ARTFUL DEEDS: In The Life Of The Felon, Grovenor Layton ... A Tale of the California Gold Rush

San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Introduction by Richard H. Dillon. Title page portrait, five illustrations from historic engravings, and a facsimile map. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1998. First edition, limited to 350 copies designed, composed, and printed letterpress by Peter Koch, with the assistance of Richard Seibert. "News of Marshall's 1848 discovery of gold brought tens of thousands of men to California, rushing for riches. Among those who stayed behind were a number of writers determined to cash in on the California craze. They penned purportedly true, but actually fictitious accounts (truncated) of participation in the great adventure. Among the most authentic-seeming was the tale of Grovenor Layton, originally published in 1852. Layton was probably the pseudonym of the publisher A.R. Orton, but no trace of a Layton or Orton can be found in either Western history books or American literary biographies. The convincing, but false, story of Layton's career of robbery, murder, and arson ends with his lynching in Sonora, California." Small quarto. Decorative paper-covered boards over a Japanese red cloth spine, with a printed paper spine label. A fine copy in the publisher's slipcase. (Inventory #: 65767)