1933 Grabhorn Early Days San Francisco Deluxe 1/25 Alemany Manuscript For Sale

JOHN HENRY BROWN — EARLY DAYS OF SAN FRANCISCO
Grabhorn Press, 1933
Deluxe Issue: No. 20 of Only 25 Copies
With Original 1851 California Customs Manuscript Signed by Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany

A superb deluxe Grabhorn Press copy of John Henry Brown’s Early Days of San Francisco, one of the great private-press Californiana productions of the 1930s.

This is the deluxe issue, copy No. 20 of only 25 copies, signed by Edwin Grabhorn and Douglas S. Watson. The Grabhorn Press was one of the major American private presses of the twentieth century, especially noted for finely printed works on California and the American West.

What makes this copy exceptional is the original manuscript bound into the volume: an 1851 Inward Customs Entry, signed by Joseph Sadoc Alemany, the first Catholic bishop of California. The document concerns the importation of Bibles and schoolbooks for California schools, placing it directly in the early educational and religious life of the young state, just after the Gold Rush and California statehood.

The combination is unusually compelling: a deluxe Grabhorn Californiana title, one of only 25 copies, in full morocco leather, with an original early California manuscript signed by one of the central Catholic figures in the state’s history.

Edition Details

Author: John Henry Brown
Title: Early Days of San Francisco
Publisher: Grabhorn Press
Place: San Francisco
Date: 1933
Edition: Deluxe issue, No. 20 of only 25 copies
Signed by: Edwin Grabhorn and Douglas S. Watson
Binding: Publisher’s full burgundy Niger morocco leather
Manuscript: Original 1851 customs entry signed by Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany

Binding

Bound in full burgundy Niger morocco leather, with the restrained elegance typical of deluxe Grabhorn productions. The binding is simple, dignified, and appropriate to the historical importance of the book.

Provenance

Bookplate of San Francisco collectors Edith and Howard Ransohoff.

Also laid in is the card of Adolph B. C. Dohrmann, associated with the historic San Francisco luxury retailer A. B. C. Dohrmann & Co.

Condition

Near fine overall.

Binding handsome and sound, with light rubbing to extremities and minor wear at the crown. Interior clean and bright. Original 1851 manuscript securely tipped in and very well preserved, with expected folds but no significant splitting or damage.

A major deluxe Grabhorn Press item combining fine printing, early San Francisco history, California manuscript material, Catholic history, and Western Americana.