The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory WITH TLS Recollecting "Judge Swan"
New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1857. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Pp. [i] - xiv, [1], [17]-435, [1], followed by four pages of publisher ads. Engraved frontis. ("Captain Puget's Encampment on Puget Sound"). With 26 illustrations. Folding map. Bound in brown blindstamped cloth. This copy has been rebound and rebacked with original spine laid-down and with new endpapers. Loss of gilt lettering to spine. With two former owner names on front free endpaper (1875 and 1952). Pencil notations in the hand of the 1875 owner on the front fly. The 1952 owner, Norman Jenner, is the recipient of a TLS tipped-in, also dated 1952. Very Good. Item #5278 Tweney, in his assessment of Swan, "with all his faults," declares Northwest Coast "one of the great classics of Pacific Northwest Americana." GRAFF, 4046; HOWES, S1164; SMITH, SOLIDAY IV, 813; TWENEY 89, 74.
In the letter, a Port Townsend old-timer, Clyde L. Peach, describes the quality of Swan's library and speculates on the distribution of books from the James Swan estate, stating that Swan's friendship with Stanford president David Starr Jordan would suggest Jordan or Stanford were the likely recipients of Judge Swan's books. Moreover, Peach writes, "I remember Swan very well. He was kindly and considerate, but became testy on one subject, his loyalty to Port Townsend ... when a local josher [stated] that Seattle harbor was better than Port Townsend bay, Judge Swan gave him a whack on the noggin with his cane that nearly floored him."
Price: $550.00