San Francisco, CA: H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1867. 246pp, illus. 12mo. Original flexible cloth. Spine faded, some wear to extremities with minor loss at top and bottom of spine, else very good. In writing these catalogues we... ahh, "research" a number of sources, but its not often we get to crib a description from Mark Twain himself. This appeared in his correspondence to the San Francisco Bulletin, December 7, 1866: "Mr. Prevost is the old original pioneer of the silk culture in this State, and furnished eggs and information to one farmer after another, until, after six years of persevering labor, he has now the satisfaction of seeing the silk business surely and steadily gathering strength and establishing itself as one of the permanent sources of the State's wealth and importance. But for the fact that some chattering, pretentious imposter too frequently steps in at the eleventh hour and robs the pioneer of his laurels, I would expect Prevost to be honored with the title of Father of California Silk Culture, some day... Mr. Prevost has been obliged to give lengthy instructions to farmers so often by word of mouth, that he has finally concluded to write a complete manual of the silk culture and publish it for the benefit of all who are interested, and he is hard at work at it now." This is that book with full instructions as to silk growing and many testimonials of its potential. What I did not find in my research is any hint of a silk business existing in California today Cowan p. 501. Item #19478

Price: $250.00