Put's Golden Songster. Containing the largest and most popular collection of California songs ever published.
first edition
1858 · San Francisco
San Francisco: D.E. Appleton & Co., 1858 First edition. 16mo. 64pp. Ads to wrappers. Pink pictorial wrappers, mining vignette on front cover. Slight wear to spine ends, tiny chip to lower corner, else a fine copy. Very scarce, especially in this condition. The first in a series of popular songsters published between 1858 and 1870. Topics include mining, the rowdiness (and loneliness) of life in the camps, longing for home, and the comeliness of California girls. "One of many similar booklets of the 1850's, with the words of currently popular songs. Much of the flavor of the gold days, as well as the era's pathos and humor, pervades this ephemeral little publication" (Wheat). Includes a list of "Mining Localities Peculiar to California." [Cowan: p.599; Greenwood: 983; Wheat, Books of the California Gold Rush: 162].. (Inventory #: 7505)