Travels in Mexico and California: Comprising a Journal of a Tour from Brazos Santiago, Through Central Mexico, By Way of Monterey, Chihuahua, the Country of the Apaches, and the River Gila, to the Mining Districts of California

Boston: Wright & Hasty, Printers, 1852. First edition. Paperback. Very Good. 138pp. 19 cm. Tan and black printed wraps. 3/4" losses from the spine ends. Front wrap detached at the head and foot. Small, dark partial ring stain to front wrap. Contemporary notations on verso of front wrap. Stitching visible in inside margins. Pages foxed. Fore-edge corners of front wraps and preliminary pages a bit dog-eared. Ex-libris Grace Josephine Boggs, with her name and Berkeley, California address on the front wrap. Grace Josephine Boggs (1879-1954) was married to Robert Roy Service in 1904. Together, they joined the Student Volunteer Movement, with the intention of devoting their lives to missionary work. Roy was accepted by the Y.M.C.A. for its foreign work, and sent to Purdue University for training. Subsequently, the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A. sent the young couple to Chengtu, Szechwan, in far west China to establish Y.M.C.A. work. Later, they were transferred to Shanghai. While in Shanghai, Grace served as a member of the China National Committee of the Y.M.C.A. and was active in American and international women's activities, including the American Association of University Women and Daughters of the American Revolution. The Grace Service Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by John Stewart Service in July 1986. (Information from UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library). Wright-Howes C-457. Wagner-Camp 210.

Asa Bement Clarke was born in Conway, Massachusetts in 1817. He left New York on January 29, 1849, as a member of the Hampden Mining Company. He then traveled to California by way of Mexico, arriving at Los Angeles on July 9. Ferol Egan recounts his adventures, as well as those of others who took the same route to California, in "The El Dorado Trail" (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971).