THE ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG SWISS IN CALIFORNIA: The Gold Rush Account of Theophile de Rutte

Sacramento, California: Sacramento Book Collectors Club, 1992. First edition. Hardcover. Fine. 109 p. Translated and Edited by Mary Grace Paquette. Frontispiece portrait, with textual illustrations. First edition in English, limited to 400 copies. "Theophile de Rutte, aged twenty-three, was employed by a Swiss firm in Brazil when he received news of the California gold discovery. He formed a partnership with a friend to supply goods to the miners. They arrived in San Francisco on October 27, 1849. De Rutte's narrative, written many years later, recalls his business activities in San Francisco and Sacramento, a tour of the Northern Mines in the spring (truncated) of 1850, and visits with Sutter at the Hock Farm. He wrote exceptional accounts of the Sacramento flood of February 1850, San Francisco fires, and the workings of the 1851 Vigilance Committee." Prospectus laid in. Octavo. Original blue paper-covered boards over a Japanese cloth spine, with gilt titles. Issued without a dust jacket. A fine copy. Kurutz 547b. (Inventory #: 60537)