Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Guide to the value of California gold
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Rare Books
6666
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Rare Books
17530
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Rare Books
Felix Paul Wierzbicki (1815-1860) left his native Poland after participating in the doomed revolution of 1830. He made his way to America where he received a medical degree and practiced in Providence, Rhode Island. When the Mexican War broke out, Wierzbicki enlisted in the Army and was sent to California. Wierzbicki left the Army shortly after reaching the West and practiced medicine until the discovery of gold drew him to prospecting on Mokelumne Hill. In 1849, he returned to San Francisco, where he spent the rest of his life. California as it is (1849) was the first English-language book printed in California. It is a valuable guide to California for prospective settlers that includes a survey of agriculture, hints on gold mining, a guide to San Francisco, and a chapter on California's Hispanic residents and Native American tribes.
643664
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Rare Books
643600
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Manuscripts
The "California Gold Rush Fleet Encyclopedia of Vessels Sailing from the East Coast of the United States and Canada for San Francisco, December 7, 1848-December 31, 1849" comprises individual histories of 762 ships as well as various subject files, arranged in alphabetical order. Goodman records a broad spectrum of information derived from a variety of sources about the multitude of Gold Rush vessels. The bulk of the manuscripts are photocopies and some are heavily annotated in the author's hand. Some histories include hand colored illustrations of maps and ships. They were written and edited between 1970-1991.
mssGoodman