[Manuscript/Western Exploration] My Common Place Book. [Journal]. The author, Isaac Bulloch (1780-1870), a native of Danvers, MA, was a well educated mariner, essayist and poet. He describes 30 years “wandering on earth and ocean.” Transcribes essays, poetry, and nonfiction, adding his own original observations and reflections. “Around the Horn” notes that in 1849 he sailed on the ship Nestor to Salem, then to California gold fields, including the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.
“We were at that period without any other law than our own good right hand. The rifle of Judge Lynch was our first of laws.” Bulloch then describes the Easternization of San Francisco’s culture. “The miner kicks off his rags to become the legislator of a great city.” Mentions shipmates, the topic of women’s rights, an Indian myth related to corn, the Know Nothing movement, predestination vs. free will, Walter Scott, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and others. Bulloch signed in the margin of its 1st page (“Isaac Bulloch Danvers”). Includes a few ink illustrations. (Ink and pencil illustration on inside of front cover is dated “1856”).
Peabody Library markings (including a “Jan 1907” rubber stamp, some markings possibly more recent). Loose, some leaves separated, lacking spine and rear cover. Front cover has a modern sticker. Lacking at least pp11-32 and at least 1 leaf after p238. 0.5 Lb.