A Bibliography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510-1906 . By Robert Ernest Cowan . (San Francisco, The Book Club of California. 1914. Pp. xxi, 318.)
In this book “are included printed works relating to the discovery, exploration, colonization, and evangelization of California; its transition from a Mexican colony to one of the United States; the history of the gold discovery and its attendant events; the formation of its government, state and municipal; its unusual features, such as the vigilance committees, Mexican land claims, and the Chinese question; some features of its earliest local history; and its historical relations with adjacent territory, both remote and more nearly within our own time.”
The author has made a survey of the materials available for a bibliography of California, finding them to comprise about 7000 items. Of these he has chosen to include about 1000, eliminating: most works of legal, medical, or scientific character; transactions and reports of societies; most federal, state, and municipal documents; and lastly, “the familiar features of our own local literature in poetry and prose.”
The works chosen are items “of interest to the collector or the student of California history in its broader sense” published prior to 1906.
The author states in his introductory note that such a limitation may, from a superficial glance, appear both narrow and inadequate. The present reviewer would add that the impression is rather confirmed than removed by more careful scrutiny.
By usage, the word bibliography connotes inclusion rather than exclusion. The list of works presented is expected to be a fairly exhaustive, if not complete (either within some limited period of time, some fairly well defined area, or by some other logical scheme of delimitation), catalogue of the literature essentially contributing to the subject in hand. On the basis of the time limit, this bibliography covers the interval 1510-1906. The entire sixteenth century is, perforce, limited to a single item, Las Sergas, which has until now nothing more than a conjectural connection with California history, based on Hale's famous article in the Atlantic. That article, curiously enough, is not listed at all in the bibliography, though it appeared in separate form, and was republished with the collection by Hale called His Level Best (Boston, 1872), 234-280.
Passing to the other extreme of the time limit, one finds that 1906 is not an inclusive date, no items beyond 1905 being listed, with a single notable exception—the Bibliography of the Chinese Question in the United States (San Francisco, 1909). This item is preferred for inclusion to a great mass of Californiana published since 1905, presumably either because of Mr. Cowan's interest in his own work or because of its obvious importance, neither reason being adequate in the presence of the many California items published since 1905, a number of which have secured recognition generally, and might easily have been listed.
As to the geographical area included in the bibliography, those parts of the West outside California are not consistently represented, though many important items are included. For instance, among Oregon items some of the works of Gustavus Hines are listed, though his A Voyage Around the World, with a History of the Oregon Mission (Buffalo, 1850) is conspicuously absent. Among Lower California (New York, 1865) finds no place, though the earlier works are given.
On the basis of its interest “to the student of California history in its broader sense,” the bibliography leaves still more to be desired. Take, for an example, the literature of Cortés in Lower California. One is left to infer that Flavigny's translation of the letters is the sole worthy representative of that important material. The omission of Ramusio, Raccolta della navigazioni; Gómara, Crónica de la historia de Nueva España; Torquemada, Monarchía Indiana; and Lorenzana, Historia de Nueva España, shows that the historical connection between New Spain and California has not been carefully considered nor its literature thoughtfully presented.
Passing to later topics, one finds inadequate representation in many fields. The Chinese question has been adequately treated in the bibliography of that subject already alluded to, lightening that burden for the present work. But Pacific railroad literature is very scant; though the earliest items are included, later important ones, such as Creed Haymond's Argument on the Pacific Railroads (San Francisco, 1888), find no mention.
Works of travel containing chapters on California receive similar unequal treatment. While many such books are listed, one looks in vain for Sir Edwin Arnold, Seas and Lands (New York, 1891) ; A. Adams, A Voyage Round the World (Boston, 1871) ; T. K. Davis, A Tour in America (Melbourne, 1884) ; and other well known works of this group.
Writings of foreign authors of the modern period might have been more systematically noticed. Hypolite Rouhoud, Regions nouvelles (Paris, 1868) might have been mentioned. Alexandre Büchner, Le conquerant de la Californie (Caen, 1869) should have been added to the Frémont items. A whole army of translators of the standard works on California have received only casual mention in the bibliographical notes; indeed, the interesting spread of the influence of the West throughout Europe is passed over thus. Among books in English, J. W. Hanson's The American Italy (Chicago, 1896), receives no mention, though the more famous Our Italy by Charles Dudley Warner of course is noticed.
Among biographies of men of note who have been at some time connected with California history there is great dearth, a single instance, the omission of De Peyster's Life of Philip Kearney (New York, 1869) typifying the lack.
Again, though the prefatory note by the author states that “the familiar features of our own local literature in poetry and prose” are to be eliminated, nevertheless we find verse by Linen and Pollock, the collection by May Wentworth, and “Outcroppings,” edited by Bret Harte, while the verses of Ridge, White, and Woodward are omitted. So with some of the notable present day names in prose. John Muir's Our National Parks and Picturesque California are given, but The Mountains of California is not. Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona and Glimpses of California and the Missions have left no space for Father Junipero and the Mission Indians. Finally, a bibliography of the history of California and the Pacific West which makes no mention of such names as Mary Austin, Agnes Laut, Charles F. Lummis, Frederick Dellenbaugh, or J. M. Guinn cannot be said to have covered the ground satisfactorily, either for the collector or the history student.
The broad fact is that the author, with all his experience in handling Californiana, has set himself an impracticable sort of limitation, and has not followed his scheme consistently. A bibliography of Californiana is still needed, which shall include many or most of the items which Mr. Cowan has discarded. The official documents will form a supplement or a separate volume, for these items are not so fully listed nor so easy of access as they ought to be. So also may the local literature and works relating to other geographical units be separately listed, but the person who essays a line of cleavage will have a harder task than that entailed in making one exhaustive list.
The bibliographical notes in the present volume are of chief interest from the collector's point of view. They add much to the interest of the books described, by way of information which is not ordinarily contained in a bibliography.
The style of printing and binding is handsome. There are a few errors in typography and spelling not mentioned in the list of errata. The price of $20 asked for the book is exorbitant, and deckled edges are a nuisance in a book of reference.
Herbert L. Priestley
How to cite:
Priestly, Herbert L., "A Bibliography of the History of California and the Pacific West, 1510-1906", Volume 018, Number 3, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 327 - 330. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v018/n3/review_20.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 3:05:52 CST 2008]
