Storieta
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About this book

The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851‑52 present a series of twenty‑three epistolary fragments written by Dame Shirley, an alias for Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe, addressed to her sister in Massachusetts. The volume reproduces the letters as they appeared in the Pioneer Magazine, supplemented by synopses, a foreword, and extensive typographical corrections by Thomas C. Russell, who also provides an appreciation by Mrs. M. V. T. Lawrence. The opening material situates the letters within a broader context of early Californian histories, maps, and travel accounts, underscoring their provenance as a firsthand, contemporaneous record of a mining community’s rise and decline during the Gold Rush.

The voice is that of a well‑educated New England woman observing frontier life with a blend of curiosity and restraint; her style is straightforward, occasionally provincial, yet remarkably vivid for private correspondence. Readers fascinated by mid‑nineteenth‑century California, the social dynamics of mining camps, or the origins of literary works such as Bret Harte’s “The Luck of Roaring Camp” will find these letters an invaluable, unsentimental window into a pivotal era.

Who appears in The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52

  • Dame ShirleyMid‑19th‑century New England woman, dark hair pulled back, modest high‑collar dress, spectacles, poised expression
  • Alexander Forbes, Esq.Gentleman of the 1830s, powdered wig, frock coat, waistcoat, cravat, dignified beard, holding a book
  • Mrs. M. V. T. LawrenceVictorian lady, elegant shawl, modest gown, hair in soft curls, gentle smile, seated with a quill

The opening · free to read

Other REPRINTS Issued

CALIFORNIA. A HISTORY of UPPER & LOWER CALIFORNIA from their FIRST DISCOVERY to the PRESENT TIME [1835]. Comprising an Account of the Climate, Soil, Natural Productions, Agriculture, Commerce, &c. A full view of the Missionary Establishments, and condition of the free and domesticated Indians. With an Appendix relating to Steam-navigation in the Pacific. ILLUSTRATED with a new Map, Plans of the Harbors, and numerous Engravings. By ALEXANDER FORBES, Esq. Reprinted, page for page, and approximately line for line, from the original edition published by Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1839, and to which is added a NEW INDEX.

Price $10, net.

VOYAGE of the SONORA in the SECOND BUCARELI EXPEDITION to EXPLORE the NORTHWEST COAST, SURVEY the PORT of SAN FRANCISCO, and FOUND FRANCISCAN MISSIONS and a PRESIDIO and PUEBLO at that PORT. The JOURNAL kept in 1775 on the SONORA by DON FRANCISCO MOURELLE, the Second Pilot of the Fleet constituting the Sea Division of the Expedition. Translated by the HON. DAINES BARRINGTON from the original Spanish manuscript. Reprinted line for line and page for page from BARRINGTON'S MISCELLANIES, published in London in 1781. With concise NOTES showing the Voyages of the Earliest Explorers on the Coast, the Sea and Land Expeditions of GALVEZ and of BUCARELI for the settlement of California and for founding Missions, and MANY OTHER INTERESTING NOTES, as well as AN ENTIRELY NEW INDEX TO BOTH THE JOURNAL AND THE NOTES, by THOMAS C. RUSSELL. Together with a reproduction of the DE LA BODEGA SPANISH CARTA GENERAL (MAP), showing the Spanish discoveries on the Coast up to 1791, and also a PORTRAIT of BARRINGTON.

Price $15, net.

NARRATIVE of EDWARD McGOWAN. Including a full Account of the Author's ADVENTURES and PERILS while persecuted by the SAN FRANCISCO VIGILANCE COMMITTEE of 1856. Together with a Report of his Trial, which resulted in his Acquittal. Reprinted, line for line and page for page, from the original edition published by the author in 1857, complete, with reproductions, in facsimile, of the original illustrations, cover-page title, and title-page.

Price $10, net.

These works are printed in limited editions. Copies are numbered and signed. The typesetting is all done by hand, and the type distributed immediately upon completion of presswork. The printing, in all its details, is the personal work of THOMAS C. RUSSELL, at 1734 Nineteenth Avenue, San Francisco, California. Descriptive circulars sent free, upon request.

This Book

is one of an edition of four hundred and fifty (450) numbered and signed copies, the impressions being taken upon hand-set type, which was distributed upon completion of the presswork. In two hundred (200) copies Exeter book-paper is used, leaf-size being 9-1/4 x 6-1/4 inches; in two hundred (200) copies, buff California bond-paper, 8-3/8 x 5-1/2; in fifty (50) copies, thin buff California bond-paper, 6 x 9.

THIS COPY is No. 26 California bond-paper.

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