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Gold Rush Steamers of the Pacific

This book is a large-font reprint of the 1938 original. It was written by Columbia University graduate, mining expert, and California historian Ernest Abram Wiltsee, who was a collector of covers. (A cover is the name stamp collectors have given to what most people call envelopes.) The original limited-edition of this seminal work was only 500 copies; this copy plays an important and unusual role in the field of United States postal history.

Gold, Silk, Pioneers & Mail

This 50-page book is copy number 160 of only 500 in a limited-edition printing. Number six of the Pacific History Series, this book's cover features a handsome 1867 image of the wooden side-paddle wheel steamer "China." This ship was manufactured to transport mail across the Pacific, from San Francisco to Japan. One side effect of the California Gold Rush was the increase of California's commercial ties with Asia.

The R.F.D. Golden Jubilee

This pocket-sized hardcover book was published in 1946—the 50-year anniversary of rural free delivery by the U.S. postal service. The advent of rural delivery service made a big difference in the lives of farmers. Before rural free delivery, many farmers had to travel long distances to pick up their mail at the nearest post offices, or pay someone else to pick it up for them. This copy was donated by the National Rural Letter Carriers Association 40 years after publication.

The Gold Rush Mail Agents to California and Their Postal Markings, 1849-1852

This book contains over 250 pages of letters to and from the Postmaster General, along with charts and tables. It documents the work of mail agents who carried mail from the eastern states to California by steamship until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in the late 1860s. Professor Theron Wierenga wrote this book for his students, after his son was born.

The Afronomical Way

This limited-edition set of 43 vibrant, color printed cards housed in a custom box is parts that together comprise artist Sanford Biggers’ explorations of identity, rituals, and iconography. Divided into three sections—afronomix, fetico, and fides—the images offer moments of both intimacy and surrealism.