The First Californiac; Being a Reprint of "Prospects of California" Written by Dr. Victor H. Fourgeaud for the April 1, 1848 Issue of "The California Star", San Francisco's First Newspaper, of Which Samuel Brannan was the Publisher

San Francisco: The Press of Lewis and Dorothy Allen, 1942. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Walker, Lawrence E.. One of 225 copies, duodecimo size, 61 pp. The exploration of California led many people to write effusively of the merits of Golden State, and Victor Fourgeaud (1815-1875) does so here in this reprint of a piece he wrote for "The California Star", the first newspaper in San Francisco, published by Samuel Brannan (1819-1899); made wealthy by the California Gold Rush, Brannan publicised the gold rush early, one example being Fourgeaud's writing, one of the earliest published accounts of the discovery of gold in California (per Kurutz).

This early publication by the Allen Press features a reproduction of the only known photograph of Fourgeaud, pictured with his family, as well as two line drawings by Lawrence E. Walker, one a portrait of Brannan and the other of Fourgeaud.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter brown leather with light teal paper boards speckled in brown and gold leaf, line drawing in teal on the front board, orange lettering on the spine, fore- and bottom edges uncut, frontispiece a black-and-white photograph of Victor Fourgeaud and family, title page in orange and black with blue decoration, two line drawings in black printed in a tan rectangle by Lawrence E. Walker throughout, two blue decorative initial capitals, orange lettering in the margins throughout; Bulmer type, Worthy Charta paper, duodecimo size (7" by 6"), pagination: [i-iv] v-xiv [xv-xvi] 1-44 [45], one of 225 copies, unnumbered.

___CONDITION: Volume is near fine, with clean boards, straight corners, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; very light rubbing to the corners, hinges browned as usual due to off-setting from the leather turn-ins, else fine.

___CITATIONS: Allen Press Bibliography, no. 2; Kurutz no. 253.

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