San Francisco's Literary Frontier, First Edition by Franklin Walker, 1939 Alfred Knopf

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About this book✨
Published in 1939 by Alfred A. Knopf, this first edition explores California’s earliest writers shaped by the Gold Rush and the bohemian spirit of the West. Spanning the years 1849 to 1869, Franklin Walker offers rich biographical sketches and cultural history on literary figures like Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Ina Coolbrith, Prentice Mulford, Joaquin Miller, Charles Warren Stoddard, Henry George, Ambrose Bierce, and more. These early voices helped shape a distinctly Californian sensibility and image of the "American frontier". Illustrated throughout with archival images.

Condition✨
First edition. Hardcover in green cloth with gold lettering on spine, and deckled edges. Dust jacket is still vibrant but shows signs of age—sun-bleached along the spine with torn edges. Interior pages are clean and illustrations remain crisp. A handsome vintage copy of a foundational work in California literary history. Jacket design by W.A. Dwiggins.