Utazás Kalifornia Déli Részeiben (Travel in Southern California)
Pesten (Pest), Hungary: Kladják Lauffer és Stolp, 1860. First edition. Hardcover. Large Octavo. [10] 191 [3]pp. 7 engravings, 1 folding map. Original green quarter cloth over tan boards with engraving and black lettering in decorative frame of cover, protected by modern mylar. Illustrated with eight wood engravings on plates, including tinted frontispiece and four additional in color, three sepia-toned, and one lithographed folding map of California, eight in-text engravings, and a chart from the register of the meteorological Pavilion, erected in Uvas Canyon from June 1857 to June 1858. The cover features a wine and lemonade seller on a mule in Los Angeles.
The eight plates were drawn by Xantus in 1858, and printed by Njom Haske and Co. in 1859.
1. San Fernando. Southern California. (Frontispiece).
2. Indian Blacksmith. San Fernando.
3. Indian Weaving room. San Fernando.
4. Tejon Indian women grinding seafood.
5. On top of the Sierra Nevada.
6. La Joya. On the California peninsula.
7. Our overnight stay. Between Timpa and Todos Santos.
8. San Marco. On the California Peninsula.
The 1858 California folding map, measuring 14 1/8 x 13 1/8," shows California from San Francisco to San Diego, Baja California, Tejon territory, the Mojave desert , the Apache territory, and parts of today's Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico on a scale of 1:6,000,000 is edited and drawn after the latest well heads.
John Xantus was a member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Boston Athenaeum. This firsthand account of Southern California in the mid 19th covers lives of the native Indians, the California economy and natural history. János, an Hungarian ex-patriot, serving with the US Army when undertaking this journey to Los Angeles, San Fernando, San Bernardino, Mojave, Baja California, and encountering the native Tejon Indian tribes in the San Joaquin valley. The report includes a listing of the Tejon numerals and a vocabulary of their language.
The book triggered some controversy due to its illustrations, said to be appropriated with slight alterations from R. H. Kern in an earlier report of a U.S. Army topographical mission by Lorenzo Sitgreaves: "The Report of an Expedition down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers." Binding with some wear along edges, light water-staining on front cover and rubbed. Stamped “Lajos Pokorny,” pharmacist in Losonc, on front free endpaper. Block with occasional light imperfections, few thumbprints in lower foredge corners, and minor green watercolor spot in margin of page 179. Good to very good condition. Item #55843
From the Smithsonian Institution Archives: "János Xántus (1825-1894) was a Hungarian exile and zoologist who collected specimens in America and Asia. He was born in Csokonya, Hungary, on October 5, 1825. He initially studied law, but joined the Hungarian Army after Hungary attempted to break from Austria. Xántus was captured and imprisoned, managing to escape to Saxony a year later. He came to the United States in 1851 and began traveling across the United States working in a variety of jobs to earn a living. Xántus enlisted in the US Army in 1855. During his time in the service he began collecting natural history specimens. With the encouragement of Army Medical staff member, he began collecting for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He began a correspondence with Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in 1857. With Baird's encouragement, Xántus collected extensively in California during the mid-1850's for the US National Museum, while he was stationed at Fort Tejon, California, as a hospital steward. Upon leaving Fort Tejon he was granted a discharge and explored Cape San Lucas, again collecting for the Baird. He eventually returned to Hungary in 1864. Xantus served as the Director of the Zoological Garden of Budapest and as Curator of Ethnography at the Hungarian National Museum. He passed away in Budapest in 1894"
Price: $4,500.00