An Excerpt from Mountains and Molehills, or Recollections of a Burnt Journal; An Illustrated Book of Travels in California by Frank Marryatt, 1855

Moving Parts Press for The Book Club of California, 2011. Limited Edition. No binding. Fine. Rice, Felicia. Number 12 of 75 copies, illustrated broadside, signed and numbered by artist Felicia Rice. The Book Club of California, one of the oldest book clubs in the U.S. for collectors and lovers of the printed book, is known for its fine printing of books on Californiana and Western Americana. To celebrate its 99th birthday, the Moving Parts Press printed this broadside which contains in excerpt from Frank Marryatt's "Mountains and Molehills". A Zamorano Eighty title, the first edition of the book, published in London, is highly collectible, having eight coloured lithographs which are considered among the finest of early California subjects. Frank Marryat (1826-1855) traveled in 1850 from England for California, taking the Panama route, accompanied by a manservant and three hunting dogs.

Some excerpts of Marryatt's observations on life in San Francisco of the 1850s give us a hint that gastronomical delights at that time were closer to the source, so to speak, than they are today. He relates one story of going into an eating establishment for lunch, orders 'Fricasse de Lapin" but instead is served squirrel: "I knew it from experience I had had in the anatomy of that sagacious animal. It was very good, however, and if it had been a fat Sacramento rat, I daresay that, under the circumstances, I should not have turned my nose up at it; for I have eaten many things in my time...; and when a man has one dined off monkey soup and has ladled a human-looking head out of the pot and has eaten still, regardless of that piteous parboiled look, he can stomach any thing in reason after that." (N.B., quote from Malcolm Barker's "More San Francisco Memoirs, 1852-1899: The Ripening Years".)

This broadside with a image of "a leash of hares" being roasted for dinner, a "leash" being one of several collective nouns for a group of rabbits. Printed for the 99th birthday of The Book Club of California, December 12, 2011.

___DESCRIPTION: Broadside measuring approximately 18" by 12", the image and type were reproduced using photopolymer plates, Garamond type, Japanese Kasuiri paper, numbered and signed in pencil ("F. Rice") by the artist at the bottom.

___CONDITION: A fine copy, clean and without wear; it has been rolled like a scroll and stored thus.

___POSTAGE: Note that since it has been rolled, it will be shipped that way, in a cardboard tube. International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

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