The Diary of Mary Atkins. A Sabbatical in the Eighteen Sixties
first edition
1937 · Mills College, California
by Atkins, Mary
Mills College, California: The Eucalyptus Press, 1937 First edition. One of 500 copies. Introduction by Aurelia Henry Reinhardt. Small quarto. [6], 46, [2]pp. Printed throughout in blue and black. Tipped-on frontis portrait of the author, illustrations by Kathryn Uhl. Dark blue spine, light blue pictorial boards. The slightest of darkening to edges of boards, light offsetting to ends. A near fine copy. Account of the author's 175 day voyage on the brig Advance, from San Francisco to Honolulu, and on to Shanghai, 1863-1864, with daily entries on life aboard ship. Includes an excellent introduction by the president of Mills College. The introducer provides a glimpse of the life of the author, her graduation from Oberlin ("the only place of standard collegiate training for women in the 1840's"), and ultimately her founding of the Young Ladies' Seminary at Benicia, California, the forerunner of Mills College in Oakland. Mary Atkins' seminary began in 1852. Eventually the seminary was purchased by Cyrus and Susan Mills, who moved the school to its present Oakland foothill campus in 1871.. (Inventory #: 7895)