California As It Is. A Reprint of the Edition of 1851 with Biographies of the Ancestors of John Hale, 1637-1800, and His Descendants, 1826-1952. Edited by Thomas B. Hunter, Jr. & Richard L. Wellington by John Hale (1800-1852) - 1954

San Francisco, CA: Privately Printed, 1954. First Edition, thus. Hardcover. Very Good/None. LIMITED EDITION of 150 copies printed at the Grabhorn Press, reprint of an 1851 publication of Hale's account of his overland journey from Independence to California in 1849, and his experiences in the gold fields. 4to. 11 1/2 x 8 inches. xxvii, 49 pp. Frontispiece of the Hale family crest, facsimile title page printed in red and black, decorative initials in red, 10 portraits on plates, folding map; text clean, unmarked. Brown-cloth-backed marbled boards, printed paper spine label; binding square and tight, corners bumped and showing. Very Good. A personal experience along the Overland Route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the "continent of North America; giving an account of the great desert basin, boiling springs, and many other natural curiosities, emigrant sufferings, fraudulent speculations, and description of soil, gold region, and mining." REFERENCES: Cowan and Cowan, A Bibliography of the History of California, p. 852 (1st ed.); Howes, U.S.iana, H31; Kurutz, California Gold Rush, No. 301 (1st ed); Magee and Magge, Bibliography of the Grabhorn Press, No. 553; Storm, Graff Collection, No. 1716 (1st ed.).