1860. · Pesten [i.e. Budapest]
by Xantus, Janos
Pesten [i.e. Budapest]: Kiadjak Lauffer es Stolp, 1860.. [10],191,[3]pp. including in-text illustrations, plus eight plates (including frontispiece) and folding map. Original pictorial paper-covered boards, sympathetically rebacked in later cloth, spine gilt. Boards lightly soiled and rubbed, edges and corners worn. Barany family bookplate on front pastedown and their ink stamp on titlepage. A bit of light, scattered foxing. Very good. Hungarian Janos Xantus was one of the pioneering ornithologists of California. The present book is the second of two Hungarian publications by Xantus, providing an account of his travels in California and Baja. The other volume, LEVELEI EJSZAKAMERIKABOL..., was also published in Budapest (in 1858) and describes his travels throughout the United States. Howes calls that volume, edited by the "incompetent" Istvan Prepost, an "unauthorized" edition of Xantus' letters describing his travels in North America. The letters in this volume focus on California, Baja and Alta, and provide descriptions of California's geology and climate, native Indians, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Fernando, Mojave, Fort Tejon, and several places in Baja, including La Paz and Loreto. The plates show Mission San Fernando, Indians working in a blacksmith shop at the mission, a female Indian working a loom, Indians at Tejon, a vista of the Sierra Nevada, a view of a large terraced building at La Jolla, and more. The map shows California from San Francisco south to the tip of Baja.
Involved in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Xantus came to the U.S. at the end of 1851 as a political refugee and worked as a topographer on the Pacific Railroad Survey, then as a member of the U.S. Coast Survey. He was stationed in California during the coastal survey, and while there made valuable collections of birds for the Smithsonian Institution, including many new species, some of which were named after him. Later he was attached to the U.S. Navy and commanded an expedition to make meteorological observations in certain parts of the Pacific Ocean. During the latter service, which concluded in 1861, he discovered eighty-nine islands and sand banks. He was appointed U.S. consul at Manzanillo, Mexico, and led a scientific research party into the Sierra Madre before permanently returning to his native Hungary in 1864. Not in Pilling or Ayer, despite the linguistic content.
The Streeter copy sold for $225 to unknown bidders and is now in a private collection in California. HOWES X2, "aa." GRAFF 4785. COWAN, p.697. SABIN 105714. HILL 1921. ROCQ 16433. BARRETT 2681. WHEAT, GOLD RUSH 237. STREETER SALE 2860. WAGNER-CAMP 316 (note). DAB XX, pp.589-90. (Inventory #: WRCAM57246)
Involved in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Xantus came to the U.S. at the end of 1851 as a political refugee and worked as a topographer on the Pacific Railroad Survey, then as a member of the U.S. Coast Survey. He was stationed in California during the coastal survey, and while there made valuable collections of birds for the Smithsonian Institution, including many new species, some of which were named after him. Later he was attached to the U.S. Navy and commanded an expedition to make meteorological observations in certain parts of the Pacific Ocean. During the latter service, which concluded in 1861, he discovered eighty-nine islands and sand banks. He was appointed U.S. consul at Manzanillo, Mexico, and led a scientific research party into the Sierra Madre before permanently returning to his native Hungary in 1864. Not in Pilling or Ayer, despite the linguistic content.
The Streeter copy sold for $225 to unknown bidders and is now in a private collection in California. HOWES X2, "aa." GRAFF 4785. COWAN, p.697. SABIN 105714. HILL 1921. ROCQ 16433. BARRETT 2681. WHEAT, GOLD RUSH 237. STREETER SALE 2860. WAGNER-CAMP 316 (note). DAB XX, pp.589-90. (Inventory #: WRCAM57246)