Camels to California: A Chapter in Western Transportation.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, [1950]. Hardcover. Small 4to. Yellow cloth with brown lettering, pictorial dust jacket. xi, 93pp. Illustrations, map endpapers. Near fine/good only. Jacket quite edgeworn, with many edge chips. Item #38523
Tight, nice first edition of this tale of a bizarre 1857 attempt to bring camels to California on a route through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Handsomely signed and inscribed by the author in blue ballpoint on an inner flyleaf: "Compliments / of / Harlan D. Fowler / Christmas -- 1952." Laid in is a glossy pictorial 3¼" X 1½" "Joy at Christmas" gift tag on which he pens, "To / Netty and Stanley / From Dorothy -- Harlan." Fowler (1895-1982) was a noted aeronautical engineer and inventor best remembered for the still-used Fowler flap. Signed copies of this title are quite uncommon.
Price: $100.00