GERSTACKER'S TRAVELS. Rio de Janeiro - Buenos Ayres - Ride Through the Pampas - Cordilleras - Chile - Valparaiso - California and the Gold Fields

"Friedrich Gerstäcker left Bremen on board the barque Talisman bound for California on April 23, 1849. The first ten chapters detail his travels at sea and in South America. After a short stay in Valparaiso, he made San Francisco and 'the new wonderful land, with its golden dreams' on September 13. The second portion of what George Cosgrove calls 'one of the most entertaining and intelligent narratives of that period' covers in vivid detail his mining experiences [.] In addition to providing excellent observations of daily life, Gerstäcker's narrative is invaluable for documenting the activities of Germans in the gold fields, the difficulties of being a foreigner, and the miner's tax. As Cowan states, this popular travel book appeared in a number of English and American versions with a different titles and minor text changes" (Gary Kurutz, The California Gold Rush). This T. Nelson and Sons edition is essentially the same story as his Narrative of a Journey Round the World, published by Harper & Brothers and Hurst and Blackett, respectively, in 1853. Octavo: viii, 290 p. with 2 double-page lithographs. In the publisher's full green morocco binding, with elaborate gilt and blind stamping, five raised bands, ornamental dentelles, yellow endpapers, and a ribbon marker. With a period presentation inscription to Viscount Acheson, presumably Archibald Acheson, 4th Earl of Gosford, to the front flyleaf. The spine is lightly faded, with some rubbing to the extremities; otherwise very good. Cowan II p.234; Kurutz 268; Norris 1217; Rocq 15818.…