By Horse, Stage & Packet; The Far West Letters of Joseph Pratt Allyn
San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1988. Fine. First Edition. The Greenwood Press. limited to 450 copies printed by The Greenwood Press [#187] [Designed by Jack Stauffacher and printed by Patrick Reagh] [6.75x10.5”]; Illustrated gray toned covers with black lettering on white paper label on spine; xxiii, 192 pp. [4] , frontispiece image of Allyn, 10 plates of illustrations and images, notes, bibliography and index. Item #12926
Joseph Pratt Allyn [1833-1867] was a journalist and an Associate Justice appointed by Abraham Lincoln for the Arizona Territory. This book is a collection of seventeen letters written to the Hartford Evening Press from 1863 to 1866 about his travels in the West. From the Introduction: "What emerges above all from this collection of letters is Joseph Allyn's extraordinary resilience and his unusual insight into the course of future events and alertness to what has not yet been experienced and developed. One can only regretfully reflect on what he might have seen, done and written had he lived longer than thirty-six years". His letters are followed by editor's notes explaining certain references in greater detail. The author visits the State Capital in Sacramento in 1866 and writes, "A rapid sail on a commodious steamer through a succession of bays and up the [Sacramento] River brings one to the capital of the state of California". "Sacramento, like San Francisco, was the victim of accident in the selection of its site"
Price: $80.00