The Generous Miser The Story of James Lick of California

Menlo Park, CA: The Ward Ritchie Press. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1967. 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; This book is in Near Fine condition and has a Very Good dust jacket. The book and its contents are in clean, bright condition. The text pages are clean and bright. The price clipped dust jacket has several small edge tears, and there is noticeable ground-in dirt / finger dirt, especially to the rear cover. "Lick arrived in San Francisco, California, in January 1848, bringing with him his tools, work bench, $30,000 in gold (valued at approximately $2.75 million as of 2020) , and 600 pounds (275 kilograms) of chocolate. The chocolate quickly sold. So, Lick sent back word convincing his friend and neighbor in Peru, the confectioner Domingo Ghirardelli, to move to San Francisco, where he founded the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. Upon his arrival, Lick began buying real estate in the small village of San Francisco. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento a few days after Lick's arrival in the future state began the California Gold Rush and created a housing boom in San Francisco, which grew from about one thousand residents in 1848 to over twenty thousand by 1850. Lick got a touch of "gold fever" and sought to mine the metal, but after a week decided his fortune was to be made by owning land, not digging in it. Lick continued buying land in San Francisco, and also began buying farmland in and around San Jose, where he planted orchards and built the largest flour mill in the state. " (from Wikipedia) .