Yo Semite 1878, Adventures of N & C.

San Francisco: The Book Club of California [printed by the Grabhorn Press], 1964. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Dean, Mallette. One of 450 copies, quarto size, 131 pp., with prospectus. An expanded version of fourteen-year-old Carrie LeConte's Yosemite journal of 1878, rewritten and enhanced with pen and ink sketches in 1880; Carrie accompanied her father, geologist Joseph LeConte (one of the first professors at Cal) on a camping expedition to the Yosemite region, which was then little-traveled. Her journal, with her own illustrations which have been coloured with blocks cut by Mallette Dean, were here printed for the first time.

(truncated) (Harold) Mallette Dean (1907-1975), an eminent printer and illustrator of the San Francisco Bay Area, was one of twenty-six artists commissioned to paint murals in San Francisco's Coit Tower. He illustrated books for the Grabhorn Press for fifteen years, as well as printing and publishing books under his own imprint.

For this work, The Book Club of California had the Grabhorn Press tackle the printing thereof; this likely the only book they printed with an error in the Roman numerals on the title page and prospectus. Printed as MCMXLIV (1944) it was in fact published in 1964.

___DESCRIPTION : Bound in quarter linen and green, rust and black decorated paper boards, title and colophon in red and black, frontisportrait within gold frame, head-piece, tail-piece and illustrations in green and black, quotation on p. 3 in red, rules and page number ornaments in green, eight reproductions in colour of the author's sketches throughout the text, facsimiles of eleven pages of the original journal; English monotype Baskerville, machine made paper, quarto size (11 1/8" by 7 7/8"), pagination: [i-iv] v-xviii [1-113], limited edition, one of 450 copies, unnumbered. Original prospectus, a single sheet folded to four pp. measuring 10 15/16" by 7 5/8", the front (p. 1) with an illustration and title page information, the second page with an illustration and a lovely flowing initial capital letter that runs the length of the paragraph in the margin, information about the publication on the second and third pages, the back (p. 4) plain.

___CONDITION: A fine copy, the binding clean and utterly without wear, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and like new. The prospectus near fine, with some light toning at the top margin and a few very shallow unintended creases, but clean and without noticeable wear. While not an uncommon publication, a delightful accounting by an early visitor to Yosemite.

___CITATIONS: Grabhorn Press Bibliography, no. 117; Hawk no. 396.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard shipping charge does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help. (Inventory #: 17100591)