456 pp. Six steel-engraved portrait plates and six duotone woodcut plates; map; tissue facsimile. (8vo) 7¼x5, rebound in ¾ red morocco over marbled boards (original covers bound in at rear), raised bands, spine gilt, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. First Edition.

Presentation copy, dated Sept. 14, 1850. The facsimile of the Declaration of rights is present, which is often not the case. Important observations by a participant of the American occupation of California and the first years of the Gold Rush, with a map of the Gold Region. "Colton, the first alcalde of Monterey under American control, wrote a diary largely devoted to interesting details of incidents connected with the author's administration of justice, with frequent remarks on the manners and customs of the people..." - Zamorano. Kurutz calls the book "momentous," and notes that "Colton corrected the final proofs...in March 1850. He then fell ill and died on January 22, 1851." Cowan p.137; Graff 839; Howes C625; Kurutz 151a; Wheat Gold Region p.74, map 148; Zamorano Eighty 20.