brian cassidy bookselle

51.
[California]
CURLETTI, Rosario Andrea y Elizalde (Author)
Edward Borein and Jose De Yong (Illustrators)
DICHOS Y EXPRECIONES USANDOS POR LOS
VERDADERAMENTE CALIFORNIANOS DE HOY DIA
Santa Barbara, CA, 1934
Large 8vo. 8” x 6.5”. Bound in full cowhide. Manuscript black ink with
mounted illustrations, majority rectos only. [8], XVI, 148, [plus several
blanks]. Includes preliminary index and supplementary appendix.
Slight lean. Some minor rubbing away of the cowhide. Near fine.
Rosario Curletti (1913-1986) was an anthropologist, genealogist,
writer, book collector, and lifelong Southern Californian. She worked
as an editor for the L.A. TIMES and a book reviewer for the SANTA BAR-
BARA NEWS-PRESS. Portions of her exceptional collection of Southern
Californiana now reside in the Huntington, UCSD, and elsewhere. In
addition, she was assistant to historian Maynard J. Geiger (author
of the standard biography of Junipero Serra), and published several
book of California history herself — including her best-known, PATH-
WAYS TO PAVEMENTS: The History and Romance of Santa Barbara Spanish
Street Names (1953). And this elaborate hand-made book addresses
similar interests. A compilation of expressions and sayings of the
Californianos arranged alphabetically in a kind of ABCdiery interspersed
with numerous illustrations of California cattle brands and
pasted-in printed illustrations from Jose De Yong and Ed Borein (all
from an unknown source), DICHOS appears to be wholly unpublished and
unrecorded (although she made at least one other similar copy). Nevertheless,
this linguistic study was assembled with obvious passion
and scholarship. A charming and unknown work of Califoriana.
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