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Directory of the City of Placerville and Towns of Upper Placerville [163208]

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,500.00 USD
Directory of the City of Placerville and Towns of Upper Placerville [163208]
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This item SOLD at 2023 Mar 30 @ 10:10UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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Directory of the City of Placerville and Towns of Upper Placerville, El Dorado, Georgetown, and Coloma: Containing a History of these Places; Names of its Inhabitants; and Everything Appertaining to a Complete Directory - Together with a Business Directory 1862 Placerville: Placerville Republican Printing Office, (Sebastopol Hall, Old Court House), 1862. 128 pp., "Explanation" (errata) slip tipped to front free endpaper. 8vo. Rebound (poorly) with contemporary advertising boards with original front pasted on front, otherwise in a fine state of preservation. Laid in a burgundy cloth clamshell case with a gilt-lettered red leather spine label. Many advertisements throughout. First edition of the first book printed in Placerville, the first Placerville directory, and the first El Dorado County directory. Cowan II, p. 171. Graff 1339. Greenwood 1685 (4 locations). Howes F159 & P405. Quebedeaux 11: "First book printed in Placerville.... Without a doubt... one of the most important historical sources of the California gold region"; and quoting from American Art Association Catalogue, January 9, 1924, item number 652): "The first directory ever published in El Dorado County. Very few copies on record and perhaps the rarest of the mining town directories." The original name of Placerville, an early Gold Rush town, was Hangtown because of its method of exacting justice. Later the name of the town was changed to Placerville because of the local method of washing gold from the hillsides. By 1854, it was the third largest town in California. This historic imprint constitutes an important source on towns and mining camps that have long since disappeared, with names of citizens, histories, advertising, churches, government officials, etc. The region covered in the directory was significant during the California Gold Rush. The prim errata is hilarious spin-doctoring: "Explanation. A slight error occurs in the History of Placerville, which was not discovered until after the work was in the binders' hands. The Soubriquet of 'Hangtown' was applied to Placerville not from the hanging of 'Irish Dick' in 1850, but from the summary execution of the two Frenchmen and the Spaniard, who were hung in 1849, and not in 1854 as stated on p. 11. No hanging, by a mob, has occurred here since 1850." This copy bears the contemporary stamp of R. Alderson Jr. of Placerville (whose father is listed on p. 21 as "Saloon keeper, Sacramento St. on p. 21" and on p. 44 as a resident of Placerville).

Date: 1862
Country (if not USA):
State: California
City: Placerville
Provenance: