A Bibliography of the Colorado & Mojave Deserts,

Including Palms Springs, Desert Hot Springs,

the Coachella Valley & the Salton Sea

Drawn from the Collections of the

Hacienda Hot Springs Inn

By William Dailey, Chief Balneologist

 

1. ABBEY, Edward. THE JOURNEY HOME: Some Words in Defense of the American West. New York: Dutton, (1977). 8vo, 242pp. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. Chapter 2: "The Great American Desert" enumerates hazards and offers advice to would-be desert travelers ("Survival Hint # 1: Stay out of there. Don't go."). Chapter 7: "Death Valley" includes journal entries from the better part of a year in the Valley. Perhaps the author's best work of nonfiction after Desert Solitaire.

 

2. ABDILL, George B.  PACIFIC SLOPE RAILROADS FROM 1854 to 1900. Seattle: Superior Publishing, (1959). 4to, 182pp, photo illus. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition of a history of California and Northwestern railroads, including the famed Tonopah and Tidewater. Built by F.M. "Borax" Smith in 1905, the "T&T" ran north from the Santa Fe line at Ludlow in the Mojave to the mining boomtown of Goldfield, Nevada. Operations ceased in 1940. There was a special edition of 250 copies signed by Abdill, and a later reprint by Bonanza.

 

3. ADAMS, Ansel. PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SOUTHWEST. Selected Photographs made from 1928 to 1968 in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah with a Statement by the Photographer. And an Essay on the Land by Lawrence Clark Powell. Boston: New York Graphic Society, (1976). Obl. 4to, 109 duotones, most full-page. Cloth, photographic dust jacket. 

 

4. (Adams, Ansel). NEWHALL, Nancy. DEATH VALLEY. Photographs by Ansel Adams... Guide by Ruth Kirk, Maps Drawn by Edith Hamlin. Redwood City: 5 Associates, 1954. 4to, 56pp, 34 full-page b/w & color photo-illus., map endpapers. Wrappers. ¶ First Edition (second edition 1959, third edition 1963, fourth edition 1970). Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.182: "Of first importance are the remarkably fine photographs by Ansel Adams...The historical text by Nancy Newhall is about as accurate and well-written as any I have read."

 

5. ADAMS, Frank. PROGRESS REPORT OF CO-OPERATIVE IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA 1912-1914. Sacramento: State of California Department of Engineering,  1915. 8vo, 74pp, 5 plates (most with multiple photo-illus.), folding map of Imperial County showing drilled wells, charts & diagrams throughout. Brown cloth, lettered in gilt. ¶ Bulletin No.1, reprinted from the Fourth Biennial Report of the Department of Engineering for December 1, 1912, to November 30, 1914.

 

6. ADAMS, J., Rev. DESTRUCTION OF THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS ON THE COLORADO RIVER IN 1781. [In:]  Southern California Historical Annual, III, 1893. 

 

7. ADAMS, John A., Jr. DAMMING THE COLORADO, The Rise of the Lower Colorado River Authority, 1933-1939. College Station: Texas A & M,  1990. 8vo, 161pp, photos, maps & drawings. 

 

8. ADMIRAL, Don. DESERT OF THE PALMS... Photos Courtesy of Avery Edwin Field, the Desert Magazine. Palm Springs: Don Admiral, 1938. 8vo, 55pp, with folding map of Desert of the Palms of Southern California drawn by Helen Cooke Miller tipped in. Wrappers.  ¶ First Edition. Among the topics of interest, Admiral writes of the Colorado Desert's palms, its Indians, the Palms Springs-Indio Road, Palms to Pines Highway, Salton Sea, Carrizo Creek, Borrego Valley, Imperial Valley, Shrubs, Cacti, Wildflowers, Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.3-4.

 

9. ADMIRAL, Don. PALM SPRINGS DESERT AREA AND VICINITY. Palm Springs: Printed by The Desert Sun, [ca. 1930s]. 31pp, 16 illus. Wrappers. ¶ Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.4: "This is a booklet of carefully assembled material on the desert in and around Palm Springs."

 

10. ADOLPH, E.F. & Associates. PHYSIOLOGY OF MAN IN THE DESERT - Survival in an Arid Land. New York: Interscience, 1947. 8vo, xiii, 357pp, charts & tables throughout. Salmon wrappers, title on backstrip. ¶ A work of enduring value, based on the war-time investigations of ten physiologists headed by E.F. Adolph of the University of Rochester. The group formed simple questions and obtained clear and definite answers which replaced accepted lore and misinformation with accurate statements of fact in regard to man's responses to desert heat and dehydration. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.4.

 

11. (Aguereberry, Pete). PIPKIN, George. PETE AGUEREBERRY, Death Valley Prospector - Gold Miner. Littlerock, CA: South Antelope Valley Publishing, 1971. 8vo, 158pp, 16 plates & a map on final leaf. Wrappers. ¶ Reprinted Trona: Murchison Publications, 1982.

 

12. ahbez, eden. NATURE BOY. [Sheet Music]. New York: Burke & Van Heusen, (1947). 4to, (4)pp sheet music, with green pictorial cover of a soulful ahbez. ¶ eden ahbez (he always spelled his name in lower case) was the most famous of the "nature boys" for having written the song "Nature Boy" which was recorded with great success by Nat King Cole in 1948. He wrote the song while camped in Tahquitz Canyon. Born in 1908, one of 13 orphaned children sent to foster homes, he twice walked across the country gathering information on natural living. He wandered around southern California, living for periods in Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Big Tujunga Canyon near Los Angeles where he married and had a child, Zuma, and was among the vegans centered around the Richter's Eutropheon health food store on Laurel Canyon. In Palm Springs he met and was deeply influenced by William Peter Pester, the famed hermit; Frank Bogert has suggested the song was inspired by Pester. After the death of his wife and daughter, ahbez returned to Palm Springs, and spent his last years in Desert Hot Springs where he died in 1995. See: Kennedy, Children of the Sun (1998).

 

13. ahbez, eden. NATURE BOY. [Sheet Music]. London: Edwin H Morris & Co., 1948. 4to, (4)pp  sheet music, with pictorial cover of a young boy with staff standing on a hill surveying a coast line.  ¶ Authorized British issue, with note "The performance of any parodied version of this composition is strictly forbidden."

 

14. AHO, Wayne S. MOJAVE DESERT EXPERIENCE NEAR GIANT ROCK AIRPORT, California, May 11, 1957. [Ca. 1998].  ¶ Wayne Aho (1916-2006) was an American who claimed contact with extraterrestrial beings. He claimed to have been initiated as Cosmic Master of Widsom in 1957 after attending contactee George Van Tassel's Giant Rock Interplanetary Space Craft Convention.

 

15. AIKEN, Ednah. THE RIVER. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1914. 8vo, (10), 423pp, color frontis. by Sidney H. Riesenberg. Red cloth, gilt.  ¶ First Edition of a novel of the Colorado Desert reclamation era, written to idealize H.T. Cory, much to the indignation of Charles Rockwood's friends. "While not historically accurate, the book gives a very true presentation of early life, customs, and conditions in the town of Calexico in the early days" (Margaret Romer, History of Calexico). "The harnessing of the Colorado River and vivid pictures of desert life are featured in this interesting novel where remarkable feats of engineering occur" (Baird & Greenwood 34).

 

16. AINSWORTH, Ed. CALIFORNIA JUBILEE, Nuggets from Many Hidden Veins. Culver City: Murray & Gee, (1948). 8vo, 272pp. Cloth, color pictorial dust jacket drawn by Western painter Clyde Forsythe. ¶ First Edition, bolding inscribed "For Rosario Andrea Curletti, who is a Californian - and I hope a charitable one - with the sincere wish that this will be entertaining even if it isn't instructive! Most cordially, Ed. Ainsworth"). Ainsworth, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, amuses the reader with his stories of Southern California, including many set in his beloved Coachella Valley. Includes an account of the mine near the Salton Sea where the painter John Hilton mined calcite for gun sites during the war.

 

17. AINSWORTH, Ed. FIVE ACRES OF HEAVEN. Presented by Col. E.B. Moore and Mrs. Marion U. Moore of Joshua Tree, California, to All Those Who Love the Desert. (Los Angeles: Lithographed by Homer H. Boelter), 1955. 8vo, 30pp, 46 illus., color frontis. after John Hilton painting. Wrappers. ¶ "This descriptive brochure of the High Desert country (Morongo, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms) is a generous presentation issued by Colonel and Mrs. E.B. Moore - who invested time and energy in locating homesteaders on Five Acres of Heaven."(Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.5). Wrappers subtitled "Story of the Great American Desert."

 

18. AINSWORTH, Ed. GOLDEN CHECKERBOARD. How the Cahuillas - Richest Indians in the World - Won Their Heritage and Fortune in Palm Springs. Palm Desert: Desert-Southwest, [1965]. 8vo, 195pp, photo illus. Cloth in dust jacket. ¶ First Edition, Deluxe Edition limited to 100 signed copies. "Golden Checkerboard relates the tragic experiences of a small band of Agua Caliente Indians who occupied an area that, until recently, was a spread of barren desert sand surrounding some age-old hot springs at the base of Mount San Jacinto. It describes the paradoxical predicament of this isolated group of Indians who were nearly destitute of even the basic necessities of life, yet were privileged to compute their actual monetary wealth in terms of millions of dollars. Far back in 1876, during President Grant's administration, and more than fifty years before the region now know as Palm Springs held attraction for any considerable number of white men, the government granted alternate sections (640 acres each) of what was then worthless desert to this one small band of Indians. However, although the Indians were technically the owners of these alternate sections, the land was held in trust for them by the federal government. They could not sell it; they could not lease it except for short-term periods that offered no possible inducement for development. To complicate an already deplorable situation, one of these alternate sections (Section 14) sprawled its unsightly squalor across the very heart of the plush desert region of Palm Springs. No paved road penetrated it; to get from one segment of the city to another, it was necessary to drive completely around this unattractive square mile of Indian land. Ainsworth describes the long, seemingly endless period of litigation that finally resulted in the break-through permitting the city to acquire by purchase the present airport section (Section 18) and to permit the Indians to grant long-term leases, and right-of-ways for improved roads, through Section 14 - the mile-long eastern border of Indian Avenue. A further result of this break-through was to enrich the Indians. Ainsworth states that one little six-year old girl received $284,749. for her share of the airport section; other owners averaged $95,000 a piece. In addition all members of the tribe receive perpetual income from leasehold rentals in Section 14"). Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.5-6).

 

19. AINSWORTH, Ed. PAINTERS OF THE DESERT. Glimpses of Those Who Captured for Themselves and for Their Fellowmen the Beauty and Message of the American Desert. Palm Desert: Desert Magazine, 1960. 4to, 111pp, color & b/w plates throughout. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. Selections from a group of significant desert artists with short biographies on their life and work. Included are Maynard Dixon; Clyde Forsythe; Jimmy Swinnerton; Nicolai Fechin; Carl Eytel; Paul Lauritz; Conrad Buff; Orpha Klinker; Don Louis Perceval; John Hilton; Burt Procter; R. Brownell McGrew; and Bill Bender. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.6: "...a gorgeous, delightful book."

 

20. AINSWORTH, Edward Maddin. EAGLES FLY WEST. New York: Macmillan, 1945. 8vo, cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition of a novel based on the battle of Kearny's Army of the West with the Californians under Andres Pico at San Pasqual. "A reporter for the New York Herald joins Stevenson's Regiment during the California conquest. He is a participant and observer in the events that followed from the gold rush to statehood" (Baird & Greenwood 39). Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.5.

 

21. AINSWORTH, Edward Maddin. THE BECKONING DESERT. Illustrated by Bill Bender. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, (1962). 8vo, 264pp, b/w text illus. Tan & red cloth, dust jacket illus. by Bender. ¶ First Edition, inscribed by the author. Painter John Hilton provides a foreword. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.4-5. "Possibly some will consider that he slants his book too generously toward Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and the Salton Sea, at the expense of other desert areas that are also beckoning."

 

22. AINSWORTH, Katherine. THE McCALLUM SAGA, The Story of the Founding of Palm Springs. Palm Springs: The Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1973. 4to, xvi, 245pp, illustrated. Cloth, dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition, one of 500 numbered copies signed by Ainsworth (there was also a trade edition). John Guthrie McCallum was the first non-Indian to settle permanently in Palm Springs, then a little oasis known as Agua Caliente. A lawyer from San Francisco, he had moved to San Bernardino in the early 1880s and become an Indian agent, but with a son suffering form TB he resigned his position and moved in 1884 to the newly named Palm City for the benign climate. McCallum thought the region could become a major agricultural center because of the early growing season and began to buy land and build irrigation canals. He also convinced Wellwood Murray from Banning to build a hotel; Murray then leased the hot springs from the Indians and built a bath house for the patrons. The Palm Springs Hotel became the town's first resort-oriented business.

 

23. ALBERT, Marvin H.  PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND. New York: Dell Books,  1963. 12mo, color wrappers.  ¶ A Warner Brothers movie starring Troy Donahue and Connie Stevens (on cover), also Ty Hardin and Robert Conrad.

 

24. ALBRIGHT, George L. OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS FOR PACIFIC RAILROADS 1853-1855. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1921. 8vo, 187pp, foldout map.  ¶ Volume XI in the University of California Publications in History series. A discussion of the routes which were advocated.

 

25. (Albright, Horace M.). THE TIES THAT BIND: A Biographical Sketch of Horace M. Albright. (Death Valley:) Death Valley '49ers, November, 1973. 8vo, (24)pp, b/w illus. throughout. ¶ Keepsake no. 13.

 

26. ALBRIGHT, Horace M. [et al.]. THE STORY OF DEATH VALLEY: Its Museum and Visitor Center. (San Bernardino:) Death Valley '49ers, (1960). 8vo, 30pp, b/w photo illus. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 6.

 

27. ALDEN, Peter, et al. GEOLOGIC RECONNAISSANCE MAP of Portions of Southwestern Nevada and Eastern California. Washington: U.S. Geological Survey, 1906. 

 

28. ALDO, Biagiotti. ESCAPE FROM DEATH VALLEY (the Tale of Two Lucky Burros). Richard C. Owen Pubs., 2003. 

 

29. ALDRICH, Lorenzo D. JOURNAL OF THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA & THE GOLD MINES. With Notes by Glen Dawson. Los Angeles: Glen Dawson, 1950. 8vo, 93pp, folding pocket map. Pale blue paper boards with cloth backstrip & printed paper spine label.  ¶ One of 330 copies printed, although no limitation stated. Of the first edition of Aldrich's Journal of 1851 only six copies are recorded. The author was among the emigrants who followed the Southern route to the goldfields and one chapter details the 1849 crossing of the Gila River and the Colorado Desert. Dawson includes a bibliography listing some 25 diaries of emigrants traveling the Gila River Valley route to California. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.7: Aldrich's "brief but illuminating account is one of the most delightful of the overland diaries." Howes A-109.

 

30. ALEXANDER, Kenneth. DEATH VALLEY U.S.A. South Brunswick & New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., (1969). 4to, 109pp, b/w photos throughout. Purple cloth, dust jacket.

 

31. ALFORD, Alice Jean. THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PALO VERDE VALLEY, 1860 - 1936.  San Diego: University of California, 1987.  ¶ Unpublished Master's Thesis.

 

32. ALLEN, Billie. THE DESERT AND TWO STONES. Detroit: Harlo Press, (1969). 8vo, 248pp incl. 8pp of b/w photo plates. Red cloth.  ¶ First Edition. Reminiscences and travels in and about the Colorado Desert and the Imperial Valley.

 

33. ALLEN, C.R.  SAN ANDREAS FAULT ZONE in San Gorgonio Pass, Southern California. [In:] Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Vol. 68-3, pp.315-350. 1957. 

 

34. ALMSTEDT, Ruth Farrell. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE DIEGUENO INDIANS... Ramona: Ballena Press, 1974. 4to, (4), 52pp, map. Wrappers. ¶ A bibliography listing 430 works dealing with the native American people, also known as Kumeyaay, who lived in what is now the San Diego and Imperial counties of California and in northern Baja California.

 

35. ALTERGOTT, Alexander. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MOHAVES... Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 1930. 8vo, 132pp. ¶ A good history of the Colorado River basin from aboriginal times to the present, with an account of the town of Needles. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.7.

 

36. ANDERHOLT, Joseph J. & Dorothy. THE HISTORY OF THE IMPERIAL COUNTY SWISS. Holtville: The Imperial Valley Swiss Club, 1984.  446pp. ¶ Many of the Swiss in the Imperial valley began as milkers on dairies, and eventually started their own dairy businesses.

 

37. ANDERSON, Alexander Dwight. THE SILVER COUNTRY OF THE GREAT SOUTHWEST, a Review of the Mineral and other Wealth, the Attractions and Material Development of the Former Kingdom of New Spain, Comprising Mexico and the Mexican Cessions to the United States in 1848 and 1853.  New York: Putnam, 1877.  ¶ Anderson discusses Mexico, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado and gives an extensive bibliography of authorities on the different areas. Cowan I, p.14: "This is a book of facts, not theories. It describes the land of silver, and shows that the Southwest is producing, each year, two-thirds of the silver of the whole world ... it treats of railroads generally and gives facts and figures showing how these great civilizers have neglected the southwest ... It does claim to be accurate and authorities are freely cited ..."

 

38. ANDERSON, Jean C. PACIFIC RAILROAD SURVEY IN CALIFORNIA. [In:]  Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, September, 1948.  ¶ Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.8: "This 18pp article should be read by one unfamiliar with the Railroad Surveys Program before he ventures into the original 13 volume Survey Reports. It will give him an intelligent idea of what they are all about."

 

39. ANDERSON, Winslow. MINERAL SPRINGS AND HEALTH RESORTS OF CALIFORNIA with a Complete Chemical Analysis of Every Important Mineral Water in the World. San Francisco: Bancroft, 1892. Large 8vo, xxx, 384pp, 60 illus. in the text. Blue cloth pictorially stamped in gilt & black. ¶ This important text concentrates on the springs and health resorts of California and the illustrations include several of Yosemite, as well as views from San Diego to Lake Tahoe. Numerous European springs are also included in the text. Anderson describes 196 thermal or mineral springs in California, with chemical analyses of the water from many. Also includes geological descriptions on the formation of mineral springs and the causes of subterranean heat. Second edition. Cowan p.16 cites first edition of 1890. 

 

40. ANSPAUGH, L.R. & P. L. Phelps (eds.). AN OVERVIEW OF THE IMPERIAL VALLEY ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT.  Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, 1976.  ¶  This report was prepared for distribution at the National Geothermal Conference, Palm Springs, California, April 19-22, 1976.

 

41. ANTHONY, Frances.  TO PALM CANYON. [In:]  Land of Sunshine 12, October, 1900. 

 

42. (Anza). BOLTON, Herbert Eugene. ANZA'S CALIFORNIA EXPEDITIONS. I: An Outpost of Empire. II: Opening a Land Route to California. III: The San Francisco Colony. IV: Font's Complete Diary. V: Correspondence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1930. 5 vols, 8vo, 529, 473, 436, 534, 426pp, with many maps & plates. Blue cloth with gilt spine lettering. ¶ An important work containing translations of the Diaries of Anza, Diaz, Garces, Font and Palou relating to the 1774 California expeditions crossing the Imperial Valley, together with personal and official correspondence. Volume 1 of the set was issued separately as Outposts of Empire. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.11 (& p.86 for vol. 4: Font's Diary). Zamorano 80. Cf. Howes B-583.

 

43. (Anza). BOWMAN, J.N. & R.F. Heizer. ANZA AND THE NORTHWEST FRONTIER OF NEW SPAIN. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1967.  ¶ Southwest Museum Papers No. 20.

 

44. (Anza expeditions). ANZA CONQUERS THE DESERT; the Anza Expeditions from Mexico to California... San Diego: Union-Tribune, 1971. 

 

45. (Anza). GARATE, Donald T.  ANZA'S RETURN FROM ALTA CALIFORNIA. San Diego: Los Californianos, 1998. 340pp, Wrappers. ¶ Reproductions, transcriptions, and translations from the correspondence of Juan Bautista de Anza, 1776-78.

 

46. (Anza). GARATE, Donald T. JUAN BAUTISTA DE ANZA, Basque Explorer in the New World. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2003. 

 

47. ANZA, Juan & Father Pedro Font. AN EARLY CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS: 1775. Los Angeles: Homer Boelter, 1956.  ¶ Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.11.

 

48. (Anza Trail)  COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT AND USE PLAN, FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT, Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, Arizona - California.  [San Francisco]: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Pacific West Field Area,  1996. 4to, illus, detailed maps of the trail route are included in a separate "Map Supplement" volume. Wrappers.

 

49. ARCHER, Lou Ella. Illustrated by Lillian Wilhelm Smith. CANYON SHADOWS. Phoenix: (Times-Mirror Press), 1931. 4to, (35)pp, 7 color plates. Burlap with color landscape inlay & titles stamped in dark brown.  ¶ Of note for the illustration of Seven Palms, the palm grove near Desert Hot Springs. Most of the others poems and plates have Arizona settings. Lillian Wilhelm Smith (1882-1971) enrolled at the Art Student's League at the age of 12 and an interest in the American West was inspired by a visit to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at Madison Square Garden in 1907. In 1913 Zane Grey (who was married to Lillian's cousin) invited her to accompany him on a trip to Navajo country in order to illustrate Rainbow Trail, his sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. She fell under the spell of Arizona and spent the remainder of her long life there, often traveling  with Grey to paint illustrations for his books and dust jackets. From her homes in Prescott and Sedona she made numerous painting trips to the Southern California deserts, and painted the remote oasis of Seven Palms, now in the town of Desert Hot Springs to the north of Palm Springs. Hinkel, Poetry, p.8, indicating this is Archer's only book and noting the Palm Springs locale.

 

50. ARDIES, Tom. PALM SPRINGS. New York: Doubleday, 1978. 8vo, (8), 400pp. Cloth-backed boards, dust jacket by Paul Bacon. ¶ First Edition. A limousine trip from Los Angeles to Palm Springs brings together a starlet, a former mayor and builder of Palm Springs, a writer, an architect, and others who together become involved in a scheme to build an exclusive retreat in an Indian canyon.

 

51. ARNOLD, Adelaide Wilson. SON OF THE FIRST PEOPLE. Illustrated by Loren Barton. New York: Macmillan, 1940. 8vo, (8), 248pp. Orange cloth, dust jacket illustrated by Loren Barton.  ¶ First Edition, signed by the author beneath the dedication. A novel for adolescents about the Cahuillas, by the gifted author from Twentynine Palms. A sequel, Traveler's Moon, was publsihed in 1962. Adelaide Arnold grew up near Hemet and in her youth met many native Indians and miners who passed through their Morningside Ranch. Her account of Butcherknife Ike and the Lost Ship of the Desert may be found in Calico Print no. 41. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.12.

 

52. ARRITT, Susan. THE LIVING EARTH BOOK OF DESERTS.  Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, (1993). 4to, 224pp, ca. 400 color & b/w photos throughout. Illustrated boards, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition of a well-illustrated survey of the worlds deserts.

 

53. ARTUNIAN, Judy & Mike Oldham. PALM SPRINGS IN VINTAGE POSTCARDS... Foreword by Howard Johns. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, (2005). 8vo, 128pp, approx. 200 b/w photo-illus. Pictorial wrappers. ¶ First Edition, from the Postcard History Series.

 

54. AUDUBON, John W. AUDUBON'S WESTERN JOURNAL: 1849-1850. Being the Ms. Record of a Trip from New York to Texas, and an Overland Journey Through Mexico and Arizona to the Gold-Field of California. With Biographical Memoir by His Daughter Maria R. Audubon. Introduction, Notes and Index by Frank Heywood Hodder. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1906. 8vo, 249pp, large folding map. Cloth. ¶ Audubon published this work originally in 1852 under the title Illustrated Notes on an Expedition through Mexico and California, and of this edition Cowan knew of not more than five copies. "The Audubon Journal contributes little material that is directly associated with the California desert territory. Indirectly, however, it supplies an abundance of factual data on the 1849 gold rush movement via the Southern route, with its intimate descriptions of the emigrants congregated along the Colorado and Gilas Rivers" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.12-13). Cowan p.8. Howes A-390. Wagner-Camp 208.

 

55. AULT, Phil. THIS IS THE DESERT: the Story of America's Arid Region. New York: Dodd Mead, 1959. 8vo, 175pp, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher. ¶ Written for a juvenile audience. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.13.

 

56. AUSMUS, Bob. EAST MOJAVE DIARY. Tales of the Mojave Road Number 16. Norco: Tales of the Mojave Road, 1989. 8vo, 176pp, photo & line-drawings, endpaper maps. Green cloth, gilt.  ¶ First Edition. Bob Ausmus was the owner of the Cima General Store where he held forth with philosophy and historical lore about the East Mojave desert. He had lived there all his life, knew everyone in the region, and here collects some of his fascinating stories.

 

57. AUSTIN, Carl F. COSO HOT SPRINGS - A Guide to Geology in Action. China Lake: The Maturango Museum, 1963. 8vo, 21pp, 4 illus. Wrappers ¶ Includes a road log from China Lake to the Hot Springs, with descriptions along the route. The Springs are now within the restricted area of the Naval Weapons Center.

 

58. AUSTIN, Mary. FIRE. THE ARROW-MAKER.  1921-26.  ¶ On November 5th and 6th, 1921, the first Palm Springs pageant was held at the entrance to Tahquitz Canyon for which Mary Austin wrote the first play, titled Fire. The impressario of California pageants, Garnet Holme, produced the play, a story of an Indian tribe's search for fire. Holme later wrote and produced his Desert Play, Tahquitz, for the following season. William Kauffman, who appeared in several of Holme's plays wrote: "The play is very fantastic and is extremely hard to give because it is written in blank verse. The use of symbolism makes it difficult to keep the interest alive... The last scene is very effective when the three [principal characters] disappear on the highest stage about a half mile from the audience." Fire was produced again in 1923 and the 1924 and 1926 pageant production was of Austin's story, The Arrow-Maker.

 

59. AUSTIN, Mary. LOST BORDERS. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1909. 8vo, 209pp, 7 plates by Denman Fink. Pictorial cloth. ¶ First Edition of a collection of 14 tales of the desert set in Death Valley, Lone Pine, and Inyo County "by the one perhaps most gifted among those who write stories of our 'silent land'" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.15). Baird & Greenwood 120: "Stories of desert rats and desperate women."

 

60. AUSTIN, Mary. ONE-SMOKE STORIES.  Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1934. 8vo, xv, 295pp, illus by Gerald Cassidy. Pictorial cloth, dust jacket with the original price of $2.00 on the inside front flap.  ¶ First Edition of a collection of 43 desert tales originally told around the campfire during an automobile trip through the American Southwest that Austin (1868-1934) undertook in the spring of 1923 in preparation for the writing of "The Land of Journey's Ending" (1924). Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.15, who adored Austin, thought this title did not represent her well. One of Austin's more elusive titles.

 

61. AUSTIN, Mary. THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1903. 4to, xv, 281pp, frontis., 3 plates, & text illus. by E. Boyd Smith throughout. Decorated cloth. ¶ These 14 clairvoyant desert essays won Austin a place in American literature. The Land of Little Rain ranks among all-time great books on California and is an acknowledged classic of the desert. It is, in the opinion of many, the finest American illustrated book of its time; few artists have so perfectly captured the spirit of place as has E. Boyd Smith in the depictions of desert life in the Owens Valley and the approaches to Death Valley. Cowan p.24. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.14. Howes A-400. Powell, Land of Fact, 1. Zamorano 80 no.2.

 

62. AUSTIN, Mary. THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN. Photographs by Ansel Adams. Introduction by Carl Van Doren.  Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin, 1950. 4to, xviii, 133 + 48 b/w photo plates. Yellow cloth, printed dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition of Ansel Adam's magnificent photographs of the Sierra-Inyo-Mojave regions of the American West, accompanying Austin's 1903 classic. Adams adds "A Note on the Land and on the Photographs."

 

63. AUSTIN, Mary. THE FLOCK. Cambridge: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. 8vo, (10), 266pp, illus. by E. Boyd Smith. Green cloth with a gilt bordered illus. of a flock of sheep. ¶ First Edition of Austin's history of sheep herding in California. In her youth the author lived on Beale's Tejon Ranch where she observed the vast flocks and met the Basque and French sheep herders. "The book...is an imperishable classic of the desert; make no mistake about this. A desert collection, to be at all adequate, must not omit The Flock" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.14). Reprinted Santa Fe: W. Gannon, 1973.

 

64. AUSTIN, Mary. EARTH HORIZON. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1932. 8vo, ix, 381pp, frontis. portrait & 7 plates. Brown cloth, dust-jacket. ¶ First Edition of Austin's engaging autobiography. In the late 1880s Austin moved with her family to the Tejon Ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, and after her marriage moved to the Owen's Valley where she wrote her first book, The Land of Little Rain.

 

65. AUSTIN, Mary. MOTHER OF FELIPE, and Other Early Stories; Collected and Edited by Franklin Walker. San Franisco: Book Club of California, 1950. 8vo, 141pp.  ¶ A few of the stories collected here are set in the desert, the Panamint Range, and Agua Caliente. Baird & Greenwood 121.

 

66. AUSTIN, Maude Mason. ANNALS OF THE DESERT. Boston: Stratford Co., 1930. 8vo, 105pp, french-fold, 25 b/w photos by Gandara. Blue moire cloth, gilt title. ¶ Only Edition of a scarce privately printed meditation on the desert, with photographs of desert scenes of the Southwest or Northern Mexico. One piece titled "Where Radios and Lipsticks are Unknown" notes the Indian wife's concern that her husband now overindulges in peyote, "the brutalizing drug in the dried flowering tops of the peyote cactus - Lopophora kewinii" [i.e. Lewinii].

 

67. AVILLO, Philip Joseph, Jr. FORT MOJAVE.  San Diego: University of San Diego, 1969. 4to, 74pp. 

 

68. BAGLEY, Helen. SAND IN MY SHOE; Homestead Days in Twentynine Palms. With an Introduction by Lucile and Harold Weight. Twentynine Palms: Calico Press, (1978). 8vo, xviii, 268pp, b/w photo-illus. throughout. Beige cloth, lettered in brown, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. Reminiscences of the Bagleys who began their fifty-five year sojourn at the oasis in Twentynine Palms in 1927.

 

69. BAILEY, Gilbert Ellis. CALIFORNIA, A Geologic Wonderland. Los Angeles: Times-Mirror, 1924. 8vo, 119pp, frontis. of Arrowhead Mountain. Limp red leatherette, gilt spine title. ¶ Devotes several pages to Death Valley, California deserts, and the Salton Sea. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.15-16; Valley, p.72.

 

70. BAILEY, Gilbert Ellis. SALINE DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA. Sacramento State Mining Bureau Bulletin, 1902. 216pp, 24 plates, 5 maps. ¶ First Edition. "The bulletin contains a vast amount of data, much of it non-technical descriptive material on California Desert areas, particularly concerning the region in and near Death Valley" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.16).

 

71. BAILEY, Paul. AN UNNATURAL HISTORY OF DEATH VALLEY, With Reflections on The Valley's Varmints, Virgins, Vandals and Visionaries. Death Valley: Chalfant Press, 1978. 8vo, 84pp, misc. b/w photo-illus. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition, published for the Death Valley '49ers, illustrated with photographs and drawings by Bill Bender. Also issued in wrappers.

 

72. BAILEY, Philip. GOLDEN MIRAGES... The Story of the Lost Pegleg Mine, The Legendary Three Gold Buttes, and Yarns of and by Those Who Know the Desert.  New York: Macmillan, 1940. 8vo, xviii, (10), 353pp, photo-illus. frontis., 24 photo-illus. plates, 8 maps, 1 text illus. Navy cloth, lettered in gilt, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition, inscribed by the author. "Here is a book that rivets one's attention all the way from the artistic dust wrapper to the conclusion of the last chapter. Golden Mirages is a classic in the realm of lost-treasure tales. There is much interesting material on the Lost Pegleg mine, the fabled Lost Ship of the Desert, and Carrizo Corridor. The book becomes more delightful upon each successive reading" (Edwards p.17). Paher, Nevada, 55.

 

73. BAILEY, Victoria J. & Gayl Biondi. LA QUINTA, Legend in the Making. La Quinta: Desert Springs Publishing, 2007. Obl. 4to, 91pp, color photos. Blue boards.

 

74. BAIRD, Newton D. & Robert Greenwood. AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA FICTION 1664-1970. Georgetown, Calif.: Talisman Literary Research, 1971. 8v, xvi, 521pp. Black cloth. ¶ Only Edition of the essential guide to the fiction of the Golden State.

 

75. BAKER, Willard F. BOY RANCHERS IN DEATH VALLEY New York: Cupples & Leon, (1928). 8vo, 210pp. ¶ First Edition of a juvenile novel of Death Valley. Edwards, Valley, p.72. Not in Baird & Greenwood.

 

76. BAKKOM, Paul. THE HISTORY OF HEMET AND SAN JACINTO. Privately Printed by the Author, [ca, 1970s]. 8vo, 22 (1)ff. 

 

77. BALCH, Ann Renker & John W. Balch. ANCIENT LAKE CAHUILLA'S FISH TRAPPERS. Coachella: (the authors), 1974. 8vo, (4), 92pp, b/w maps & illus. Orange wrappers.  ¶ An amateur's investigation into the Fish Trappers who lived on the shores of ancient Lake Cahuilla. The fish traps can still be seen in the Santa Rosa foothills at the south end of Jackson Street.

 

78. BALDWIN, Faith. ENCHANTED OASIS. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1938. 8vo, (6), 305, (7)pp. Cloth, illustrated dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition, inscribed by the author in the year of publication. A virtually unreadable Palm Springs novel by the prolific authoress (her 28th book!). Baird & Greenwood 153: "An English girl encounters rivalries in Palm Springs society."

 

79. BALDWIN, Faith. ENCHANTED OASIS. New York: Dell, [n.d., ca 1948]. 12mo, 210pp. Wrappers illustrated with frolicking couple in bathing suits on front, map of Palm Springs & vicinity on back.  ¶ Dell Book 255, one of the handsome Mapback series.

 

80. BALL, Sydney Hobart. A GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE IN SOUTHWESTERN NEVADA AND EASTERN CALIFORNIA. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907. 8vo, 218, vi pp, 16 figures, 3 plates (incl. large color folding map). Printed wrappers. ¶ First Edition, United States Geological Survey Bulletin No. 308. Covers the area from Tonopah and Goldfield to south of Bullfrog and partially into Inyo County. Sydney H. Ball (1877-1949). Paher 64.

 

81. BANCROFT, Hubert Howe. GUIDE TO THE COLORADO MINES (San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft & Co.,) 1863. 16pp, tables, folding map. Flexible faux-leather cloth, gilt. The lithographed map measures 28 x 44 cm, exclusive of one inch ornamental borders.  ¶ Rare. Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi West, 1060 (and see V, I, p.64 footnote and V, II, p.385). OCLC notes only the copies at Berkeley and Yale (the Parker-Streeter copy). In 1933 the Streeter copy was in the possession of W.R. Parker of Oroville.

 

82. BANCROFT, Hubert Howe. GUIDE TO THE COLORADO MINES. [In:] California Historical Quarterly, Vol. XII, 1933.  ¶ A reproduction of the rare pamphlet and map, with a foreword by R.E. Cowan. The Guide describes the stations along the Old Bradshaw Stage route from San Pedro to the Colorado River, including Agua Blanco (Whitewater), Agua Caliente (Palm Springs), Sand Hole, etc. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.18.

 

83. BANCROFT, Hubert Howe. HISTORY OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO. San Francisco: The History Company, 1889.  ¶ History of the Pacific States of North America, Volume 17.

 

84. BANCROFT, Hubert Howe. HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. San Francisco, 1889-91. 7 vols, 8vo.

 

85. BANCROFT, Hubert Howe. HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC STATES OF NORTH AMERICAN. Vol. 10: North Mexican States. San Francisco, 1883.  ¶ Chapters 4, 10, 11 & 16 re Imperial County.

 

86. BANHAM, Peter Reyner. SCENES IN AMERICA DESERTA. Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith,  1982. 8vo, vii, 228pp. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. "In Scenes in America Deserta, Reyner Banham steps aside from his familiar role as an architectural historian and confesses himself a delighted, intrigued, but puzzled visitor to the arid lands of the American Southwest. What delights Banham most is visual pleasure, and this book is first and foremost a celebration of the pure visual response of a four-wheeled voyeur. What intrigues him is the works of man - the ancient pueblos and the modern observatories, the fantasies of Las Vegas and the Spanish missions, Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri. What puzzles him is his response as the archetypal British tourist - the discovery that the desert is beautiful in his eyes in a way that no other landscape has ever been. This unsettling discovery sends Banham on a search for the roots of this response. He seeks explanations in the works of writers as various as Gaston Bachelard, Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, early historians and explorers, the American solitary and aesthete John van Dyke and Charles Doughty the English Arabist (author of Travels in Arabia Deserta)" (publisher's blurb).

 

87. BANKS, L.A. "Buzz." POLICING THE OLD MOJAVE DESERT. (Victorville: the Author), (1994). 8vo, 127pp, title vignette, b/w photo-illus. throughout. White wrappers, lettered in black with silhouette profile vignette. ¶ Only Edition of this colorful account. Former California Highway Patrol officer "Buzz" Banks describes the early days of the Patrol in and around Victorville beginning in the late 1930s. Intriguing chapter headings include: "Deserts Seem to Develop Unusual People," "Judge Roy Bean Would Have Loved Victorville," "Uncommon Drunks I Have Met - and Had to Arrest," and "Victorville, a Wartime Peyton Place."

 

88. (Banning). AND IT CAME TO PASS, A Story of Banning. (Banning: Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, Banning Branch), [n.d. ca. 1950]. 

 

89. (Banning newspaper). THE BANNING RECORD. Banning: 1908.  ¶ Issued weekly beginning with Jan. 23, 1908, the Record included a section titled Palm Springs News from Oct. 23, 1924 through July 28, 1927.

 

90. (Banning, Phineas). KRYTHE, Maymie. PORT ADMIRAL - Phineas Banning 1830-1885. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1957. 8vo, xvi, 251, (3)pp, 12 b/w illus. ¶ Limited to 1000 copies. Special Publication No. 28.

 

91. (Banning, Phineas). YOCH, James J. ON THE GOLDEN SHORE. Phineas Banning in Southern California 1851-1885 Wilmington: Banning Residence Museum, 2002. 

 

92. BANNING, William & George Hugh Banning. SIX HORSES. New York: Century Company, (1930). 8vo, 410pp, illus. with photos & engravings throughout. Red cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition of an account of the early stage coach business and travel in California. Foreword by Frederick R. Burnham and endpaper maps designed by George Annand. Dobie, Life & Literature of the Southwest p.78. Paher 74.

 

93. BARRETT, Ellen C. BAJA CALIFORNIA, 1535-1956 [and] BAJA CALIFORNIA II, 1535-1964: A Bibliography of Historical, Geographical and Scientific Literature Relating to the Peninsula of Baja California and to the Adjacent Islands in the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. Los Angeles: Bennett & Marshall and Westernlore Press, 1957 - 1967. 2 vols, sm. 4to, xx, 284; xvii, 250pp, frontis. to each volume, endpaper maps. Gilt embossed blue & gray cloth in matching grey cloth-covered slipcases. ¶ Only edition, limited to 550 copies, of which 50 were signed. A 42pp Supplement was issued in 1968.

 

94. BARROWS, David Prescott.  ETHNO-BOTANY OF THE COAHUILLA INDIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculties of the Graduate Schools of Arts, Literature and Science in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Anthropology). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1900. 8vo, 82pp. Orange printed wrappers. ¶ First Edition of the first anthropological study of the Cahuilla tribe who lived at Agua Caliente, later called Palm Springs. "Without question this Barrows monograph is one of the most informative of the writings about the Cahuilla" (Harry James). "The most important work on the Cahuilla, and very vividly written" (Hooper). Includes general description of the entire Colorado Desert and an interesting list of the plants used by the Cahuilla. Kroeber's work on the Cahuilla followed in 1908. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.19. Reprinted by AMS Press, and again by the Malki Museum in 1967. The first edition is rare. Louis Collins, the eminent dealer in American ethnographic books, recently wrote to me: "I probably have had two copies in all these years. It is one of my favorite reads of all time. I use it as an example of good writing and how you can find it anywhere. Because of that I have usually kept copies of the reprint in stock."

 

95. BARROWS, David Prescott.  THE DESERT OF COLORADO.  [In:]  Land of Sunshine, November, 1900. Pp.312-323 illus. ¶ "As in many of these early articles, age is the most commendable factor. Little, if any, new material is introduced, although we do catch intimate glimpses of the route stretching from Indio to the San Gorgonio Pass, as Barrows traveled it in 1897" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.20).

 

96. BARTLETT, John Russell. PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF EXLORATION AND INCIDENTS in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora and Chihuahua, Connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, During the Years 1850, '51, '52,  and '53. New York: Appleton, 1854. 2 vols, 8vo, xxii, 506; xvii, 624pp, with 2 folding frontis., large folding map of the U.S. & Mexican border area, 13 tinted lithograph plates, 29 full-page woodcuts, & many smaller text cuts throughout. Brown blind-stamped cloth. ¶ First Edition of a key record of travel and exploration in the Southwest. The Boundary Commission expedition departed in September 1850 and spent nearly three years traveling throughout the Southwest in an effort to determine the border between the United States and Mexico which had been left indefinite by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican War. Bartlett's work remains one of the most accurate accounts of the region and the illustrations include some of the best depictions of the area. The  bibliographers record different numbers of illustrations and plates for the first edition and note differences between the printed lists of illustrations included in the two volumes and the plates that were actually published. California desert material is found in Ch. XXVI, "San Diego to Alamo Mucho. Cowan p.36. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.20. Howes B-201. Wagner-Camp 234:1. Wheat, Gold Regions, 252. The first edition appeared in both one and two volume issues. Reprinted Chicago: Rio Grande Press, 1965.

 

97. BARTLETT, Richard A. GREAT SURVEYS OF THE AMERICAN WEST. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1962. 8vo, 408pp, illus. Cloth. ¶ Describes the surveys of King, Powell, and Wheeler, and the great transcontinental railroad surveys. Paher 83.

 

98. BARTLETT, W.P. HAPPENINGS. A Series of Sketches of the Great California Out-of-Doors. Porterville, 1927. 8vo, 267pp. Dark green silk-weave cloth stamped in gilt. ¶ First Edition, inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Sketches of Death Valley, Rhyolite, and vicinity by an early California newspaperman and founder of the Livermore Valley Herald, established in 1877. The publisher's name is omitted in the first edition; the second edition bears the imprint Los Angeles: Times-Mirror Press. A second volume, More Happenings, was issued by Christopher Publishing House in 1928. Edwards, Valley, p.73. Paher 84.

 

99. BASSETT, Allen M. GEOLOGIC RECONNAISSANCE MAP of Part of the Southeastern Mojave Desert, California. Mineral Investigations Field Studies Map MF-205. Washington: U.S. Geological Survey, 1962. Folding map in printed folder. 

 

100. BASSETT, Allen M. & Donald H. Kupfer. A GEOLOGIC RECONNAISSANCE IN THE SOUTHEASTERN MOJAVE DESERT. Special Report 83.  San Francisco: Division of Mines & Geology, California Department of Conservation, 1964. 

 

101. BAUR, John L.  THE HEALTH SEEKERS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. San Marino: The Huntington Library,  1959. 8vo, orange cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. Bauer investigates the nineteenth-century belief that Southern California's sunny climate could cure consumption, asthma, rheumatism, and a host of other disorders which triggered a rush of health seekers to the region. By the end of the century the influx of easterners had inflated land values, created a building boom, inaugurated new types of businesses, and founded the towns of Pasadena, Riverside, and Palm Springs.

 

102. BAXTER, Don J. GATEWAYS TO CALIFORNIA. San Francisco: Pacific Gas & Electric, 1968. 4to, 47pp, tinted illus. throughout. Wrappers. ¶ Compiled from articles in P.G. & E. Progress. Describes some 30 passes, including the Tejon, San Carlos, Warner's, Cajon, Walker, and the San Gorgonio. "This is an attractive book, with much historic information of interest and value packed into its 47 pages" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p. 21).

 

103. BEALE, Carl H.  THE EARTHQUAKE IN THE IMPERIAL VALLEY, CALIFORIA. June 22, 1915. 149pp, photo. illus. Wrappers.

 

104. (Beale, Edward). BONSAL, Stephen. EDWARD FITZGERALD BEALE, A Pioneer in the Path of Empire, 1822-1903. New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1912. 8vo, 312pp, frontisportrait, 17 illus., mostly after period lithographs. Cloth, gilt. ¶ First Edition. Edward Fitzgerald Beale fought with the army at San Pasqual, was a courier across the country six times from 1847-1853, surveyed routes and built wagon roads to the West, brought the first gold from California to the East, was Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada, and suggested the infamous camel trains to the War Department (cf. chapter titled "The Forgotten Camel Corps"). Bonsal credits Beale and Carson with an unauthenticated exploration of Death Valley. A good deal of the book is taken from the journals of Heap and Beale, and includes Heap's account "The Desert Journey," detailing a trip from Utah to San Bernardino in 1853. Cowan p.62. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.31. Howes B-608.

 

105. BEALE, Edwin F. WAGON ROAD - Ft Smith to Colorado River. 36th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Executive Document No. 42. Washington 1858. 91pp, folding map showing the route of E.F. Beale from Fort Smith, Arkansaw to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1858-9. ¶ The report of Beale relating to the construction of a wagon road from Fort Smith to the Colorado River. In 1856, Congress appropriated funds to construct three wagon roads, one of which was to be built along the 35th parallel (explored in 1853-54 by Capt. Whipple) from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River where it would connect with the Mojave Road in California. Already famous for his exploits in the Mexican War, Beal was selected to build this road. In addition to the usual livestock and equipment, Beale used camels recently imported from Syria to test their usefulness in the deserts of western America. Construction on Beale's route began in August of 1857 and reached the Colorado River in October of the same year. The Beale Road became popular with the military and with Arizona and California settlers from 1858 until the coming of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1882. Cf. Howes B-272; Wagner-Camp 350.

 

106. (Beale). HEAP, Gwinn Harris. CENTRAL ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC from the Valley of the Mississippi to California: Journal of the Expedition of E.F. Beale, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California and Gwinn Harris Heap, From Missouri to California. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, 1854. 8vo, 136pp, 46 unnumbered pp of ads, 13 tinted lithographs, folding map. Brown cloth, gilt & blind stamped.  ¶ First Edition. In 1853 Beale and Heap traveled westward from Missouri into the American frontier under a Congressional mandate to select lands suitable for Indian reservations, eventually reaching Los Angeles. Following a route through New Mexico and Utah that had been proposed as a railroad right-of-way from the Mississippi Valley to California, their narrative contains descriptions of many previously unexplored areas. Found in the appendix is an account by Rev. James Brier, one of the earliest published accounts of Death Valley by a member of the emigrant party who crossed the valley in 1849. The book was reprinted by Clark in 1957 and Burr Belden reprints the Brier article in Death Valley Heroine. Wheat lauds the map and spends several pages discussing the journey, saying that it has received less attention than it deserves. He notes that it is the earliest published map to show the middle Rocky Mountain region, through what is now southern Colorado, the first to depict several streams and rivers, and the first attempt to chart a route through Death Valley. The rare map was issued with only a few copies. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.110-11: "Of all the journals and diaries telling of the Mojave Desert crossing, none appears comparable to the Heap in sheer readability and in picturesque descriptive quality." Cowan p.273. Howes H-378. Paher 813. Sabin 31175. Wagner-Camp 235. Wheat, Transmississippi West, 808. Reprinted by Arthur H. Clark in 1957 with much additional material, including an introduction by LeRoy Hafen.

 

107. (Beale). MARTIN, Larry Jay. RUSH TO DESTINY. New York: Bantam Books,  (1992). 8vo, 390pp.  ¶ First Edition of a novel based on the early life of Edward Fitzgerald Beale.

 

108. BEAN, Lowell John. CAHUILLA INDIAN CULTURAL ECOLOGY. Los Angeles: University of California, 1970.  ¶ Dr Bean's doctoral dissertation in anthropology.

 

109. BEAN, Lowell John. MUKAT'S PEOPLE: The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972. 8vo, ix, (1, map), 201pp. Cloth, black spine, reddish boards, spine stamped in red. Red printed dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition. "One of the best anthropological studies ever made of an Indian tribe... based on his 15 years of work with the Cahuilla elders and his correlation of previous tribal knowledge" (Frank Bogert). "Drawing on ethnographic and archaeological findings, historical documents, and the the memories of present day Cahuillas, a Shoshonean-speaking people in the interior of southern California, Mr Bean reconstructs their culture as it existed at the beginning of the Spanish period, thus adding a new dimension to the history of California" (dj notes). Reprinted Ballena Press, 1992.

 

110. BEAN, Lowell John (ed.). CALIFORNIA INDIAN SHAMANISM. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers (1992). 8vo. viii, 274, (2)pp. Wrappers. ¶ 13 articles from ethnographers, a linguist, and Native Americans, addressing Native California shamanism from traditional times to the present. Introduction and article on the Shamanic Experience by Lowell John Bean.

 

111. BEAN, Lowell John; Frank W. Porter; Lisa J. Bourgeault. CAHUILLA. Langhorne, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House, 1988. 4to, 112pp, photos throughout. Glazed boards. ¶ First Edition of an introduction to the Cahuilla. "The Cahuilla of southern California live in a region of mountains as high as 11,000 feet above sea level and desert as low as 273 feet below. In the early 19th century, Spanish missions introduced Catholicism to the Cahuillas and taught them ranching and other skills. As they lost choice land to newcomers, the Cahuillas learned Spanish and, later, English, and found employment on settlers' farms and ranches. Today, many Cahuillas live on reservations, including one in the city of Palm Springs, which they had known as the place of the hot medicine waters. They have recorded their traditional stories and songs and continue to practice important ceremonies and customs even as they have adjusted to a new way of life" (publisher's note).

 

112. BEAN, Lowell John & Harry Lawton. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE CAHUILLA INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. Banning: Malki Museum Press, 1967. 8vo, 28pp. Wrappers. ¶ This invaluable compilation was first issued in the Malki edition of Barrows' The Ethnology of the Cahuilla Indians and is here expanded.

 

113. BEAN, Lowell John & Harry Lawton. A PRELIMINARY RECONSTRUCTION OF ABORIGINAL AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY AMONG THE CAHUILLA. [In:] The Indian Historian, 1 (5): 18-24, 29.

 

114. BEAN, Lowell John & Harry Lawton. CAHUILLA INDIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Banning: Malki Museum Press, 1965.  ¶ First published in 1965 and reprinted several times. Malki Museum Brochure No. 1. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.21.

 

115. BEAN, Lowell John; Jerry Schaefer; & Sylvia Brakke Vane. ARCHAEOLOGICAL, ETHNOGRAPHIC, AND ETHNOHISTORIC INVESTIGATIONS at Tahquitz Canyon, Palm Springs, California. Menlo Park: California Cultural Systems Research, 1995. 

 

116. BEAN, Lowell John & Katherine Siva Sauvel. TEMALPAKH, Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants. With an Appendix on the Problem of Aboriginal Agriculture among the Cahuilla by Harry W. Lawton and Lowell John Bean. Photographic Arrangement by Nancy Bercovitz. Banning: Malki Museum Press,  Morongo Indian Reservation, 1972. 8vo, x, 225pp, text illus. from b/w photos, map. White cloth, with gilt front-cover decoration & spine-lettering, pictorial dust jacket. ¶ The authoritative work on ethnobotany in Southern California. Temalpakh, Cahuilla for "from the Earth," represents more than ten years of field work and collaboration on the knowledge and usage of plants among the Cahuilla Indians. The work extends our understanding of Cahuilla use of plants far beyond the scope encompassed by Barrows in his pioneering monograph Ethnobotany of the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, published in 1900. The studies of Bean and Sauvel reveal the high degree of sophisticated knowledge possessed by the Cahuilla concerning plant life, suggest the acuteness of their ecological awareness, and have implications of considerable significance for southern California Indian research as a whole. This new ethnobotany for the Cahuilla covers more than 250 plants and the often fascinating ways in which they were utilized. Additional supplementary material examines the controversial issue of aboriginal agriculture in southern California. Reprinted several times.

 

117. BEAN, Lowell John; Sylvia B. Vane; Michael Lerch; & Jackson Young. NATIVE AMERICAN PLACES IN THE SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California. Menlo Park: California Cultural Systems Research, 1981. 

 

118. BEAN, Lowell John & Sylvia Brakke Vane. CALIFORNIA INDIANS: Primary Resources. Ramona: Ballena Press, (1977). 8vo, 227pp. Wrappers. ¶ First Edition, signed by Vane on the title. A bibliographical guide to mss., documents, artifacts, serials, and illustrations relative to native Californians. Reprinted in 1990.

 

119. BEAN, Lowell John; Sylvia Brakke Vane, & Jackson Young. THE CAHUILLA LANDSCAPE. The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. Menlo Park: Ballena Press, (1991). 4to, vi, 116pp, frontisportrait, 6 color plates, 11 maps, b/w text illus. Photo-illus. wrappers, lettered in white. ¶ First Printing. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No.37.

 

120. BEATTIE, George W. CALIFORNIA'S UNBUILT MISSIONS. Spanish Plans for an Inland Chain. [N.p.: the author], 1930. Thin 8vo, photos throughout, folding map at rear. Dark blue cloth.  ¶ First Edition of an important book describing the Asistencias of Santa Ysabel, San Antonio de Pala, and San Bernardino. Edwards, Desert Treasure, 6.

 

121. BEATTIE, George W. DEVELOPMENT OF TRAVEL Between Southern Arizona and Los Angeles." [In:] Historical Society of Southern California Annual, Vol. XIII, Part II, pp.228-257. 1926.  ¶ "The purpose of this article is to prepare a detailed tracing of the development of travel routes through the Colorado desert into the San Bernardino area. Emphasis is placed upon the Bradshaw Stage route. This is an early and important historical item" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.22).

 

122. BEATTIE, George W. REOPENING THE ANZA ROAD. [In:]  Pacific Historical Review II, pp.52-71. 1933.  ¶ "In this article Mr Beattie describes the several attempts to reopen the route established by Anza in 1774, and abandoned in 1781 because of the hostility of the Yuma Indians" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.22).

 

123. BEATTIE, George William.  ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RIGHTS IN THE EAST SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY.  Redlands: San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, 1951. 8vo, (4), 70pp, folding map, portrait of the author.  ¶ Bulletin No. 4. Supplemented by Horace P. Hinckley and Jeffrey J. Prendergast and Edward Fitzgerald Dibble.

 

124. BEATTIE, George William.  SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY LANDMARKS and Historical Points of Interest. 8 volumes. N.p., n.d.  ¶ A copy of this unpublished ms may be found at the Cal State University San Bernardino library.

 

125. BEATTIE, George William.  SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY BEFORE THE AMERICANS CAME. [In:] California Historical Society Quarterly, 12, 111-125. 1933. 

 

126. BEATTIE, George William & Helen Pruitt Beattie. HERITAGE OF THE VALLEY: San Bernardino's First Century. With a Foreword by Henry R. Wagner. Pasadena: San Pasqual Press, 1939. 8vo, xxvi, 459pp, plates, photos, illus, folding map. Cloth, dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition. signed by both of the authors on the half-title. "Every once-in-so-often a great book makes its appearance. Beattie's Heritage is one of our truly great books on California, and its demonstrated value has already become cumulative in the scope of its appeal. Insofar as it is possible to achieve a truly developed work on a given subject, Heritage of the Valley has - I believe - accomplished just such a desideratum. Here is an account of San Bernardino and its surrounding territory - desert and valley - with complete utilization of every available contribution of source data. Among the more important chapters are those concerning the Mormon venture into San Bernardino and early travel through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Pass routes" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.23).

 

127. BEATTIE, George William & Helen Pruitt Beattie. HERITAGE OF THE VALLEY: San Bernardino's First Century. Oakland: Biobooks, 1951. 8vo, xxix, 459pp. Blue & orange cloth. ¶ Reprint of the first edition.

 

128. (Beaumont). BEAUMONT, Formerly San Gorgonio. What Is It? Where Is It?  1886  ¶ Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.8.

 

129. BECHDOLT, Frederick R. WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG. New York: Century, 1922. 8vo, (10), 309pp, frontis. by Remington. Red cloth stamped in black. Illustrated dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. "A fairly interesting, though not entirely accurate, resume of the Death Valley experience" (Edwards, Valley, 73). Includes chapters on Joaquín Murrieta, John Slaughter, the Overland Mail, etc. Cowan p.41. 

 

130. BECKER, Stephen & Jeffrey Birmingham (eds.). THE SAN JACINTOS: A History and Natural History. Riverside: Historical Commission Press,  1981. 8vo, 54pp illus. throughout, folding plate of life zones.  ¶ Chapters on the natural history, including plant and animal life, ecology and geology, are followed by  sketches on the Cahuilla, early pioneers and settlers, and a history of Idyllwild and the school of Music and Arts by Ernie Maxell.

 

131. BECKET, Marta. TO DANCE ON SANDS: The Life and Art of Death Valley's Marta Becket. Stephens Press, (2007). 

 

132. BEDELL, Mary Crehore. MODERN GYPSIES: The Story of a Twelve Thousand Mile Motor Camping Trip Encircling the United States.  New York: Brentano's, (1924). 8vo, 262pp, 34 photo illus., 1 map of the route. Pictorial green cloth by the Decorative Designers showing an old car at a mountain campsite. ¶ The author and her husband, camped their way from the east to the west coast, crossing the Colorado Desert to Los Angeles and then to the Northwest and back to New York. Bliss, Autos Across America, 41.

 

133. BEDWELL, Henry. THE BOOMER, A Story of the Rails. New York: Farrar & Rhinehart, 1942. 8vo, cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. The railroad historian Donald Duke has suggested the locale of this novel to be a pseudonym for Garnet as the story tells of the terrible winds and sand blowing across the railway tracks. Recently reprinted by the University of Minnesota Press. Not in Baird & Greenwood.

 

134. BEE, Robert L. THE YUMA, Indians of North America. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. 

 

135. BEEBE, Lucius. THE CENTRAL PACIFIC & THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROADS. Berkeley: Howell-North, 1963. 4to, 631pp, illls. Cloth. ¶ Beebe and the photographer Charles Clegg traveled the rails they write about, and this is perhaps their most ambitious work. There was also a special "Centennial Edition." Paher 103.

 

136. BEGOLE, Robert S. AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY IN THE ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK. [In:] Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1972. 

 

137. BEHRENS, June & Pauline Brower. DEATH VALLEY. Chicago: Childrens Press, (1980). 4to, 31, (1)pp, color photos. Color wrappers. ¶ Two children explore Death Valley with their old-timer grandfather who tells the story of the '49ers, the early miners, the discovery of borax, etc.

 

138. BELDEN, L. Burr. DEATH VALLEY HEROINE and Source Accounts of the 1849 Travelers. San Bernardino: Inland Printing & Engraving, (1954). 8vo, (8), 78pp.  ¶ First Edition, one of 250 copies. The heroine of the title was Juliet Brier, wife of the tedious Rev. Brier and mother of three small boys, who despite her frailty was a tower of strength during the worst parts of the desert crossing. The book includes her account of Christmas in Death Valley, the first known published account by her husband, and recollections of her sons, as well as accounts of Thomas Shannon and John Rogers and a letter written by Manly in reply to the young Brier's account. The first 18 pages give a condensed account of the Death Valley venture of 1849. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.23.

 

139. BELDEN, L. Burr. FORGOTTEN ARMY FORTS OF THE MOJAVE. Los Angeles: The Westerners, (1964). An excerpt from Brand Book 11.

 

140. BELDEN, L. Burr. GOODBYE, DEATH VALLEY! The 1849 Jayhawker Escape. Palm Desert: Desert Magazine Press, 1956. 8vo, 63pp, frontis. Pictorial wrappers. ¶ First Edition. Burr traces the largest of several parties who became mired in Death Valley in December, 1849. Two members of this party, the Jayhawkers, kept diaries of their trip which have been preserved. They were consulted by the author along with a scrapbook and numerous letters in the Huntington Library. This work includes a list of Jayhawkers. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.24: "Mr Belden, perhaps our foremost living authority on early California history as it relates to the region in and around the San Bernardino area, has authored two of the relatively few outstanding books to be written thus far on the subject of Death Valley... Death Valley Heroine is the other."

 

141. BELDEN, L. Burr. MINES OF DEATH VALLEY. Glendale: La Siesta Press, 1966. 8vo, 71pp, photo. illus. throughout, endpaper maps. Brick cloth, gilt title, original spider-web glassine dust jacket. ¶ First Edition, one of 300 copies hand-bound by Bela Blau, with an extra colophon leaf, signed by the author on the title. "A delightful book, this. Good reading. Dependable information" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.24-25). A trade edition was issued in the same year.

 

142. BELDEN, L. Burr. MINES OF DEATH VALLEY. Glendale: La Siesta Press, 1966. 8vo, 71pp, photo. illus. throughout. Wrappers. ¶ First Trade Edition.

 

143. BELDEN, L. Burr. OLD STOVEPIPE WELLS. (San Bernardino:) Death Valley '49ers, November 10,  1968. 8vo, (12)pp, illus. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 8.

 

144. BELDEN, L. Burr. THE MISSISSIPPIANS AND THE GEORGIANS OF THE DEATH VALLEY 1849 PARTY. Los Angeles: The Death Valley Forty-Niners, 1975. 8vo, 12, (2)pp, b/w illus. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 15.

 

145. BELDEN, L. Burr. THE WADE STORY: "In and Out of Death Valley". San Bernardino: Inland Printing & Engraving / (Death Valley '49ers), October, 1957. 8vo, 15pp. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no.1.

 

146. BELDEN, L. Burr & Ardis Manly Walker. SEARLES LAKE BORAX 1862-1962. (San Bernardino:) Death Valley '49ers, November, 1962. 8vo, 39pp, illus. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 4, inscribed by A. M. Walker.

 

147. BELDEN, L. Burr & Mary DeDecker. DEATH VALLEY TO YOSEMITE, Frontier Mining Camps and Ghost Towns: The Men, The Women, Their Mines & Stories. Bishop: Spotted Dog Press, (1998). 8vo, 192pp, maps of the mining camps. Wrappers.  ¶ Essays on the mines of Death Valley and the Eastern Sierra, women prospectors of the region, routes to access the more remote mines, and with a section on exploring the old mining districts safely.

 

148. BELL, Horace. ON THE OLD WEST  COAST. Being Further Reminiscences of a Ranger...  Edited by Lanier Bartlett. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1930.  ¶ "An amazing book. It remained in ms. for twelve years after the author's death. There may been a reason. It is a startling expose of conditions and people of old Los Angeles. Some of the chapters were evidently written by Bell with his tongue in his cheek, but it contains historical facts not to be found elsewhere in print"(Layne, Books of the Los Angeles District, 3)."Of desert interest are his chapters - Spit in the Mouth of Hell; Oranges on Joshua Trees; In Praise of the Mormons; and  Pegleg Smith, the Death Valley Party and John Goler's Mine" (Edwards, The Enduring Desert, p.25). Reprinted by Grossett & Dunlap.

 

149. BELL, Horace. ON THE OLD WEST  COAST. Being Further Reminiscences of a Ranger... Edited by Lanier Bartlett. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (1930). 8vo, xiv, (2), 336pp, frontisportrait, 12 b/w hors-text plates, b/w text illus. & manuscript facsimiles. Black cloth, yellow paper title onlays, lettered in black, at upper board & spine, top edge stained red, dust jacket, illus. endpapers. ¶ Reprint.

 

150. BELL, Horace. REMINISCENCES OF A RANGER or Early Times in Southern California. Los Angeles: Yarnell, Caystile & Mathes, 1881. 8vo, cloth.  ¶ First Edition of the first book written, printed and bound in Los Angeles. "The character of Horace Bell would seem essentially to epitomize the spirit of early Los Angeles. He contrived to live more intimately, and more romantically, in the atmosphere of his times, than perhaps any other person of that day. A little garrulous on occasions, never entirely reticent with respect to his own personal exploits, old Major Bell - from first to last - held the spotlight of interest in that day when Los Angeles was young." (Edwards pp.25-26). Chapter 28 gives an intimate portrait of Bill Bradshaw, founder of the Bradshaw Stage Line. Cowan p.44. "The most readable historical narrative of early southern California" (Howes B-325). Powell, Land of Fact, 2. Zamorano 80, 5.

 

151. BELL, Horace. REMINISCENCES OF A RANGER or Early Times in Southern California. The Foreword is Written by Arthur M. Ellis, and the Illustrations are by James S. Bodrero. Santa Barbara: Wallace Hebberd, 1927. 8vo, (16), 499, (1)pp, 16 b/w plates inserted. Green cloth decorated in gilt after the first edition, red illustrated dust jacket.  ¶ Handsome edition printed at the Lakeside Press.

 

152. BELL, William. NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA, A Journal of Travel and Adventure Whilst Engaged in a Survey for a Southern Railroad to the Pacific Ocean during 1867-8. London: Chapman & Hall, 1869. 2 vols, lxv, (3), 236; vii, (1), 322pp, 2 tinted maps (1 folding), 24 plates (mostly tinted lithographs).  ¶ First Edition. Bell joined the surveying expedition organized by the Kansas Pacific Railway Company in 1867 to find a southern railroad route to the Pacific Coast through Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. Their route through the Southwest is traced on the large folding map. The second volume includes a discussion of the Pacific railway and a botanical report by C.C. Parry. Gives a history of mining under the Spaniards, and describes mines along the Colorado (pp.426 et seq.). Cowan p.45. Howes B-330. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.272 (noting the 1965 reprint). Paher 114. The true first does not include appendix D, the report of Powell's cruise through the Grand Canyon. A second edition in one volume, 1870, appears to be made up from repaginated sheets of the first edition.

 

153. BENDER, Bill. THE DEATH VALLEY '49ers As I Remember Them. (Death Valley:) Death Valley '49ers, November,  1998. 8vo, 24pp, b/w photo-illus. throughout. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 38.

 

154. BENEDICT, Ruth F. A BRIEF SKETCH OF SERRANO CULTURE. American Anthropologist 26, pp.366-92. 1924.  ¶ Benedict's works on the Serrano are among the best written. "...they are pure Indian through and through, without a trace of missionary or other alien influence. No one then living except Doctor Benedict's informant, Rosa Morongo, widow of Captain John Morongo, the ablest Indian of his time, could have given the account of Serrrano myths and culture, learned from her father-in-law, old Sia Morongo, who viewed the world from the standpoint of an Indian and knew no other culture" (Shinn p.12).

 

155. BENEDICT, Ruth F. SERRANO TALES. [In:] The Journal of American Folk-Lore. Vol. 39, No. 151, January-March,  New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1926.  ¶ Also includes Edward Gifford's Yuma Dreams and Omens. With a slip noting this number was printed September, 1927, by J.J. Augustin.

 

156. BENEDICT, S.G. MAPPING DEATH VALLEY A QUARTER CENTURY AGO. [In:] Touring Topics, November, 1931. 

 

157. BENISH, John. DEATH VALLEY SAGA.  1984.  ¶ A modern-day covered wagon trip from Wisconsin to Death Valley and back.

 

158. [BENJAMIN, Edward H., ed.]. CALIFORNIA MINES AND MINERALS. Published by the California Miners' Association under the Direction of Edward H. Benjamin, Secretary, for the California Meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. San Francisco: California Miners' Association,  1899. 8vo, (vi), 450 , (2), xlviii (ads)pp, 3 folding maps, 2 folding plans, many plates & text illus. mostly after photographs. Orig. 3/4 maroon morocco over maroon pebbled cloth, spine gilt lettered between gilt ruled raised bands, marbled endpapers. ¶ First Edition of a monumental overview of the history of and current activities in all phases of mining in California, with chapters on each appropriate county, technical development, plans and prospects, etc. This work was dedicated to the members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers as a souvenir of their visit to California, September and October, 1899. Cowan p.46. Wheat, Gold Rush, 33.

 

159. BENNETT, G. G. THE LAST OF THE 20-MULE TEAM FREIGHTERS... as Told to Joe Doctor. (Death Valley:) Death Valley '49ers, November,  1989. 8vo, 23, (1)pp, b/w illus. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 29. Transcription of an interview detailing G.G. Bennett's experience with long-line teams involved in the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1911 and 1912. The interview was conducted by Joe Doctor on July 22, 1978, when Bennett was 92 years old.

 

160. BENNETT, James. OVERLAND JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. Journal of James Bennett Whose Party Left New Harmony in 1850 and Crossed the Plains and Mountains Until the Golden West Was Reached. New York: Eberstadt, 1932. 8vo, 45pp. Wrappers. ¶ First Edition, limited to 200 copies, taken from the New Harmony Times of 1906. "A colorful report written by a journalist. Bennett speaks ominously and often, of the illness and death along the trail. He also gives a good account of the suffering encountered by those following the Humboldt, and of the many dead animals, stating that in the first five miles, he counted the carcasses of 64 oxen and 55 horses" (Mintz 33). Cowan p.831. Howes B-357a. Reprinted by Ye Galleon Press, 1987.

 

161. BENNETT, Melba. PALM SPRINGS GARDEN BOOK. Palm Springs: [Garden Club of Palm Springs], 1964. 8vo, 52pp. 

 

162. BENNETT, Melba Berry. GO WEST, YOUNG MAN. Palm Springs: Deep Well Guest Ranch, 1940. (15)pp.

 

163. BENSON, Lyman & Robert Darrow. MANUAL OF SOUTHWEST DESERT TREES AND SHRUBS. Tucson: University of Arizona Press,  1944. 8vo, 411pp. Cream wrappers. ¶ First Edition of a thorough description of desert trees and shrubs. A second edition appeared in 1954 and the third and greatly expanded edition in 1981 with 95 color plates, 424 photographs and drawings and 252 maps.

 

164. BENTON, F. Weber. THE DESERT, A Graphic Story in Verse of the California Sea of Sand. (Los Angeles: Benton, n.d.). Obl. 4to, (7) leaves of yucca bark, printed & illustrated, sewn with twine. ¶ A poem about a wayfarer on the desolate desert, with illustrations by the author. On the back of the title is a discourse on the Yucca, on whose bark the book is entirely printed. "Illustrated and printed from plates reproduced from original, and lettering in artistic chirography, on sheets, all of wood from the desert Yucca tree, and bound together with Raffia strings." Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.27. OCLC notes five copies, noting Benton was born in 1855.

 

165. BERGLAND, Eric. PRELIMINARY REPORT UPON THE OPERATIONS OF PARTY No. 3, California Section, Season of 1875-76 with a View to Determine the Feasibility of Diverting the Colorado River for Purposes of Irrigation. Annual Report Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian for 1876, Appendix B (pp.109-1250).  1876.  ¶ Also in Annual Report Chief of Engineers for 1876, Part, 3, pp.329-345, both with general map and map of "depressed area in the Colorado Desert."

 

166. BERGLAND, Lt Eric. REPORT. [In:] Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers to the Secretary of War for the Year 1876, Part III, Appendix JJ.  1876.  ¶ Lieutenant Eric Bergland reached the summit of Mt Jacinto while part of the Wheeler Survey of 1876.

 

167. BERNAL, Billie. OCOTILLO, A Place in the Sun. Ocotillo: [The Author], 1986. 8vo, 148pp, illus. Wrappers.  ¶ A history of the community once known as Coyote Wells, on the edge of the Imperial Valley.

 

168. BIAGIOTTI, Aldo P. ESCAPE FROM DEATH VALLEY: A Tale of Two Burros. Richard C. Owen, 2003. 8vo, 16pp.

 

169. BIDWELL, John. IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE THE GOLD RUSH. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1948. 8vo, vii, 111pp. Cloth. ¶ First thus, limited to 1000 copies. Bidwell journeyed overland in the spring of 1841 and arrived in California in November, completing the first organized emigration of Americans to this Mexican province.  In 1842 John Bidwell's Trip to California was published in Saint Louis, to which Cowan notes "of superlative rarity."

 

170. BIEBER, Ralph P. (ed.). SOUTHERN TRAILS TO CALIFORNIA IN 1849. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark, 1937. 8vo, cloth. ¶ First Edition. "This book, in addition to Dr Bieber's informative introduction, contains several important journals of early desert travelers. An important item in any well balanced collection, this book is indispensable to our Colorado Desert interest. Its included Diaries and Journals provide a significant contribution to desert literature" (Edwards, Oases, p.86). The section dealing with the Colorado Desert crossing is found pp.226-44. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.27 & 69. Vol. 5 of Clark's Southwest Historical Series published in 12 volumes from 1931 to 1943 in an edition of 866 sets (see Howes S-791; Clark & Brunet 21).

 

171. BIEBER, Ralph P. (ed.). EXPLORING SOUTHWESTERN TRAILS, 1864-54 by Philip St. George Cooke, William Henry Chase Whiting and Francois Xavier Aubry. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark, 1938. 8vo, 386pp, illus. Cloth. ¶ First Edition. Number VII of Clark's Southwest Historical Series published in 12 volumes from 1931 to 1943 in an edition of 866 sets. Clark & Brunet 21. Paher 128. See: Howes S-791.

 

172. BIGGERS, Earle Derr. THE CHINESE PARROT. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, (1926). 8vo, (4), 316pp. Green cloth.  ¶ First Edition of the second Charlie Chan mystery, beginning in San Francisco and ending at a ranch near Palm Springs. As he arrives at the remote ranch house to deliver a valuable string of pearls to their new owner, Charlie Chan hears a parrot cry, "Help! Murder! Put Down that Gun!" Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.28: "I regard this as one of the best of the exciting Charlie Chan mysteries. The yarn is written in a manner calculated to give one the feel of the desert." Baird & Greenwood 255. Reissued by Readers Services and by Harrap in the U.K. in 1927 and 1928. Early editions in dust jackets are rare.

 

173. (Bighorn sheep). AMERICAN DESERT BIGHORN SHEEP IN CALIFORNIA. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Land Management, 1990. 

 

174. (Bighorn sheep). PATH OF THE BIGHORN, Connecting a Community through a Public Art Project. Palm Desert: Bighorn Institute, 2004. 4to, 160pp, 490 color plates, 96 drawings of sheep.  ¶ Using life-size blank statues of a ram, artists from school children to celebrities painted the sculptures according to their personal visions. They were displayed at sites throughout Coachella Valley prior to being auctioned to raise funds to benefit the Institute's efforts to save the Peninsular Bighorn Sheep in the mountains near Palm Springs.

 

175. (Bighorn sheep). PENNINSULAR RANGES BIGHORN SHEEP RESEARCH.  North Palm Springs: Bureau of Land Management, Palm Springs - South Coast Field Office, 2001. 

 

176. (Bighorn sheep). RANGEWIDE PLAN FOR MANAGING HABIT OF DESERT BIGHORN SHEEP ON PUBLIC LANDS.  Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1989. 41 pp, illus., maps, tables. Wrappers.  ¶ Includes information on the Colorado and Mojave deserts in Southern California.

 

177. BILL, Albert. DESERT BLUES. Sag Harbor: Permanent Press, 1994. 8vo, 192pp. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition, limited to 1600 copies. Set in 1957, a confused and taciturn 15-year-old Harold Abelstein, survivor of a car crash that killed his parents, goes to live with his Aunt Enid, a Palm Springs cocktail waitress whose flowery perfumes, heavy makeup, and scanty clothes, make the lad uncomfortable.

 

178. BIRD, Jessica. THE SAN GORGONIO PASS. [In:] E.W. Holmes's History of Riverside County. Los Angeles: 1912.  ¶ Pp. 174-217.

 

179. BIRD, Millie (ed.). DESERT COLLECTION BIBLIOGRAPHY, College of the Desert Library. Compiled by Friends of the Library. Edited by Millie Bird in Recognition of the 30th Anniversary of the College of the Desert. Palm Desert, 1992. 4to, (3), 51, (1) leaves, printed on rectos only. Spiral-bound in wrappers. ¶ Third edition, limited to 75 copies. This edition lists 515 desert related books in the library, and updates the 1987 edition

 

180. BIRD, Millie (ed.). DESERT COLLECTION BIBLIOGRAPHY, College of the Desert Library. Compiled by Friends of the Library. Edited by Millie Bird in Recognition of the 35th Anniversary of the College of the Desert. Palm Desert: Friends of the College of the Desert Library, 1997. 4to, (8, 68) leaves, printed on rectos only. Spiral-bound in wrappers. ¶ Fourth edition, limited to 75 copies, listing 632 desert related books in the library.

 

181. BISHOP, Bob. THE CASTLE MOUNTAIN STORY: A Legacy of Gold: From Mules to Machinery. Essex: Tales of the Mojave Road, 1992. 

 

182. BLACKBURN, Edith. ONE BIT OF LAND (A Story of Imperial Valley). New York: Aladdin Books, 1955. 92pp with illus. by Frank Nicholas. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ A juvenile novel, part of the publisher's American Heritage Series.

 

183. BLACKMAR, Frank W. SPANISH COLONIZATION IN THE SOUTHWEST. Baltimore: Publication Agency of the Johns Hopkins University, 1890. 8vo, 79pp. ¶ First Edition. Cowan p.55.

 

184. BLACKMAR, Frank W. SPANISH INSTITUTIONS OF THE SOUTHWEST. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1891. 8vo, xxvi, 353pp, frontis., map, & plans.  ¶ First Edition. Cowan p.56. Howes B-495.

 

185. BLAIR, Lorraine. DR. ROSE, A YELLOW ASTER, and the Blooming Women of the California Rand.  ¶ Explores the world of Dr Rose Victoria LaMonte Burcham and other women who found themselves making a home and a life in the rough and tumble mining area of Johannesburg and Randsburg.

 

186. BLAKE, William P. ANCIENT LAKE IN THE COLORADO DESERT. [In:] American Journal of Sciences (2nd Series) 17, pp.435-438. 1854. 8vo, whole issue in grey-pink wrappers.  ¶ An important description of the San Gorgonio Pass by one of the first to explore the region, apparently reprinted from the Commercial Advertiser. Blake also gives a report on the Quicksilver Mines of Almaden, California, from a letter to J.D. Dana.

 

187. BLAKE, William P. ANNOTATED CATALOGUE OF THE PRINCIPAL MINERAL SPECIES Hitherto Recognized in California, and the Adjoining States and Territories; being a Report to the California State Boards of Agriculture. Sacramento: Printed for the Author, 1866. 8vo, 31, (1, errata)pp. Printed self-wrappers. ¶ First Edition. Cowan p.56.

 

188. BLAKE, William P. NOTICES OF MINING MACHINERY AND VARIOUS MECHANICAL APPLIANCES IN USE Chiefly in the Pacific States and Territories for Mining, Raising and Working Ores with Comparative Notices of Foreign Apparatus for similar Purposes. New Haven: Charles C. Chatfield, 1871. 8vo, (2 contents), 245pp, numerous diagrams in the text, 3 folding plates. Plum cloth. ¶ First Edition of a study of the principal machinery manufactured in California to fill the need after the discovery of gold. Five sections cover machines for Breaking Down Rocks and Ores; Boring and Excavating by Machinery; Transportation & Ventilation; Breaking, Crushing and Grinding Ores; and Separation and Concentration. At the request of the Commissioner of Mining Statistics in 1868 Blake prepared a report on the machinery in use which was printed as Part IV of the Commissioner's Report to Congress for the year 1870; the present volume is a revised reprint of that report. The California manufacturers were the Union Iron Works, Pacific Iron Works, Vulcan Iron Works, Miners' Foundry, and the Golden State Iron Works.

 

189. BLAKE, William P. REMARKS UPON THE GEOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA. Washington, 1855. 

 

190. BLAKE, William P. REPORT OF A GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE IN CALIFORNIA, Made in Connection with the Surveys of Routes for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, under the Command of Leiut. R.S. Williamson, Carps Top. Eng'rs, in 1853. New York: Bailliere, 1858. 4to, xvi, 370, xiii pp, plates, maps. ¶ A separate edition of the report in Pacific Railroad Survey Reports, Vol. 5, part. 2. A number of extra copies were made for Prof. Blake and from them this volume was specially prepared. Cowan (1914) p.19. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.29: "...perhaps the most extensive and the most important portion of the entire Report." Sabin 5806.

 

191. BLAKE, William P. THE PRODUCTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS: Or Statistical Notices of the Principal Gold and Silver Producing Regions of the World; with a Chapter Upon the Unification of Gold and Silver Coinage. New York: George P. Putnam & Son; London: Rubner & Co., 1869. 8vo, 369pp, tables throughout, 1 folding diagram. Green cloth, gilt title on spine, blind-stamped oval borders front & back. ¶ Author's Edition, inscribed: "Robt C. Rogers, Esq. from his friend, The Author." This "Author's Edition was issued in a very small edition, drawn from Blake's Reports for the Paris Exposition of 1867 for which he served as Commissioner from the State of California.

 

192. BLAKE, William P. TOMBSTONE AND ITS MINES: A Report on the Past and Present Conditions of the Mines of Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona to the Development Company of America. New York, 1902. 8vo, 83pp & 6 full page photo illus. Wrappers, paper cover label. ¶ Included here as another work of the indomitable Blake.

 

193. BLAKE, William P.  SKETCHES OF PIMA COUNTY. Its Mining Districts, Minerals, Climate, Agriculture, and Other Resources. Tucson, AZ: Chamber of Commerce, 1910. 8vo, 45, (1, table)pp. Printed wrappers.  ¶ First Edition of a scarce ephemerum from the days of Arizona Territory. Pima County, established 1864, was the oldest of 13 original counties in Arizona Territory.

 

194. (Blake, William P.) DILL, David B. WILLIAM PHIPPS BLAKE: Yankee Gentleman and Pioneer Geologist of the Far West. [In:] Journal of Arizona History 32, pp.385-412. 1991. 

 

195. (BLM). THE CALIFORNIA DESERT. A Critical Environmental Challenge. A Proposal by the California State Office, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Dept. of the Interior.  1970. Obl. 4to, 70pp. Wrappers.

 

196. BLOCK, Dr Charles; with Catherine Rips & Gregory Andrade. CANYON PALMS, A Desert Tribute / The Block Mansion / Palm Springs, California. Palm Springs: Charles Block, 1989. 4to, 64pp, color plates & plans. 

 

197. BOELTER, Homer H. & E.I. Edwards. DESERT SANCTUARY. Los Angeles: Homer Boelter, 1965. (12)pp. ¶ First Edition, with 5 double-page and 3 single-page lithographs of desert scenes, with narrative by desert bibliographer E.I. Edwards.

 

198. (Bogert, Frank). CITIZEN OF THE YEAR, Frank M. Bogert, Thursday, November 15, 1984. Palm Springs: Palm Springs Chamber of Congress, 1984. 4to, (12)pp, b/w photo. illus. Illus. wrappers. ¶ A brochure produced by the Chamber of Commerce saluting (and roasting) Palm Springs' mayor. The award was given by Gene & Jackie Autry. A profile of Bogert by Ray Corliss is followed by advertisements from local firms. A "Sing Along Toast" sheet is laid in.

 

199. BOGERT, Frank M. PALM SPRINGS FIRST HUNDRED YEARS. Palm Springs: Palm Springs Heritage Associates, (1987). 4to, 287pp, illustrated throughout with color & b/w photos, index. Cloth, dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition.

 

200. BOGERT, Frank M. PALM SPRINGS FIRST HUNDRED YEARS. Palm Springs, 2003. 4to, 287pp, illus. throughout with color & b/w photos, index. Cloth, dust jacket.  ¶ New edition, with a supplementary chapter.

 

201. BOGERT, Frank M. VIEW FROM THE SADDLE, Characters Who Crossed My Path. By Frank M. Bogert, The Palm Springs Cowboy Mayor, with Sharon J. Apfelbaum. Foreword by Huell Howser. Palm Springs: ETC, (2006). 8vo, 237pp, b/w photo illus. throughout. Glossy color illus. boards. ¶ First Edition of Mayor Bogert's reminiscences of the Palm Spring's personalities he has known over his 80 years in the desert. Part One, the Early Years, covers Gambling in Cathedral City in the thirties and the World War II years. Part Two includes chapters on Palm Springs Pioneers including Ray Ryan, Charlie Farrell, Culver and Sallie Nichols, Bob Hope, Tony Burke, Prescott Stevens, Raymond Loewy, Harry Oliver, et al. Part Three treats Artists Agnes Pelton, Stephen Willard, Carl Eytel, John Hilton, James Swinnerton, Fred Clatworthy, Don Perceval, et al. And Part Four discusses Characters such as the Hermits Edward Fitzgerald & William Pester, Conky Conkwright, and Palm Springs' Nature Boys, including eden ahbez. Unfortunately, dates and details are frequently inaccurate.

 

202. BOLTON, Herbert Eugene. SPANISH EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST, 1542-1706.  1908.  ¶ First Edition, treating the expeditions of Cabrillo, Vizcaino, Rodriguez, Espejo, Onate, Bosque-Larios, De Leon-Massanet, etc. Howes B-588. Not in Cowan.

 

203. BONKER, Frances & Dean John James Thornber. THE FANTASTIC CLAN, The Cactus Family. New York: Macmillan, (1932). 12mo, 194pp, color frontis. & 32 photo plates. Cloth, dust jacket.

 

204. BONKER, Frances & Dean John James Thornber. THE SAGE OF THE DESERT, and Other Cacti, Studies of that Fantastic Clan, the Cactus of the Desert, and other Interesting and Peculiar Desert Growths. Boston: The Stratford Co., (1930). 8vo, 106pp, illus. Brown cloth, salmon dust jacket with illustration of a saguaro.  ¶ First Edition, inscribed "Ruby De Corsaw Culver, with sincere regards to my fellow worker and appreciation of her splendid work, Francis Bonker" With an introduction by Harold Bell Wright. Frequently found inscribed by one or the other authors, the book is seldom found in its dust jacket.

 

205. BOOTH, Pat. SISTERS. New York: Crown, 1987. 8vo, 360pp. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition of a sexy novel set in Palm Springs and Hollywood.

 

206. (Borax). 20-MULE TEAM - and a Sketch of Its Famous Driver: Borax Bill. Pacific Coast Borax Company: [n.d., ca. 1900]. 8vo, 16pp, 2 photos. Wrappers. ¶ "This item is impressively written and supplies carefully assembled information concerning the 20-mule Borax Teams, with particular attention to the mules, the wagons, the jerk-line, and the driver" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.187). Reprinted by the Sagebrush Press in 1981.

 

207. (Borax). BORAX From the Desert, Through the Press, Into the Home. 200 Best Borax Recipes from More than 800 Issues of 250 different Publications in 33 States of the Union. San Francisco, Chicago, New York: Pacific Borax Co.,  1896. 12mo, 44, (2 ads)pp. Wrappers printed in green with illus. of a mule team.  ¶ A scarce booklet promoting the various uses of borax.

 

208. (Borax). REPORT ON THE BORAX DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA. Sacramento, 1888. 8vo, 104pp, 25 illus. & 3 photos of borax regions. ¶ Only 60 copies were printed for members of Congress according to Aubury.

 

209. (Borax). THE 20-MULE-TEAM BRIGADE: Being a Story in Jingles of the Good Works and Adventures of the Famous "Twenty-Mule-Team." New York: The Pacific Coast Borax Co., 1904. Obl. 12mo, (36)pp, 11 full-page color illus. by Peter Newell. Illus. boards. ¶ First Edition, with humorous illustrations by the well-known childrens' book illustrator. Rare.

 

210. (Borax). THE STORY OF BORAX. United States Borax & Chemical Corporation.

 

211. (Borax). GERSTLEY, James M. BORAX YEARS: SOME RECOLLECTIONS 1933-1961. The Story of Pacific Coast Borax Company and United Stated Borax & Chemical Corporation. Los Angeles: United States Borax Company, 1979. Tall 8vo, (6), 93pp, photo illus. throughout. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First printing of a company history.

 

212. BOSCANA, Father Geronimo.  CHINIGCHINICH: A Revised and Annotated Version of Father Geronimo Boscana's Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Customs, and Extravagances of the Indians of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, called the Acagchemem Tribe. Santa Ana: Fine Arts Press, 1933. Folio, 247, (2)pp, lino block plates. Cloth-backed boards, spine label.  ¶ Limited to 500 copies, printed by Thomas Williams at the Fine Arts Press, signed by both Williams & Jean Goodwin, the illustrator. The cult of  Chingishnish among the Luiseno Indians may include elements of the worlds' great religions (Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity) left by survivors of coastal ship wrecks or deserting slaves from the Manila Galleons or even British seafarers. 

 

213. BOSCANA, Father Geronimo.  CHINIGCHINICH: A Revised and Annotated Version of Father Geronimo Boscana's Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Customs, and Extravagances of the Indians of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, called the Acagchemem Tribe. Oakland: Biobooks. 1947.  ¶ Reissued together with Robinson's Life in California in an edition of 750 copies.

 

214. BOSCANA, Father Geronimo - John P. Harrington (trans.). A NEW ORIGINAL VERSION OF BOSCANA'S HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO INDIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collection, Vol. 92, No. 4, 1934.  ¶ A translation of the Spanish priest's impressions.

 

215. BOSCANA, Fr. Geronimo. CHINIGCHINICH. Chi-nich-nich, Cha-ngich-ngish: A Revised and Annotated Version of Father Geronimo Boscana's Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Customs, and Extravagances of the Indians of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, called the Acagchemem Tribe. Banning: The Malki Museum Press, 2005. 4to, xvi, (9)-247pp, 8 color plates, b/w illus. Red & brown fabricoid stamped in gilt, dust jacket reproducing the cover.  ¶ Reprint, with Dr William Bright's 1978 Preface for the first Malki reprint, and with a new Introduction by Dr John Johnson. Father Boscana's missionary career in California began in 1806 at Monterey, followed by stations at Soledad, La Purisima, and San Luis Rey. In 1814 he moved to Mission San Juan Capistrano where he remained until 1826 and where he composed his ethnographic description of the Indians of that Mission.

 

216. (Boulder Dam). CONSTRUCTION OF BOULDER DAM. Prepared in Collaboration with the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation,` (1930). 12mo, 48pp, b/w photos. throughout. Wrappers ¶ This popular booklet sold at the dam visitors' bureau was reprinted with slight variations and issued in fabricoid or limp leather. With a mimeo "Boulder Canyon Project - Questions and Answers" dated 1933 laid in.

 

217. BOURNE, A. Ross. SOME MAJOR ASPECTS OF THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PALM SPRINGS Between 1880 and 1938. And in Addition a Continuation of the Historical Changes in the Indian Land Problem and Four Cultural Institutions until 1948. Los Angeles: Occidental College, June, 1953.  ¶ Unpublished thesis.

 

218. BOWART, W.H. et al.  THE McCALLUM CENTENNIAL. Palm Spring Historical Society,  4to, (8)pp, illus. ¶ Reprinted from Palm Springs Life magazine.

 

219. BOWDEN, Charles. KILLING THE HIDDEN WATERS. Austin: University of Texas, 1977. 8vo, cloth, dust jacket. ¶ First Edition of the author's first book, a study of the southwestern deserts from the perspective of the "mining" of the vital resource of water and what it has meant for the residents of the land.

 

220. BOWER, B.M. (pseud. of Mrs Bertha Muzzy Cowan). CASEY RYAN. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1921.  ¶ First Edition of a novel about a prohibition agent who learned the arts of bootlegging in Los Angeles and the deserts of Southern California. Frontispiece by Frank Tenney Johnson. Baird & Greenwood 2259.

 

221. BOWERS, Robert. PALM SPRINGS AND THE INDIANS. Report for F.D. Aleshire, City Manager, by the Core Foundation of Los Angeles. June, 1965. 

 

222. BOWERS, Stephen. A REMARKABLE VALLEY AND AN INTERESTING TRIBE OF INDIANS. San Buena Ventura, 1888. 8vo, 8pp. Wrappers.

 

223. BOWERS, Stephen. RECONNAISSANCE OF THE COLORADO DESERT MINING DISTRICT. Sacramento: A. J. Johnston, Superintendent State Printing, 1901. 19pp, text illus. Wrappers.  ¶ Only Edition. "Material covered includes: Coyote Wells, Carrizo Creek, Fish Creek and Seventeen Palms Springs. These comprise the territory that had, at that time, been located for petroleum" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.31).

 

224. BOYD, William Harland. A CENTENNIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Selected and Annotated Books and Pamphlets. Bakersfield: Kern County Historical Society & the County of Kern, 1966. 8vo, (4), 49pp. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ Describes about 100 items, with annotations. With "A Synoptic History of Kern County" by Ralph F. Kreiser.

 

225. BRAINERD, Frances Berry Theobald. DESERT WATCH, or a Bird, Beast, Bloom or Bug for All Seasons. Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association, 1990. 

 

226. BRASSART, Scott. THE BAD ENDING: A Palm Springs Mystery. PublishAmerica, 2008. 

 

227. BRAUNTON, Ernest. PALM SPRING BEFORE THE DUDES CAME. [In:] Westways, November, 1934.  ¶ A history of early Palm Springs with an account of the village of Palmdale (now the site of Smoke Tree Ranch) that once rivaled Palm Springs.

 

228. BRENT, William & Milarde Brent. THE HELL HOLE. Yuma: Southwest Printers, 1962. 8vo, (4), 61pp, incl. 12pp of photos. Red wrappers. ¶ The story of the Arizona Territorial Prison in Yuma 1875-1909. Photographs supplied by Joe Hickson, Yuma Photographer.

 

229. BREWERTON, George Douglas. OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON, A Narrative of The Old Spanish Trail in '48. Containing Many Illustrations in Line by the Author. With an Introduction and Original Map by Stallo Vinton. New York: Coward-McCann, 1930. 8vo, ix, 301pp. Red Buckram, gilt. ¶ First Edition. Brewerton (1827-1901), artist, writer, and explorer, was a young soldier of nineteen when, as a Second Lieutenant, he joined Colonel Stephenson's regiment of California volunteers in 1846. In January, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, and an able soldier was required to carry the startling news east along with other military dispatches. Brewerton was chosen and sailed from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he met Kit Carson, the legendary scout and explorer who served as his guide across the Mojave desert and Indian Country. From Los Angeles they set out with their small party on May 4, 1848, bound for Independence, Missouri via Santa Fe. Chapter 2, "From the Mojave to the Archilette" is of desert interest. This significant journey which became known as "Brewerton's Ride" first appeared in Harper's Monthly Magazine with the author's own fine drawings done from memory. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.33. Paher 190.

 

230. BREWSTER, Tom. PORTRAIT OF PALM SPRINGS. Farcountry Press, 2007. 

 

231. BRIER, Rev. J.W., Jr. THE DEATH VALLEY PARTY OF 1849. [In:] Out West, March & April, 1903. 

 

232. BRIGANDI, Phil. BORREGO BEGINNINGS: Early Days in the Borrego Valley 1910-1960. Borrego Springs: Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association, 2001. 8vo, 150pp, illustrated. Wrappers. ¶ A history of Borrego Valley from its earliest beginnings through the development of Borrego Springs. Desert Heritage Series Volume 2.

 

233. BRIGANDI, Phil. TEMECULA, At the Crossroads of History. Encinitas: Heritage Media, 1998. 182pp, illus, maps. Cloth, dust jacket. ¶ Includes a section on "Temecula Partners," featuring local businesses and organizations which paid a fee to be included in the book.

 

234. BRIGANDI, Phil. A PLACE CALLED BOREGO [sic], Homesteader Days in the Borrego Valley. [In:] The Journal of San Diego History, Vol. 43, No. 1, Winter, 1997. 

 

235. BRIGHT, Marjorie Belle. NELLIE'S BOARDINGHOUSE: A Dual Biography of Nellie Coffman and Palm Springs. Palm Springs: ETC, 1981. 8vo, vi, 247pp. Cloth, dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition. In 1909 Dr Harry and Nellie Coffman started a sanitarium in Palm Springs  for consumptive patients which soon became The Desert Inn, a world-renowned resort catering to the wealthy wintering in the Desert.

 

236. BROOKS, Thomas W. BY BUCKBOARD TO BEATTY: The California Nevada Desert in 1886. Edited, with Introduction & Notes by Anthony L. Lehman. Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop,  1970. 12mo, [v]-xc, (1), 42pp, a few illus. in the text by Gene Holtan. Grey cloth, gilt. ¶ First Edition in book form, one of 325 copies printed at the Plantin Press. One of the earliest accounts of travel in the Death Valley region, originally published as two articles in the Pomona Times-Courier, April 10 & 17, 1886. Paher 205.

 

237. (Brown, Charlie & Stella). MATIVO, Susan Sorrells. CHARLIE & STELLA BROWN. (Death Valley:) Death Valley '49ers, November,  1979. 8vo, 22pp, b/w photo-illus. throughout. Wrappers. ¶ Keepsake no. 19.

 

238. BROWN, John, Jr. & James Boyd. HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES. Western Historical Association, copyright Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1922. 2 vols, 4to, 602; 603-1048pp, illustrated with portraits, half-tones, etc, many hors texte. Gilt stamped blue cloth, marbled endpapers & edges. ¶ First Edition, Brown writing of San Bernardino County and Boyd of Riverside County. Includes accounts of Banning, Palm Springs, the Coachella Valley, Indio, the Salton Sea, Palo Verde Valley, Idyllwild, and other desert localities; with chapters on pioneers, mining, Mormon occupation, citrus and agriculture, irrigation, etc. Volumes 2 & 3 (lacking) are essentially mug books. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.34.

 

239. BROWN, John S. ROUTES TO DESERT WATERING PLACES IN THE SALTON SEA REGION, California.  Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920. 8vo, v, (1), 86pp, photos plates, 4 folding maps (2 bound in & 2 in rear pocket). Printed wrappers.  ¶ First Edition, with descriptions and maps of the region, road logs, and hints for travelers (by horse or by auto). Among the most delightful of government publications, the Routes to Desert Watering Places evolved from the desperate need for wells, springs, or natural tanks for desert travelers. Department of the Interior and United States Geological Survey: Water-Supply Paper 490-A, prepared in cooperation with the Department of Engineering of the State of California. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.35.

 

240. BROWN, John S. THE SALTON SEA REGION, CALIFORNIA. A Geographic, Geologic, and Hydrologic Reconnaissance, with a Guide to the Desert Watering Places. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 497.  Washington: Government Printing Office, 1923. 8vo, 292pp, 3 folding maps in pocket at rear, 34 plates & sketch maps. Printed wrappers.  ¶ First Edition of an interesting and informative guide to the Colorado Desert, with routes of travel and watering places, including Palm Springs, Jacumba Springs, Fish Springs and Agua Caliente Springs. "To students of desert literature the Brown Report is of major importance because of the diversification and the accuracy of its content. A careful study is prepared of the historical background of the entire Colorado Desert area; portions of the books are devoted to the climate, flora, fauna, and physiography of the region; sections are included on the geology, hydrology, and mineral resources, and pages 129-280 are given over to a detailed presentation of the several routes of desert travel. In this latter portion may be found valuable data on the Butterfield and Bradshaw trails, the Borrego, the sand dunes, and the Imperial and Coachella Valleys" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.34-35); "Of superlative importance..." (Desert Voices p.23)."Regarded as the standard work on this subject" (Farquhar, Colorado River, 91).

 

241. BROWNE, J. Ross. ADVENTURES IN THE APACHE COUNTRY: A Tour through Arizona and Sonora, with Notes on the Silver Regions of Nevada.  New York: Harper Brothers, 1869. 8vo, 535pp, 155 woodcut illus. after drawings by the author. Plum cloth, gilt, beveled edges.  ¶ First Edition of a Southwest classic, filled with excellent engravings of scenery and desert mining town life. Browne traveled from Los Angeles with an Indian agent in 1863 and his articles, first published in Harper's in 1864-65, were gathered into a book five years later. His observations on the silver mines south of Tucson, of Fort Yuma, of the Yuma and Apache tribes, the Gila River, early Tucson, the Pueblo of Tubac, Magdalena, the town of Santa Cruz, and much more make this a most valuable record of the period. His report of the Oatman family massacre, which is also reprinted here, includes information obtained from first-hand sources. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.35-6. Farquhar 26. Howes B-875. Wagner-Camp 412 (note).

 

242. BROWNE, J. Ross. RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. A Statistical and Descriptive Summary of the Mines and Minerals, Climate, Topography, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, and Miscellaneous Productions, of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains... With a Sketch of the Settlement and Exploration of Lower California. New York: D. Appleton, 1869. 8vo, 674, 200pp. Cloth. ¶ First Edition thus. Issued originally as a government document, this edition was also issued by Bancroft in San Francisco. The sketch of Lower California was written by Alexander S. Taylor. Cowan p.79. Cf. Paher 223.

 

243. BROWNE, J. Ross & James W. Taylor. REPORT UPON THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATES AND TERRITORIES WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1867. 8vo, 360pp. Cloth. ¶ First Edition, House Exec. Doc. 29. Of desert interest is an article by Dr John Veatch (pp.179-187) entitled "Discovery of Borax in California." H.H. Bancroft printed an edition in 1868 with 674pp. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.36. Paher 223.

 

244. BRUMGARDT, John R. FROM SONORA TO SAN FRANCISCO BAY: The Expeditions of Juan Bautista de Anza, 1774-1976. Riverside: 1976. 103pp, illus, map. Wrappers.

 

245. BRUMGARDT, John R. & Larry L. Bowles. PEOPLE OF THE MAGIC WATERS, The Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs. Illustrated by Dorothy M. Bowles. Palm Springs: ETC, 1981. 8vo, (vi), 122pp, line drawings in text. Illus. cloth.  ¶ First Edition of an excellent introduction to the Agua Caliente tribe of the Cahuilla who inhabited the Palm Springs area for centuries before white men arrived.

 

246. BRYAN, T. Scott et al. EXPLORER'S GUIDE TO DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK. University Press of Colorado, 1995. 378pp. ¶ Guide to roads in and around the recently-expanded national park, along with chapters on natural history, geology, etc.

 

247. BURDICK, Arthur J. MYSTIC MID-REGION. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904.  8vo, ix, 237, (2 ads)pp, frontis, 54 plates (many from photos). Pictorial cloth, dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition of one of the classics of the desert, with early descriptions of  desert plants, animals, Indians, burros, mining, etc. His account on the '49ers is, however, filled with errors. "A book whose substance in entirely devoted to the California deserts... one we may safely assume to be a pioneer in its field" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.37). In Desert Treasure Edwards ranked Burdick together with James, Austin, and Manly in the quartet of great desert books. To find a copy in the dust jacket is unusual.

 

248. BURKE, Albert E. THE COACHELLA VALLEY: A Geographical Survey. Los Angeles: UCLA, 1948. 57 leaves. ¶ Unpublished thesis in motion picture script form.

 

249. BURKE, Tony. PALM SPRINGS, Why I Love You. A Chronicle of the Emergence of "The Village" into Palm Springs...  Playground of the Stars. Palm Springs: Palmesa, 1978. 4to, 268pp, photo illus. throughout. Black cloth, gilt title. ¶ First Edition of a personality-oriented sketch of "America's Foremost Desert Resort."

 

250. BURMAN, Burt. FROM SQUATTER TO CONSERVATOR: Effects of Federal Policy on the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and Their Land, 1850 - 1974. University of California, 1974.  ¶ The author's senior thesis in the Social Sciences division.

 

251. BURNAU, Martha. HISTORIC VIGNETTES: Personalities of the Desert. Mojave River Valley Museum. Historic Series, 1971. 

 

252. BURNETT, W.R.  ROMELLE. New York: Knopf, 1946. 8vo,  (8), 254, (1)pp. Blue-grey cloth, illustrated dust jacket. ¶ First Edition. Set in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, "A female jazz singer in a Vine Street bar marries a stranger from a decadent Southern family who turns out to be neurotic criminal" (Baird & Greenwood 362). The fifteenth novel by the author of Little Caesar, High Sierra, etc.

 

253. BURNS, Helen. SALTON SEA STORY... Thermal: the Author,  1952. 8vo, 34pp, illus. Wrappers. ¶ First Edition of an excellent account of the Salton Sea. "As one reads this fine account, it is with the sense of having gained precise information regarding the entire Salton Sea episode. Perhaps the most valuable section in the book is the one captioned 'Appendix. Facts and Figures'" (Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.37). Printed by the Desert Magazine Press.

 

254. BURNS, Helen. SALTON SEA STORY... Thermal: [the author], 1958. 8vo, 34pp, photo illus. Illus. wrappers. ¶ Sixth edition; printed by the Desert Magazine Press. "An excellent account of the Salton Sea" (Edwards, Oases, p.87).

 

255. BUTCHER, Russell D. THE DESERT... Introduction by Morris K. Udall. New York: Viking Press, (1976). 4to, 128pp, frontis., 69 color photo-illus. (many full-page), b/w text vignettes. Quarter brown cloth over boards, dust jacket.  ¶ First Edition of this generously illustrated work.

 

256. BUTLER, Edgar W. & James B. Pick. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT, Problems and Prospects in the Imperial Valley of California. New York: Plenum Press, 1982. 8vo, xx, 361pp, illus. Cloth, dust jacket. 

 

257. BYNON, A.A. & Son. HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY 1893-4. Photographs by Tresslar. Engravings by Collier. Riverside: Riverside Daily Press Job Office, 1893-95. 8vo, 152, 189pp [from p.170, the numbering reverts to 163 & proceeds through with duplicate numbering to another p.170], illustrated with photos & engravings. Cloth. ¶ One of the rarest California county histories. Not in Cowan. OCLC notes only one copy, at UC Riverside. The work was published to celebrate the creation of Riverside County in 1893. The county was created out of 590 square miles of San Bernardino County and of 6500 square miles of San Diego County. It is interesting to note the Bynons completely ignored the Native Americans in most areas of the County, and only mentions Palm Springs and Indio east of Mount San Jacinto. Bynon, a successful publisher of Directories, lived in Wildomar, and the photographer, S.P. Tresslar, was prominent in Riverside. Part One is a history of the separate communities of the new County and the story of the County's formation; Part Two is the Directory, listing the residents and their trades community by community. Unlike many "mug book" directories of the period Bynon seems to describe individuals based on accomplishment. Quebedeaux, Prime Sources of California and Nevada Local History notes the Bynon to be "one of the rarest."

 

258. BYNON, A.A. & Son. HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY 1893-4. Riverside: Historical Commission Press, 1992. 8vo, xix, 348pp, illus., endpaper maps. Red cloth, gilt.  ¶ Reprint of the rare 1893 edition, with a new Foreword by Robert Fitch and Introduction by Tom Patterson. Published for the Centennial of the formation of Riverside County, this reprint is repaginated and includes a new Table of Contents. The description of Palm Springs reads: "A small settlement on the Southern Pacific railroad twenty-seven miles south of Banning at the eastern base of Mt San Jacinto, almost inclosed by mountains. They have a postoffice, hotel, mineral water and water for irrigating. Some fruit is raised; also a resort for consumptives."

 

259. BYNUM, Lindley.  THE RECORD BOOK, Rancho Santa Ana del Chino. Transcribed and Edited by Lindley Bynum. Los Angeles: Vocational Printing Class of John C. Fremont High School, 1935. 55pp. ¶ "The Record Book served as a guest register at Isaac Williams' ranch. Many of the desert travelers - of both the Colorado and Mohave deserts - register their names, and often their comments, in this interesting old book" (Edwards, Oases, p.65). First published by the Historical Society of Southern California in 1934.