This book is titled "The Whaleman's Adventures In The Sandwich Islands And California", by Wm. H. Thomes, Illustrated, published in Chicago by Henry A. Sumner in 1884, as part of The Ocean Life Series. The first edition was published by Lee And Shepard in 1871, so this is a later printing. The book has gilt lettering and a gilt decorated spine, with green cloth boards, blank white endpapers in the front and brown endpapers in the back, an illustrated frontis and vignette title page, three pages of Contents, 444 pages of text, and the front flyleaf has two owner inscriptions - a modern one and one below that from Christmas (December 25th), 1885. William Henry Thomes (1824 - 1895) was an adventurer, author and publisher. He took two trips to California: the first was in 1843 as a sailor on the trade ship "Admittance" looking for California hides; his descriptions of Monterey, Yerba Buena (San Francisco) were published in 1883 in "On Land and Sea" and were similar to Richard Henry Dana's experience related in "Two Years before the Mast". He deserted the "Admittance" and wandered California until 1846, when he signed onto another ship headed for Boston. His second trip to California was spurred by the discovery of gold and he headed west with a mining company sailing on the "Edward Everett" bound for California in 1849; he stayed until 1851 and sailed back to Boston by way of Hawaii, and later he mined in the Australian Gold Rush. The Sandwich Islands was also the name for Hawaii, a whaling hunting ground at the time; the name was given to the islands by Captain James Cook on his travels around the world in 1778. The book is 8vo. and measures 7 5/8 x 5 3/8 in. wide, with a loose binding, bumps and wear on the heel and crown of the spine, rubbing along the edges and wear at the tips, a brown stain on the front endpapers, and a scarce title about whaling and adventures off the west coast of America in the mid 1800's. #139 #1525