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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(CALIFORNIA.) Bruff, J. Goldsborough. Letter seeking the publication of his Gold Rush journal. Autograph Letter Signed to an unidentified recipient. 4 pages, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches, on one folding sheet; partial separation along center fold, moderate wear to fore-edge with slight loss of text. (MRS) Washington, DC, 2 May 1859
Joseph Goldsborough Bruff (1804-1889) was a career draftsman for the federal government, best known for his sketches of California during the Gold Rush period. His Californian diaries and drawings were published in 1944 as "Gold Rush." This letter to an unknown editor describes in great detail his efforts to have his Gold Rush memoirs published in his lifetime. He quotes praise for the manuscript by a Harper's editor and by his personal editor Richard A. Locke, and congratulates himself for not allowing it to be published as a "popular edition, i.e. 300 pages small 8vo interspersed with a few miserable wood-cuts," hoping to see it published in "the most creditable form or not at all." He lays out his vision for the book, and concludes with a short autobiography. Provenance: sold by Robert K. Black to the consignor, 1970.
