California
Subtitle: Four months among the gold-finders, being the diary of an expedition from San Francisco to the gold districts.
By: By J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M.D. [pseud.] What I saw in California, a description of its soil, climate, productions, and gold mines; with the best routes and latest information for intending emigrants. By Edwin Bryant, late alcade [!] of San Francisco. To which is annexed, an appendix containing official documents and letters authenticating the accounts of the quantities of gold found, with its actual value ... With a map.
Contributors: Bryant, Edwin, 1805-1869.
Publisher: A. and W. Galignani and co
Published: 1849
Place of publication: Paris
Language: eng
Number of pages: 136
Subjects: Ethnic groups -- California.; Law and politics -- California.; Mines and mineral resources -- California.
Description: Henry Vizetelly (1820-1894), a London engraver and author, was a pioneer in the publication of inexpensive illustrated books and magazines. Edwin Bryant (1805-1869) was a Kentucky journalist before coming to California in 1846. He served under Frémont in the Mexican War and was then made alcalde of San Francisco. California. Four months among the gold-finders (1849) by "J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M.D." is a fictional account of the Gold Rush that purports to have been sent to the author's brother from Monterey in October, 1848. In truth, Henry Vizetelly wrote the book without ever leaving London, supplementing easily available official accounts of the Gold Rush with his own imagination. The secret of his authorship and the book's fictious nature did not become public knowledge for some forty years after its original publication. "Brooks's" account begins with his arrival in San Francisco, continuing with a trip to the goldfields near Sutter's Fort and a try at prospecting at Weber's Creek and other camps. What I saw in California, the second portion of the volume, originally published in 1848, contains Edwin Bryant's more authentic account of life in pre-Gold Rush California, 1846-1847, including the U.S. Army occupation of the territory. Other documents in the appendix are letters concerning the Gold Rush that had appeared in the public press.
Notes: No known restrictions on publication.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
"A fictitious narrative". cf. Vizetelly (the author's) "Glances back through seventy years," vol. I (1893) p. 343-347.