David Spilman Fine Books

California’s Pictorial Letter Sheets 1849-1869; [A Bibliography printed by Robert Grabhorn and Andrew Hoyem in 1966]

Baird, Joseph Armstrong, Jr.

San Francisco: David Magee, 1967. Near Fine. First Edition. Robert Grabhorn and Andrew Hoyem. limited to 475 copies [14x10.5in]; [1], 171 pp., [1] limitation page, introduction, notes, 343 entries, 60 plates of letter sheet illustrations, with folding sheet in rear pocket, bibliography and indices; Cream paper with red patterned covers, red leather backstrip with gilt lettering, fore edge untrimmed; Minimal shelf wear to edges and surfaces, spine faded with rubbing on joints, shadows at hinged on end papers . [Grabhorn-Hoyem 6]. Item #13204

From the Grabhorn Press 1920-1965 and Beyond, "The letter-sheet is a form of stationary, a type of writing paper featuring pre-printed illustrations at the top. In California, letter-sheets printed from 1849 onwards feature wood-engravings or lithographs that give us "the best single visual cross-section of Gold Rush and early Silver Age California we have." As the plates in this catalogue show, scenes depicted on these ephemeral sheets could range from river mining in progress to busy urban plazas, from city views to encounters with grizzly bears. This was the first important commission for the new partnership [of Grabhorn and Hoyem]."

Price: $225.00