Overview

On the veranda of the Bella Union Hotel, San Francisco, a man sat enjoying his morning pipe. The Bella Union overlooked the Plaza of that day, a dusty, unkempt, open space, later to be swept and graded and dignified into Portsmouth Square. The man was at the younger fringe of middle life. He was dressed neatly and carefully in the fashionable costume of the time, which was the year of grace 1852. As to countenance, he was square and solid; as to physique, he was the same; as to expression, he inclined toward the quietly humorous; in general he would strike the observer as deliberately, philosophically competent. A large pair of steel bound spectacles sat halfway down his nose. Sometimes he read his paper through their lenses; and sometimes, forgetting, he read over the tops of their bows. The newspaper he held was an extraordinary document. It consisted of four large pages. The outside page was filled solidly with short eight or ten line advertisements; the second page grudgingly vouchsafed a single column of news items; the third page warmed to a column of editorial and another of news; all the rest of the space on these and the entire fourth page was again crowded close with the short advertisements. They told of the arrival of ships, the consignment of goods, the movements of real estate, the sales of stock, but mainly of auctions. The man paid little attention to the scanty news, and none at all to the editorials. His name was John Sherwood, and he was a powerful and respected public gambler.

ISBN-13

9781421834078

ISBN-10

1421834073

Weight

1.29 Pounds

Dimensions

5.50 x 1.03 x 8.50 In

List Price

$18.95

Format

-

Language

English

Pages

464 pages

Publisher

1st World Library - Literary Society

Published On

2007-02-01



View All Offers

Sort by:

Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Brand New
Seller details
Paperbackshop
★★★★★

Bensenville, IL, USA

New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot of...
$27.80

 Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026

Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
★★★★☆

Santa Clarita, CA, USA

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
$52.62

 Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026


Bookstores.com relies on cookies to improve your experience.