Phoenixiana (Two Volumes, Complete)

Limited Edition. Publisher's full green silk, spines in five compartments separated by raised bands, gilt lettering or decoration in each compartment, gilt Caxton Club medallions on each front and rear cover, t.e.g., fore and bottom edges deckle. Illustrated with frontispieces in each volume and numerous color and B&W plates of military figures, including one fold-out plate, all by the author. First published by D. Appleton in 1856 (as Phoenixiana, or Sketches and Burlesques by John Phoenix), this limited edition was published by the Caxton Club in 1897: "The Publication Committee of The Caxton Club certifies that this copy of Derby's Phoenixiana, two volumes, is one of an edition consisting of one hundred and sixty-five copies on American handmade paper and three copies on Japanese vellum, printed from type, and completed in the month of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven." George Horatio Derby (1823-1861) was an early California humorist. He attended West Point with Ulysses S. Grant. Derby served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Topographic Corps and was sent to the West in 1849 to conduct the first reconnaissance of the Colorado River. He remained on the Pacific Coast until 1856, becoming involved in the building of numerous dams and roads. He supplemented his low military pay by contributing humorous articles to the San Francisco Herald, California Pioneer magazine, and the fledgling local newspaper, the San Diego Herald. He wrote articles that poked fun at the figures and pretenses of high society. These articles were written to appear as if a running narrative from John Phoenix and were the state's first published humor. Derby used the pseudonyms "John P. Squibob" and its variants, "John Phoenix" and "Squibob." This collection of his work was a best seller and went through eleven printings within a year (1856). These articles constitute the lighter side of the Gold Rush, by 'the father of the native American school of humor.' Derby also wrote The Squibob Papers and prepared several notable early maps of California areas." He became disabled in 1857, moved to New York in 1859, and died as a Captain shortly after the beginning of the Civil War. Spines mildly sunned, otherwise unmarked, tight, square, and clean. NEAR FINE. Color and B&W Drawings. 12mo 7" - 7½" tall Near Fine No dust jacket as issued. …