The Adventures of Torqua: Being the Life and Remarkable Adventures of Three Boys, Refugees on the Island of Santa Catalina (Pimug-na) in the Eighteenth Century

Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1902. First Edition. Small Octavo. Frontispiece, 282 pages, 4 pages of ads, with a [4] page tipped in catalog with a picture of the author and a listing of author's works, illustrated. One of the most important of the full-length boy's novels of early California. The background of the book is on some islands in the Pacific, not far from San Diego, 200 years ago two Spanish boys, banished from their native land, escape from a Jesuit mission. Guided by Torqua, they live a wild, free, out-of-door life among the Indians. The book is a fascinating adventure and has some striking in-text illustrations. A near fine copy lacking (truncated) the fading to the spine which usually occurs. Bound in red pictorial cloth lettered and decorated in black and brown, spine lettering gilt, no names or bookplates, a lovely sharp cornered copy. (Inventory #: 032769)