Lot 596
Miners at Work with Long Toms (Baird 159) no printers mark but originated with an 1852 Quirot lithograph taken from a daguerreotype, 10 miners are at work, while along the left edge stands a miner with pick, shovel, and pan, and below him, an Indian from the Eastern United States, light gray folded double letter sheet 10.5x16.5", with letter datelined "Placerville, May 22nd 1853" from miner, his claims at Diamond Springs "proved a failure" so he is 4 miles from Placerville in Ivy Cabin Ravine…We have located Som more upon Aigare Hill that prospects very well. However, there is no watter there to work with yet, so we shal have to wait until the watter Gets into this place Before we can do any thing. That will Be about 3 weeks.; archival taping at sides, otherwise Very Fine, illustrated in Corburn Letters of Gold (page 266).Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Realized: $600
Lot 597
Miners Life - The Honest Miners Songs (Baird 165), illustrated 2-page lettersheet datelined "Yreka May 5th 1855" with good letter content home to mother…I dont drink or Gamble, Times are hard here wages are Three Dollars per day, so id rather work for myself. I am mining on Green Horn Creek about two miles from Yreka, I shall stay here till i make my pile at least try hard, This is wone of the best creek for mining in the upper country, mentions going from one place to another…I had to stop at Downieville…Frank Lewis; some minor staining, otherwise Very Fine.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Lot 598
Miner's Life-Illustrated (Baird 165) by Barber and Baker, Sacramento, 13 wood engravings providing the daily life of a miner on a blue folded letter sheet 11x17.5", with "The Honest Miner's Songs" at center, with letter datelined "Indian Creek, Feb 11th, 1855" regarding mining along "Scots and Clamouth Rivers"; edge wear and a split along fold, otherwise Very Fine.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Lot 599
The Miner's Ten Commandments (Baird 167) copyrighted by James Mason Hutchings in 1853 and printed by the San Francisco Sun, folded double sheet 11.25x18.25", showing 10 illustrated miner scenes and corresponding text at center, addressed to Westfield, Mass, with partial postmark and missing adhesive, without letter, Very Fine.Estimate $500 - 750.
James M. Hutchings (1820-1902) first published this classic letter sheet in the Placerville Herald on June 4, 1853. The popularity of the Miner's Ten Commandments led him to print and sell 3 editions of 25,000 each. As he traveled around California gathering sketches and material which would appear in his California Magazine, he sold letter sheets, single and double, for 25 and 50 cents.
Realized: $400
Lot 600
Miners' Ten Commandments, A New Verse-ion, by Cadiz Orion (Baird 169), lithographed by Britton & Rey, light blue folded doublesheet 10.75x16.75, showing three panel miner's scenes at top and text below, with letter datelined "Columbia, California, May 25th 1854" with some interesting miner content…I have worked out about a month. The most of the time I have been prospecting. I have had claims where I thought I should get my pile, but they have all turned out minus. The last claim that I had valued it at 250 dollars for my share. In one weak from that time we left the place; couldn't make it pay water. and We are going to jump a claim to morrow if we can. The men that own the claim don't agree & 2 or 3 of them are drunk half of the time. If a claim is left 3 days any body can jump the same., Very Fine.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Realized: $700
Lot 601
Nevada City (Baird 185) published by Forrest & Borden, Sacramento booksellers, lithograph on white folded double sheet (separated) 12x16", view of city with praises by writer of the letter…a Good Drawing of this city, Showing the two Principal Streets. [Main and Broad] It also shows you how high the pine Trees grow. It is not an uncom[mon] thing to see them that will Measure 10 feet in Diameter., letter datelined "Nevada City November 24, 1851" with interesting content…this one sided business as I call it, writing and receiving no answer, it becomes quite tiresome, but feeling assured that it is no neglect on your part, I therefore am compelled to charge the non receipt of Letters to the Post Office Department.…The Rainy season has not commenced here yet. If we don't get plenty of Rain the miners will be placed in a tight place for the want of the Dust which remains in Piles of Dirt which they have been piling up During the Summer and Fall. In this place we have the water brought through Ditches and is sold to the Miners at $1.00 per square inch, which is a great convenience. Miners who have water to wash are making good wages. What I mean is $6.00 and over per day [1/3 ounce].…Society is improving quite fast from the fact that the country is fast filling up with Women and As the population is composed of people of all nations, it will always be full of Robers & Cut Throats. Those fellows stand a poor chance for their lives when they fall in the hands of the Vigilence Committee.; some edge wear and splitting, F.-V.F., a rare illustrated lettersheet from and showing early Nevada City.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Realized: $850
Lot 602
Pictorial Newsletter Steamer Sonora Peter Lassen Pioneer Mountaineer (Baird unlisted, Kruska 50) unused 10 ½ x 8 ½" lettersheet with lined blank leaf, printed for Steamer John L. Stephens April 5th 1858 No. Charles F. Robbins printer, by Hutchings & Rosenfield, portrait of Lassen taken by R.H. Vance, includes numerous abbreviated news reports, such as, "Many persons are quietly preparing to leave California for the proposed new territory of Arizona," and "A lump of gold specimen has been recently found at Reservoir Hill, which weighed nine pounds and three ounces", Very Fine and exceedingly rare.Estimate $2,000 - 3,000.
Illustrated in 2009 Book Club of California, "James Mason Hutchins of Yo Semite" by Dennis Kruska on page 223.
Lot 603
Sacramento Waterfront From K to M Streets (Baird 321) panorama in two sections, includes steamers Senator and sternwheeler Jenny Lind, plus the large Brannan Stage Office, with letter datelined September 29, 1851, Andrew W. Cairns wrote from "California" [probably Auburn, Placer County] to Robert Cairns [probably New York City], in August and September 1850, Cairns had mined at Big Bar and the adjacent Rocky Bar on the Middle Fork of the American River near Georgetown, El Dorado County…I understand that the rocky bar mining Company Has paid one hundred percent on the stock. [It did, December 5, 1850] Great Excitement.-ha, ha, ha.…Her it is al a humbug. There is No more mine don on rockey bar than on aney other Bar., with most of the remainder of letter tells why; folds and minor edge toning, Very Fine.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
The Alta California on January 7, 1851 gave the first report of this lettersheet. It stated: "Lithograph of Sacramento-Messrs. [John W.] Conner & [James O.] Forrest have published a very neat and correct view of Sacramento City, from the river side, exhibiting the river, steamers, shipping, river craft, levee, stores, dwellings and lofty trees, with the high lands in the back ground. It was drawn by J.H. Pierce [Peirce], printed by Charles [E.] Peregoy, and can be had at Cook & LeCount's, Montgomery street, and of the publishers in Sacramento." Joshua H. Peirce had been a New York portrait painter in the 1840s and remained active in San Francisco until the late 1850's.
Realized: $900
Lot 604
San Francisco (Baird 234) published by A. S. Marvin. Jr. and George B. Hitchcock's Pioneer Book Store, the San Francisco branch of Thompson & Hitchcock, Manager and Agents of Gregory's California Express, showing view is from Portsmouth Plaza to the harbor, Empire gambling saloon, the Exchange Building, and behind them on the waterfront, an auction & commission house are the main features of the young city, thick line of ships crowding the harbor dominate, appeared before December 9, 1850 and before the two great fires of 1851, 4.5x7" view on sheet (11.25x9.12"), with letter datelined from George W. Keating, "Greenwood Valley, July 4th /52", to sister May in Searsmont, Maine; some toning and wear including sealed internal tear slightly affecting illustration, F.-V.F.Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Realized: $500
Lot 605
San Francisco Past and Present (Baird 251) copyright and published by Barber & Baker of Sacramento in 1854, Morris Ullman was the San Francisco agent and Barber & Baker had it printed at the San Francisco Sun office, contains two large wood-engraved views of San Francisco by George H. Baker, plus a small Bay area map, both views are from Rincon Point, with letter written by George J. Grinwald "San Francisco, August 14, 1855" to his "Dear Wife" and children…It is with great pleasure I sit down to address these few lines to you, having arrived in San Francisco after a pleasant passage of twenty two days, Grinwald went by Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt's Nicaragua Route. He departed New York on the Northern Light on July 20 and arrived in San Francisco on the Uncle Sam on August 12, 1855, along with 750 other passengers, including 170 women and 86 children, The times ae very dull here at present…but I have succeeded in getting employment the day after my arrival at $50 dollars a month to go coasting. Thank gods I am in Good Health, Very Fine and choice, a wonderful used dual view lettersheet in exceptional condition.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
"San Francisco As It Was, 1849" comes from a sketch Baker made on June 1, 1849, a few days after his arrival. He also published it in the New York Tribune on August 28, 1849. Baker shows only a dozen of the 200 abandoned ships in the harbor, while shrubbery covers Rincon Hill. San Francisco, population 2,000, is a small cluster of buildings around Yerba Buena Cove, while tents climb the slope of Telegraph Hill. The waterfront is Montgomery Street. "San Francisco As It Is, 1854" derives from Baker's sketch in December 1854. In the foreground is probably the Union Iron Works at First and Mission Streets. The city has advanced seaward as its population increased 20 times, while houses creep up Telegraph Hill to the semaphore.
Realized: $600