EXPERIENCES OF A FORTY-NINER: A MEMBER OF THE WAGON TRAIN FIRST TO ENTER CALIFORNIA IN THE MEMORABLE YEAR 1849
Pittsburgh, PA: Privately Printed, 1892. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo, 9 in. x 6.5 in., pp. 390. Illustrated wtih frontis and thirteen plates. Rebound in teal cloth over beveled boards with diamond pattern and "1849" in gilt to front, mimicking the original publication's boards. Black title on white paper label to spine. Illustrated with fifteen plates, including the rarely found additional portrait of the author (opposite pp. 386), taken by noted photographers Taber & Co., San Francisco, in May of 1891. Title page worn and partially detached at front hinge. Edgewear to title and dedication pages. Age-toning to leaves. . "After publication Johnston mailed a blueprint map and a portrait of himself asking the owners to tip the additions into the volume. Apparently, not everyone complied, as many copies lack the map and the portrait...so only a few copies contain a blue-print-map... issued later for insertion" NOTE: This copy does not feature the later-issued map. (Howes J173). "...This is one of the most important and readable of all the forty-niner overland narratives, elegantly produced by the author in his retirement...Johnston, after departing Independencel, overland in April of 1849, "...gives an excellent account of his life in the mines, early Sacramento and San Francisco, and of his return journey by sea...". ("Best of The West" 209, Reese). Very Good Plus. Item #87504
One of the best overland accounts of those journeying to the gold diggings. Johnston was a member of the first wagon train to enter California in 1849. William G. Johnston and Company, founded in 1857, was a well known Pittsburgh printing and book-binding firm in the late 1800s and early 1900s. William G. Johnston, the son of a prominent Pittsburgh printer was born August 22, 1828. He attended the Western University of Pennsylvania (now, the University of Pittsburgh) before organizing a party to head to California during the 1849 gold rush. In 1857, Johnston founded the William G. Johnston and Company at Wood St. and Second Ave. and later erected a new building at 900 Penn Ave. and Ninth St., Pittsburgh, to house the company. Johnston died on June 1, 1913.
Price: $900.00