[PIERCE, Franklin (1804-1869), his copy]. SOULE, Frank, John H. GIHON, and James NISBET. The Annals of San Francisco; Containing a Summary of the History of the First Discovery, Settlement, Progress, and Present Condition of California, and a Complete History of all the Important Events Connected with Its Great City. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1855.

8vo (229 x 140 mm). 6 steel-engraved plates including frontispiece, 2 maps (one folding), numerous wood-engravings in the text. (Spotting to plates, some offsetting to title-page.) Later half morocco, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettering in the second, marbled edges. Provenance: Frank C. Deering (1866-1939), noted Americana book collector (morocco book label); John Talbot Gernon (morocco book label).

THE FRANK C. DEERING COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION.

PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE FIRST MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO TO THE 14TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "Franklin Pierce, President. With the Compliments of Jno. Geary."

John Geary (1819-1873), an American politician, lawyer and Union general, climbed the ranks to colonel during the Mexican-American War. Moving West, Geary was appointed postmaster of San Francisco by President James K. Polk on 22 January 1849, and on 8 January 1850, he was elected the city's alcalde before California became a state, and then the first mayor of the city. On 31 July 1856, Geary accepted President Franklin Pierce's appointment as governor of the Kansas Territory, after having turned down his previous appointment for governor of the Utah Territory in 1852. Pierce asked Geary to restore order and end the violent conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas," which arose from the issue of whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. Pierce and his administration supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed the settlers in those territories to decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty. This act led to violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, including Geary who opposed slavery. Geary distrusted the pro-slavery factions and, in letters to President Pierce, placed the blame on them for the turmoil in the territory. Geary, along with the Free-Staters, proposed a plan for Kansas to enter the Union under the Topeka Constitution as a free state, with him serving as governor of a Democratic administration. However, this plan failed to gain sufficient support in Congress. Unable to fully stop the violence of the pro-slavery forces and fearing for his safety, Geary submitted his resignation to incoming President James Buchanan. Geary would go on to serve in the American Civil War as Brigadier General of a brigade in Major General Nathaniel Bank's corps which fought Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. After the War, Geary served two terms as the Republican governor of Pennsylvania (1867-1873).

The Annals of San Francisco is a "necessary reference book of San Francisco to the middle fifties, compiled mainly from newspapers and information received from pioneer citizens..." (Zamorano). Also, the work "not only gives an outstanding narrative history of San Francisco, but also supplies much information on mining and its impact on this instant city" (Kurutz). Cowan p.601; Graff 3901; Howes S769; Kurutz 594; Sabin 87268; Zamorano Eighty 70. A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY.

Selections from the Library of Dr. John Talbot Gernon