Description: Stoddard's Lectures: Vol X, Southern California, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, 1889 / 1909, Balch - Note: This book contains the same text and photos found in the earlier 1898 edition. The only innovation in this book is inclusion of a colorized photo of "Electric Peak" as a frontispiece. - Heavily illustrated with photos. - first-hand experience of "the West" during the period 1874-84, presented in public lectures for over a decade, and finally published in 1898. - The travelogues are presented from a skilled storyteller, with emotion and humor.- The author enters Southern California from the East, by train across Flagstaff, Arizona. He encounters and photographs remnants of the dying breed of indigenous Indian, and the impoverished, recently conquered Mexican (1846-48 Mexican War).- Stoddard is interested in the social structure of this newly expanded USA, containing Whites, Blacks, Indians, Mexicans, and Chinese Coolies. - His sojourn included Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Pasadena, San Gabriel Valley, Riverside, San Diego, etc. Note:It's a well-kept secret that for the US market, this volume (#10) of the Stoddard's Lectures is worth more than all other nine together. This Volume 10 is a unique photo-essay of Southern California, the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone, produced originally in 1898 on high quality paper. The b&w photos are plentiful (e.g. Southern Calif.: 97 photos in 96 pages) and focus on original peoples, lifestyle and transportation, engineering achievements, development of towns and agriculture, and natural scenery. The text is engaging first-person, and personal: (e. g. traveling over the desert toward California) "... I almost doubted, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, whether we should ever reach the promised land alive; but, finally, through a last upheaval of defiant hills which were, if possible, more desolate and weird than any we had seen, we gained the boundary of California and gazed upon the Colorado River." Stoddard's prejudices and stereotypes are typical of that era: "...I saw some representatives of the fallen race of California, as Indian bucks and squaws came from their squalid hovels to sell the trifling products of their industry, and stare at what to them is a perpetual miracle...the passing train. Five races met upon that railroad platform and together illustrated the history of the country. First, in respect to time was the poor Indian, slovenly, painted and degraded, yet characterized by a kind of bovine melancholy on the faces of the men, and a trace of animal beauty in the forms of the young squaws." "Teasing and jesting with the latter were the Negro porters of the train, who, though their ancestors were as little civilized as those of the Indians, have risen to a level only to be appreciated by comparing the African and the Indian side by side. There, also, was the Mexican, the lord of all this region in his earlier and better days, but now a penniless degenerate of Old Castile." "Among them stood the masterful Anglo-Saxon, whose energy has pushed aside the Spaniard, civilized the Negro, developed half a continent, built this amazing path of steel through 1,500 miles of desert, and who is king of where-ever he goes." "A fifth figure was that of Sing Lee, formerly a subject of the oldest givernment on earth, and still a representative of the 400,000,000 swarming in the Flowery Kingdom. Strangely enough, of all these racial types, the Mongol seemed the most self-satisfied. Sing-Lee ... is a specimen of that yellow race which is embalmed in its own conservatism, like a fly in amber." Among the interesting rare photos are: *six photos of early Los Angeles including Broadway, *four of Pasadena, *five of San Diego, *of Redlands, Riverside, the San Gabriel Valley, *Santa Monica Pier, *Santa Catalina, *Santa Barbara, *an old Trading Post and several of the original Missions. The other two sections, on Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, likewise contain fascinating photos of e.g. stage coaches, road-side camping, outposts, native Indian life, etc. Condition:Very Good Condition for this vintage hdbk. Cover shows wear at corners and spine-ends, and dull patches on the board surface, but over looks sharp. Faint signs of repair along edges of spine. Binding/hinges are tight/strong. No owner's name. No clear sign of age-tanning. Paper remains supple, not brittle. Interior is clean...no tears, folds, marks, or foxing. No DJ. A strong copy, which will withstand normal use.
Price: 41.9 USD
Location: Rancho Cordova, California
End Time: 2024-10-05T14:37:15.000Z
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