Item #16787 Jottings from Overland Trip to Arizona and California. Elizabeth Cole.
Jottings from Overland Trip to Arizona and California
Jottings from Overland Trip to Arizona and California

Jottings from Overland Trip to Arizona and California

[ Poughkeepsie:]: Hansman and Pralow, Printers, 1908. First edition. With 16 illustrations, including one full-page, from photographs of landmarks on the journey. Some toning to edges of wrappers and to margins, but overall a clean, tight, near-fine copy. Original bluish gray paper wrappers with decorative borders and title in green. Octavo. 99 pp. Item #16787

Jottings from Overland Trip to Arizona and California is a self-published travel narrative about the rail journey of two young schoolmates, Elizabeth Cole and Adina M. Gidley, from New York to California and back again during the late winter and early spring of 1908. In summarizing the journey, which took over three months, Cole writes: “We have traveled at the lowest estimate over 6,700 miles, on nine different railroads, and through seventeen different states after leaving New York,” (p. 98-99). During the trip, the two friends seem to have bypassed many conventional tourist attractions and instead spent their time photographing and writing about rural and industrial areas. Cole dedicates significant portions of the book to hers and Gidley’s time among miners in Bisbee, Arizona, as well as to her observations of vineyards and lumber mills in Fresno County, California.

At the end of the trip, Cole writes that she and Gidley “fully agree that the old Empire State is the best of all, but we expect to tour the West again sometime, health permitting. Now kind friends, you can aid us greatly by purchasing one of my little books,” (p. 99).

Price: $300.00

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