50th California International Antiquarian Book Fair The First Published View of Yosemite: A Great Rarity of American Lithographic Views 1. Ayres, Thomas A.: THE YO-HAMITE FALLS, THIS MAGNIFICENT SCENE IS SITUATED IN THE YO-HAMITE VALLEY, NEAR THE SOURCE OF THE MIDDLE FORK OF THE RIVER MERCED, MARIPOSA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. IT IS THE HIGHEST WATERFALL IN THE WORLD - RUSHING OVER THE PRECIPICE, AT ONE BOLD LEAP IT FALLS 1,300 FEET, & THE WHOLE LEAP HIGHT [sic] FROM VALLEY IS 2,300 FEET. San Francisco: James M. Hutchings, printed by Britton & Rey, on stone by Kuchel & Dresel, 1855. Uncolored lithograph, 23 1/4 x 15 inches. Lightly toned. Expertly conserved at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, deacidified and backed with Japanese tissue. In very good condition. Matted. A landmark American image, this rare lithograph of Yosemite Falls is the first published view of Yosemite to reach the public. Thomas Ayres's view of Yosemite Falls is accurate and beautiful, and ably captures the magnificence of the waterfall, depicting the upper and lower falls from a slightly elevated position. The view is framed by trees and cliff edges so that the attention is concentrated toward the falls themselves. In the lower portion of the image the valley floor stretches toward the viewer, the Merced River cuts across the meadows, and the artist's companions are seen, their horses set free to graze. Ayres made his Yosemite drawings on the spot, using charcoal or black chalk on a prepared board, and his illustrations are expertly shaded. The sheer granite walls must have seemed astounding to a contemporary audience seeing the Yosemite Valley for the first time. "The figures of the men and horses - and even the gigantic evergreens of the area - serve an artistic purpose in indicating the overpowering scale of the granite cliffs" - Deak. Thomas A. Ayres came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, arriving by ship in August, 1849 and worked for a time in the mines. He returned to San Francisco in 1850 with sketches of the mining district, and during the next few years he made several trips around the state to paint and draw. In June, 1855 Ayres accompanied James M. Hutchings, Walter Millard, and their two native guides on Hutchings' first trip to Yosemite. The party spent four days in the area, with Ayres drawing several images, including the sketch from which the present lithograph was drawn. Harry Peters notes that Ayres's drawings, "made on the spot, have artistic merit and place Ayres in the front rank of draftsmen of the period." Ayres produced many important drawings in California before he was lost at sea during the wreck of the schooner Laura Bevan, en route from San Pedro to San Francisco in April, 1858. This lithograph is also a beautiful product from the two most important lithographic firms operating in San Francisco at the time. Ayres's image of Yosemite Falls was drawn on stone by Kuchel and Dresel, and was printed by the distinguished firm of Britton and Rey. Printed for James Mason Hutchings in an edition of at least two hundred copies, it was copyrighted September 8, 1855, and appeared for sale the following month, offered by Hutchings at $2.50 a copy. Hutchings's career became the commercial promotion of the Yosemite Valley, and some copies (such as those at Princeton and the Bancroft) have a title reading "Hutchings' Panoramic Scenes in California" in the upper margin of the sheet. This copy does not have that upper margin title. In researching his book on James M. Hutchings, author Dennis Kruska located "about fifteen copies" of this lithograph of Yosemite Falls, including the present copy. This cataloguer is aware of only one other copy appearing in the market in the past sixteen years, a copy sold to Princeton University in 2007. We locate additional institutional copies at the Bancroft Library (a colored example, from the Honeyman Collection), the Yosemite Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, and The New York Public Library. We are also aware of copies in three private collections. The only record that we can find of a copy appearing at auction was in March, 1921, when Anderson Galleries conducted a sale of the stock of the recently-deceased bookseller, George D. Smith. Not in Eberstadt catalogue 124, devoted to Yosemite and the Big Trees, nor in OCLC. CURREY & KRUSKA 4 (note). PETERS, CALIFORNIA ON STONE, pp.45-46, 146. DEAK, PICTURING AMERICA 701. KRUSKA, THOMAS ALMOND AYRES, pp.11-17, item A. KRUSKA, JAMES MASON HUTCHINGS OF YO SEMITE, pp. 36-49, figure 18, and item 22. $20,000 2. Baird, Joseph Armstrong, Jr.: CALIFORNIA'S PICTORIAL LETTER SHEETS 1849 1869. San Francisco: David Magee, 1967. 171,[1]pp., including full-page plates and a facsimile letter sheet laid into rear pocket. Folio. Half morocco and patterned paper boards, spine gilt. Fine. A pioneering bibliography of California's pictorial letter sheets, one of the most interesting, informative, and entertaining printed and visual remnants of the Gold Rush. Baird gives detailed descriptions, locates copies, and illustrates dozens of the sheets. A facsimile of letter sheet number 56 is laid into a rear pocket. An important reference work. Printed by Robert Grabhorn and Andrew Hoyem in an edition of 475 copies. GRABHORN-HOYEM BIBLIOGRAPHY 6. $200 American Plans to Colonize Baja California… 3. [Baja California]: TITLE PAPERS OF THE LOWER CALIFORNIA COMPANY, TO LANDS, ETC., IN THE TERRITORY OF LOWER CALIFORNIA, AND IN THE STATES OF SONORA AND SINALOA, OF THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO [wrapper title]. New York: Evening Post Steam Press, 1870. 16,3pp. Original printed wrappers. Faint vertical crease. Wrappers lightly soiled, stained around the edges. Old tideline in lower margin of first two and final three leaves. A good copy, untrimmed. In a cloth chemise and slipcase, spine gilt. The Lower California Company, headed by the prominent California businessman, Jacob Leese, made an agreement with the Mexican government in 1864 granting them colonization rights to land throughout the length of Baja California in return for $100,000 in gold. This pamphlet contains the text of the original agreement between the Mexican government and the company, granting colonists' mineral rights, religious liberty, and the freedoms guaranteed by the Mexican constitution of 1857. Also included is the company's 1867 charter, and the opinion of former U.S. Senator Robert J. Walker as to the validity of the company's title to the lands. Jacob Leese (1809-1892), born in Ohio, went to California in the 1830s, married a sister of Mariano Vallejo, and became a Mexican citizen in 1837. Active as a merchant, a trader in hides, and in ranching, he was an early resident of San Francisco, and was a stout supporter of American possession of California. He left California in 1865, and for several years was active in trying to develop colonies in Mexico, particularly in Baja. The only copy of this work that we know of in the market was offered by the Eberstadts in 1954. OCLC locates only three copies, at the Bancroft Library, the Univ. of California at San Diego, and Huntington Library. Barrett's collation lists a greater number of pages than in this pamphlet, though the pagination in our copy conforms to that of UCSD and the Huntington, as well as the copy offered by the Eberstadts. The Bancroft record calls for 207pp., a significantly larger number than that in Barrett, and perhaps accounted for by the fact that the Bancroft holds the Jacob Leese papers. Rare. BARRETT 1521. EBERSTADT 135:79. OCLC 960062779, 26118898, 20549117. $1,250 …And a Short-Lived Newspaper Promoting the Plan 4. [Baja California]: THE LOWER CALIFORNIAN. VOL. 1. NO. 2. Magdalena Bay, Lower California: Lower California Co., November 10, 1870. [4]pp., on a folded folio sheet. Map on fourth page. A couple of light spots, some offsetting from the printing of the masthead on the first page, and from the map. Near fine. A scarce Baja California newspaper, issued as part of a plan to promote colonization of much of the Baja peninsula. The Lower California Company was an American company organized to bring colonists to Baja, with an initial community called the "City of Cortez" planned near Magdalena Bay on the Pacific Coast. The masthead of the paper shows interlocking Mexican and American flags, and the news reports the arrivals of ships at Magdalena, along with several positive articles on the land of the region (including a report in French), mining potential, local advertisements, and a description of the Lower California Company and its capabilities. There is also mention of agricultural potential, with the assertion that "I will only say that [the lands] are more promising of heavy crops than any lands I ever saw in the Santa Clara, Napa, San Jose, Sacramento, or any valley lands in Upper California." The map on the fourth page shows the entire Baja peninsula, calling it "territory granted by Mexico to the Lower California Co.," and showing ship lines to Magdalena Bay from San Francisco and the Isthmus, and also the route of the Southern Transcontinental Railroad to Guaymas, just across the Gulf of California. This second issue of THE LOWER CALIFORNIAN constitutes half of the total run of periodical - it lasted but two issues (the first issue was dated October 12). "A curious Baja California item...quite typical of a great deal of promotional literature and ephemera which appeared during the 1870's and 1880's" - Barrett. OCLC lists eleven institutional holdings, usually consisting of only one of the two issues. BARRETT 1525. OCLC 12328382.