measuring 10 3/4" by 8" when closed).
___CONDITION: Volume fine, with clean boards, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and as new. The paper wrapper near fine, with light overall edgewear and soil, the prospectus fine, clean and without wear.
___CITATION: Cowan, p. 186; Zamorano 80, no. 31 (both noting the original French publication).
___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.
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Price: $150.00