Sep 29, 2022 - Sale 2615

Sale 2615 - Lot 39

Price Realized: $ 625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(CALIFORNIA.) Stephen J. Field. Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California, with Other Sketches. 6, 472 pages. Large 8vo, contemporary 1/2 calf, worn, rebacked with portion of original backstrip laid down; 2 short repaired tears in margins, otherwise minimal wear to contents; uncut; small gilt leather ownership tag "S.J. Field" on front pastedown. No place: "Printed for a few friends, not published," [1893]

Additional Details

The author's personal copy.

Second edition, large type issue. Stephen Johnson Field (1816-1899) went to California early in the Gold Rush, and soon became prominent in law and politics. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lincoln in 1863 and served until his retirement in 1897; until 1973, he held the record for the court's longest tenure. These memoirs cover mostly his California days, but also touch upon his time on the Supreme Court through 1877. This edition adds George Gorham's account of the attempted assassination of Field in 1889. Cowan, 1933, page 209; Graff 1316; Howes F117.