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WE live in MELBOURNE - and so do our books ! ie They are NOT coming from overseas !! (Classics of the Old West) M ountains and M olehills or Recollections of a Burnt Journal - by Frank Marryat - ISBN: 0809439980 Publisher: Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, USA Published: 1982 Binding: Tan Leather HARD cover 443 pages illustrated Condition : UN read condition! HERE in MELBOURNE ! A retired display copy as illustrated! Edition: FIRST of this EDITION: 1st printing 1982 TIGHT, UNOPENED SCARCE HARD COVER ~ IN MELBOURNE ... WHY do ebayers buy from US? Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item!! Remains UN read - it was the display copy. It is Tight - neat, no inscriptions or marks within. Appears as in my photos - this is the exact copy !! A nicely preserved copy - superb! No discernible shelf wear to the embossed leather boards, the interior is tight and spotlessly clean with 443 pages with black and white and colour drawings by the author scattered throughout. This is the 1982 facsimile hard cover reprint published in this format in the USA by Time-Life Books. Incredibly SCARCE title - this is an UNread copy!! In original lovely brown leather bound HARD cover binding with ribbon page marker, with publisher's gold lettering & decoration to front panel and spine. Lovely brown & gilt leather binding with embossed long-horn, hatchet & six gun on cover, gilt on spine. Sleek gilt on all edges. There is an attached ribbon. Marbled endpapers with book synopsis tipped-in. Fine exlibris bookplate on inside endpaper. A lovely copy in near perfect condition. (Stored with 2018!) Measures approx. 22 X 15cms or 9ins x 6ins. SYNOPSIS .... Frank Marryat was an Englishman and tells of the many tough times he experienced heading to San Francisco & the gold fields. " Traveling with a pair of Englishmen and three bloodhounds, Marryat arrived through the Golden Gate to find San Francisco 'again in ashes,' following the disastrous fire of June 1850 ." Englishman Frank Marryat arrived in California in 1850 with a manservant and three hunting dogs, hoping to find inspiration for a travel memoir like the one he had previously written about Borneo. What emerged was one of the liveliest first hand accounts of gold rush California to come out of the era. Equipped with an outsider's perspective and a mischievous sense of humor, Marryat describes the rough-and-tumble San Francisco that was transforming before his eyes. Frank Marryat (1826-1855) left England for California via Panama with a manservant and three hunting dogs in 1850, hoping to find material for a book like his earlier Borneo. On his return to England in 1853, Marryat married and brought his bride back to California that same year. Yellow fever contracted on shipboard forced him to cut the trip short and return to England where he died two years later. Mountains and molehills (1855) is a sportsman-tourist's chronicle of California in the early 1850s: hunting, horse races, bear and bull fights. It also includes an Englishman's bemused comments on social life in San Francisco, Stockton, and the gold fields. * This wonderful title was originally published by Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, London, in 1855. It was bound without the advertisements at end. Born in 1826, Samuel Francis [Frank] Marryat was the son of the novelist Captain Frederick Marryat. He travelled to California in 1850, where he witnessed the San Francisco gold rush. His travel journal, sketches, and most of his possessions, were destroyed in a fire in May, 1851. Marryat contracted yellow fever on his trip home to England with his new bride, and died in 1855, shortly before the publication of this book. "A perceptive young Englishman describes his three years in and around San Francisco at the start of the Gold Rush, from 1850 to 1853. " ABOUT THE AUTHOR Frank Marryat (1826–1855) was a sailor, artist, and author. In 1850, he left England for California via Panama. In 1853, he returned to England, married, and left England again with his new bride to return to California, again via Panama. However, he contracted yellow fever and was forced to cut his trip short to return to England, where he died shortly after. Mountains and Molehills was published after his death. Very Informative read! REVIEW Kirkus review ... First published in 1855, Mountains and Molehills , by the son of the novelist Frederick Marryat, Frank Marryat, is a lively and detailed story of life in San Francisco and the California gold camps in the early 1850's. It tells also of the Isthmus route to the gold fields, of which there are relatively few records. Loved it! …. Excellent snapshot of early San Francisco & gold mining times. " A tale that is part Lady Isabella Bird, part Mark Twain, and part the traveling Charles Dickens." — Craig McCroskey, sales representative, Book Travelers West Author gives an excellent window into the past. …… You read about how things were, what people were like, the area etc. For example, his thoughts about the redwood trees being an inexhaustible resource. Yet, being familiar with the present day area we all know there are no redwoods or grizzlies in the bay area. Super window into history. Another good classic book from Time Life. ……. This is the ninth Classics Of The Old West I have bought, read and reviewed. All 4 or 5 stars. Mountains and Molehills was written by Englishman Frank Marryat after one of San Fransisco's fires destroyed his journal and shortly before his death from complications from an earlier bout of Yellow Fever. He was young and died at 29 after a life of severe hard luck, trying to make a living in California a few years after gold was discovered. There was 3 ways to get to California. Around the Horn, stage coach across America and through Panama( no canal yet) to ship. Unfortunately he choose passing through the mosquito, fever, disease, mud, and torrential rain land of Panama. We see many passengers getting sick and dying of Yellow fever. Marryat gives a great description of the passages and shipboard routine and life in some other towns and fires in San Francisco and how gold miners behaved. He compares the western man to his native Englishmen. We see the corrupt judicial system out west that let many murders go free or 1 year in jail. Also shown the discrepancies of the press out west compared to his "Times" from England. On his second and last trip to San Francisco, he took his new bride to California again going through Panama and shipboard to California. Almost all got Yellow fever, including himself and his wife. Many died. After getting back to England and writing Mountain and Molehills from memory ( his journals were destroyed in a San Francisco fire), shortly after this he died at 29 in 1855(the year Mountains and Molehills came out) from possible complications from his earlier Yellow fever. Here is a good book allowing the reader to see the different types of mining in California and the hardships emigrants had passing through Panama and on ships to California. The differences in how Chinaman, French and Englishman behaved in mining as well as their mind set in using their wealth from mining. I really gained empathy with the young Frank Marryat as he worked hard at making a hotel, mining, and using a steam engine in his mining adventures. None produced much money for him and he had lots of hardships and a great sickness that would claim his life. There were some B/W drawings and colored plates of some of the scenery and descriptions in the book. Its a shame his original journal was destroyed. A good factual account of the hardships emigrants faced in 1850-1851 , the different types of gold mining they did, and the different races of people who did the mining. After a tragic fire in San Francisco destroyed many of his possessions, including his journals, Frank Marryat rewrote, from memory, much of what he had documented during his time in California in the middle of the gold craze of 1850. This historical treasure, originally published in 1855, the year that the author died of complications from yellow fever Marvellous Reading! WHY do ebayers buy from US? Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item & form part of my description!! POSTAGE IS $8.90 WITHIN AUSTRALIA *All items will be shipped within 3 business days of receipt of payment. Payment can be made by Direct Deposit Bank Transfer or Paypal. Check out my other items- *Buyer to make contact within 3 days of auction end and payment within 5 days. *Cash on pick up is fine. *Bank deposit & PAYPAL available. *Any questions? Just ask! Please look for my other items in our new Ebay Store 'Jingle Bells Books' ~ as there are lots & lots of old, RARE and COLLECTABLE BOOKS to be cleared from our bookshelves. We're new retirees downsizing from 30+ years teaching & clearing an 80 year, 3 generation private family collection of often valuable books ! *HAPPY TO COMBINE POSTAGE up to 3kilos of BOOKS can post WITHIN Australia for $14.90! THANKS FOR DROPPING BY