[California]. [Pictorial Letter Sheets]. [Hutchings, James M.]

The Miner's Ten Commandments [caption title]

[N.p., likely San Francisco: ca. 1853]. Broadside, 11.5 x 9.25 inches, with integral blank. Some toning and dust soiling, a bit heavier at top edge, a few very short tears and wear to the edges. Very good. Item #1934

An uncommon version of this notable California letter sheet, printing "The Miner's Ten Commandments" in three columns on the verso of the last page of a single folded sheet. It is similar to Baird 167 and Clifford 180, but does not have the eleven vignettes printed in the blank margins surrounding the text, suggesting that it is some form of proof printing or perhaps a piracy. The text prints the same series of ten commandments written by James M. Hutchings, which were designed to be followed by roughnecks while working at the mines in California during the Gold Rush. These include "Thou shalt have no other claim than one," "Thou shalt not go prospecting before thy claim gives out," "Thou shalt not steal a pick, or a shovel, or a pan, from thy fellow miner," "Thou shalt not tell any false tales about 'good diggings in the mountains' to thy neighbor," and "Thou shalt not commit unsuitable matrimony, nor covet 'single blessedness,' nor forget absent maidens." The author attribution at the end of the text reads, "Forty-Niner." The author of the commandments, James Mason Hutchings was one of the earliest and most energetic promoters of Yosemite National Park. He wrote "The Miner's Ten Commandments" after witnessing the struggle among miners to keep the Sabbath in Placerville. His parody of the original Ten Commandments was often imitated or, as is likely in the present publication, wholly lifted as a piracy.
Baird 167 (ref). Clifford 180 (ref).

Price: $950.00