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Robert Louis Stevenson — The Silverado Squatters. London: Chatto and Windus, 1901.
An attractive early twentieth-century edition of Stevenson’s classic account of his 1880 honeymoon in California’s Napa Valley, during which Stevenson and his wife stayed in an abandoned mining camp on Mount Saint Helena. Illustrated with the frontispiece after Joseph D. Strong.
Custom rebound in full dark blue leather, with raised bands to the spine, gilt rules and decorative devices, and gilt-lettered title and author. Particularly desirable is the preservation of the original publisher’s gilt-lettered cloth spine, which has been bound in at the rear. The rebinding is unsigned as far as can be determined.
The leather remains exceptionally clean and attractive, with only minor signs of handling. Binding firm and sound. Original text block shows age-toning and considerable browning to the exposed page edges, with occasional spotting and minor wear consistent with age. Some discoloration to the endpapers. Previous ownership inscription and faint earlier pencil notation to preliminary leaf. Interior otherwise generally clean. Frontispiece present.
A visually striking custom-bound example of one of Stevenson’s most enduring works of California travel literature, combining literary, Western, mining, and Napa Valley interest. The survival of the original spine provides an appealing connection to the book’s original publisher’s binding.
