The World's Great and Eccentric Characters, Their Lives and Their Deeds, Representing All Ages and All Countries. Comprising Heroes, Conquerors, Statesmen, Authors, Artists, Humorists, Misers, Mountebanks, Kings, Queens, Jugglers, Etc., Etc., and Other Curiosities of Human Nature. The Whole Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources. Illustrated with Nearly 300 Engravings.
San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., Publishers, 1877. First Edition. Full-Leather. Good / No Jacket. Item #1925699
First edition. Boards rubbed with some loss along edges, joints weak, cup ring stain on rear board, top corner of front flyleaf removed.
767 pp. 8vo. Original full calf, black leather spine label, gilt titles & rules, marbled endpapers, pink endpapers. A collection of short biographical pieces on important figures from various walks of life - from heads of state to famous authors, poets, and philosophers. Particularly interesting as a fairly early example of printed material from San Francisco (the earliest newspapers and pamphlets date to the 1840s, produced by those who followed the early gold prospectors). Frontispiece of Sam. Johnson (appropriately), numerous engravings throughout.
Price: $175.00 save 30% $122.50