A Trip to Alaska

A Trip to Alaska ---An 1890s handwritten text 50 page "carbon copy" manuscript book with 23 pictures. This unusually rare book, a self-published (?) 1895, seemingly handwritten text account of a trip to the ice fields of Alaska by a woman from Oakland, California. There are 33 pages of handwritten text and 23 photos. Four photographs are small original albumen prints pasted in, and the others are all offset (?) prints. Some are by La Roche of Seattle, others by James Cox. It seems to be a very limited edition. It was possibly produced only for the twenty or so church people that were on this Alaska tour in the party of Reverand H.H. Rice & wife. The many pages of handwritten text seem to have been duplicated or printed on this book's pages possibly by an 1890s rotary stencil machine process. The text is reproduced by some means that results in a both dark and light carbon paper appearance. (See the photo of the text on the first page. At the bottom you can see that the word "are" has been added afterwards, being written in pencil to correct the imperfect printing process. ) This book describes a tour on the Pacific Steamship Companies steamer City of Puebla, which departed San Francisco on July 9, 1895. (See photo of page one.) An unnamed woman is writing this very vivid account. (See the photo of the July 17th text where she describes a large ice fall at the front of the Muir Glacier.) The group of travelers this woman is writing about are the friends and associates of Rev. H H Rice, numbering about twenty people on this trip. Her descriptions are about their travel on the steamship and about each place they visit. They steam north for days to Fort Wrangell and Juneau, then they hike on Muir Glacier, then to Sitka, then to New Metlakahtla, and then to a Mr. Duncan s Mission on Annette Island. It is a fascinating and informative account! This unusual book may be the only one of its kind. Please see the photos. (Please let me know if any longtime book dealers have ever seen such a book that looks handwritten at first glance, but then seems like carbon copy paper or a rotary stencil machine was used to print all the text in the whole book.) The 19 printed photos have captions. (These print photos are possibly Frank La Roche and James Cox photos. Some are named as such. Kling Kwan Indian village, Alaska, is from Illustration for Our Own Country by James Cox. Vandawalker, c 1894). (The four original albumen photos all have no captions, unfortunately.) 1- Sitka at 10:30 PM (pasted in, unlike all other photos, which are stitched into the book s string binding.) 2- Original Albumen- 3 x4 -The City Of Puebla steamship at a wharf with many people in 1895 dress. 3- Paradise Bay - Mt Emma 6000 feet. 4- Kasa An Village 5- Grenville Channel 6- Fort Wrangell - Indian House on Beach 7- Kling Kwan Village - Nine totem poles. 8- Fort Wrangell Chief House and Totems 9- Original Albumen- 3 x4 - Huge ice block in a rope net beside the hull of City of Puebla (?) 10- Taku Bay 11- Juneau from Castineau Channel 12- Juneau- The Log Church 13- Crevasse on top of Muir Glacier 14- Douglas Island - Treadwell mines ( LaRoche photo) 15- Muir Glacier - Ocean frontage 16- Original Albumen- 3 x4 - Fourteen people, probably on Muir Glacier. 17- Muir Glacier Crevasses 18- Sitka View - up Main Street 19- Sitka Bay and Mt. Edgecumb 20- Greek Cemetery- Greek church in distance 21- Fort Wrangell from Chief Chu Tax s grave 22- New Metlakahtla - from ocean 23- Original Albumen- 3 x4 A woman in a hat and scarf. Possibly the author herself. The book is 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches in size. It will be shipped in a 15 x 8 x 3 inch box, or larger. For a picture of the City of Puebla, and more on Mr. Duncan's Mission - See Wikipedia.…