Excerpt from California: A History of Upper and Lower California From Their First Discovery to the Present Time, Comprising an Account of the Climate, Soil, Natural Productions, Agriculture, Commerce, &C., A Full View of the Missionary Establishments and Conditions of the Free An

The uppermost thought in the mind of the publisher, in printing this edition, was to adhere faithfully to the text of the original, as well as to maintain a line-for-line and page-for-page plan. Hence the text was not read before composition for the purpose of correcting errors. A hasty, superficial examination, however, was made, in order that some degree of accuracy and uniformity might be established for the spelling Of proper names. This is no trifling matter, the best-printed works demonstrating that neither absolute accuracy nor uniformity in this respect is maintained, or is even attainable; and who Shall decide when doctors disagree?

The experience Of a lifetime Spent among printers, publishers, and authors has proven that the author's ms. Is entitled to respect before a change is made at the hands of the printer. Such is indeed the custom in all good book-printing houses, and such custom should also Obtain in the reprinting of a book. Hence few verbal changes were made in reprinting this work, and only a few bracketed corrections after a gross error, these latter being inserted interlinearly sometimes. Much more, along these lines, could have been done with propriety, and perhaps should have been done; hence it must not be presumed that many questionable matters were passed unnoticed. Had the original ms, instead of the printed book, been used as copy, no such merciful consideration would have been shown.

The typographical expression of the work is quite as faulty as the text and style of the author; and although there are, here and there throughout the work, evidences in plenty Of Stately, legitimate book composition, yet the crudities of the raw, undisciplined printer prevail, manifested in inaccurate syllabication, over - capitalization, punctuation showing not the slightest conception of the text, and in other ways. These, if not reformed altogether, are reformed indifferently, at least, in the reprinting.
Let us consider, first, Spanish words, phrases, and nomenclature.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.