California

Henry Vizetelly (1820-1894), a London engraver and author, was a pioneer in the publication of inexpensive illustrated books and magazines. Edwin Bryant (1805-1869) was a Kentucky journalist before coming to California in 1846. He served under Frémont in the Mexican War and was then made alcalde of San Francisco. California. Four months among the gold-finders (1849) by "J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M.D." is a fictional account of the Gold Rush that purports to have been sent to the author's brother from Monterey in October, 1848. In truth, Henry Vizetelly wrote the book without ever leaving London, supplementing easily available official accounts of the Gold Rush with his own imagination. The secret of his authorship and the book's fictious nature did not become public knowledge for some forty years after its original publication. "Brooks's" account begins with his arrival in San Francisco, continuing with a trip to the goldfields near Sutter's Fort and a try at prospecting at Weber's Creek and other camps. What I saw in California, the second portion of the volume, originally published in 1848, contains Edwin Bryant's more authentic account of life in pre-Gold Rush California, 1846-1847, including the U.S. Army occupation of the territory. Other documents in the appendix are letters concerning the Gold Rush that had appeared in the public press.