Lot 579
Crossing the Plains (Baird 47) comprised of 13 wood engravings scenes by Barber and Baker, Sacramento, folded double sheet on pale blue paper, 11x17.5", letter datelined on November 11, 1854, Varnum Abbott wrote from Sandy Bar, Yankee Jim's, Placer County to "Respected Father, Mother, & Sister.", the tenor of his letter was…I can't tell certain when I shall come home, but went into great detail…I would be hapy to come home this Winter, but as I am situated I think it will be the best for me to stay another year & then if I don't get a small fortune, I can come home & stay satisfied. With this country you might suppose that the reason why I don't come home this fall is because I haint got money. I can say that I have got enough to come home with any how & I intend to keep enough so that I can come home when I please; some toning in letter portion of sheet, Very Fine, a rare California lettersheet with only a few known.Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
George H. Baker (1827-1906) was a '49er, merchant, expressman, artist, and lithographer. In July 1850, he formed Baker's Express and made one financially-disastrous, 290-mile mule-mounted trip from San Francisco into the Feather River Diggins. In June 1854, now in Sacramento, artist Baker joined with wood engraver Edmond L. Barber (1808-1870) to form, he advertised, "the largest Engraving Establishment on the Pacific Coast." The pair published Sacramento Illustrated (1855) with 31 engravings. This "Crossing the Plains" letter sheet exclaims "Views Drawn from Nature, in 1853, by George H. Baker." He made these sketches on a return trip to California from Boston with supplies for his Sacramento store. James Mason Hutchings published letter sheets using friend Baker's images in late 1854 and 1857.
Realized: $675