California, the Eden of the Earth.

Los Angeles: Benton Publishing Co., 1927. First edition, Narrow octavo. 20 pp. with with color illustrations on nearly every page. Publisher's pictorial wrappers with a color image of a tour bus on the cover. In the original envelope which has "A Bit of California Color" printed on it. An excellent copy. No copies located by OCLC.The subtitle on the front cover is "See California First.' At first glance one would think this a pamphlet for the Golden State Royal Blue Line of buses, a relatively new phenomenon. But as one reads further it is obvious that this is a piece of boosterism for the State in general as it covers nearly everything (and in printed in exceedingly small type using blue ink). I think the real reason for it's publication, unknown to the internet or to OCLC, is to be found on the inner rear page. There we see a colorful cluster of purple grapes and the following ad; "The World's Only Deluxe All-Color Book in Multi-process Art Engravings: "California, the Wonderland and Garden of the World" published by the very same Benton Publishing Company. Mechanical color printing was a very new thing in 1927, Prior to this a printer had to use lithos or engravings. "Initially, some black and white halftones were enhanced with synthetically applied color. By the 1920s, improvements in mechanical color separation techniques and the growth of magazine publishing made it possible for some titles to afford full-color pictures and black text to be printed together on sheetfed letterpress systems" (Multimediaman, June, 2016). In truth the color in the publication is, well, less than sterling and this leads one to suspect that the Benton Publishing Company offered to print this at a discount for the State in order to try out their new printing process. Many of the illustrations are positively strange and feel off-register as they were likely struggling to master this new technology.