Shaw, William. Golden Dreams and Waking Realities: Being the Adventures of a Gold-seeker in California and the Pacific Islands
London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1851. First edition. xii, 316 pages, plus 16 pages of ads dated June 1853. (Many copies, particularly rebound volumes, have no ads. The earliest recorded ads that I have found were dated June 1, 1851). Octavo.
Shaw, a British citizen, set sail for California from Australia on the first ship filled with gold seekers from the South Pacific.
"The keen observations vividly told by a Britisher who, like most of his class, professed to suffer from his contact with Californian society. His work is entertaining, and his description of the venerable Mission Dolores is peculiarly edifying, of which he says that 'one wing had a decidedly ecclesiastical appearance, ... the other wing formed a separate establishment, having been converted into a tavern.' He had ample opportunity to observe the places, for from its landlord he received work which lasted some months."—Cowan and Cowan, A Bibliography of the History of California, p 580.
Gary Kurutz, in his gold rush bibliography characterizes Shaw as a "rather uppity Britisher, " but describes his memoir as "one of the finest narratives of the Gold Rush." Shaw "witnessed a bloody battle between mining companies, discrimination against foreign miners, the horrible death of a fellow miner by an insect bite, and poor medical practice."
Once a staple in the Americana trade, this book has grown scarce, with just two appearances at auction in the last 30 years (most recently making $750, in 2005).
Original publisher's cloth decorated in blind, neatly rebacked with the original spine laid down; endpapers renewed. Old ownership signature excised from top of title page (not affecting text). Internally very good.
Rocq 16052. Sabin 79971. Kurutz 572. (#S642)
$600
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