Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851. 8vo. 190 x 115 mm., (7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches). viii, 9-199 pp., plus 6, 6, 4 pp. publisher's ads. Original cloth, edges and corners chipped, spine a bit chipped and text block shaken; some dark staining to the lower corner of the text block,; wanting rear end paper. First edition. Authentic account of the gold fields in California, written as a "miner's manual", in which the miner "may find important directions relating to the various mining operations." Daniel B. Woods of Philadelphia sailed to California in February 1849, crossing Mexico to San Blas, and arriving in San Francisco in June. His book is a narrative (truncated) of his "sixteen months at the gold diggings (1849-50) and recounts those travels as well as his experiences as a prospector in the Northern Mines on the American River and at Hart's Bar and other camps in the Southern Mines before starting home in November 1850. His book offers an exceptionally realistic picture of the drudgery of mining and the business side of miners' companies." Woods book ". . . is a valuable contribution to the history of mining camps and communities and the laws and regulations adopted. . ." An English edition was also printed in 1851, and a reprint of the New York edition appeared in 1852. Sabin 105123. Howes W 651. Wheat Gold Rush, 235. Zamorano 80. See notes from the Library of Congress copy. (Inventory #: 383)