[RAILWAY PRINTING - STEELE, W. R. (editor)]
The Trans-Continental. Published Daily on the Pullman Hotel Express, between Boston and San Francisco [caption title]. [N.p., but Niagara Falls, Omaha, Cheyenne, Ogden, Salt Lake, Summit of Sierras, San Francisco, Promontory Point, Laramie, Grand Island, Burlington and Boston], May 24, 1870-4 July, Volume I, Numbers 1-12 [i.e. a complete set]. Original violet cloth imprinted in gold "Boston Board of Trade 1870 Trans-Continental Excursion." 9 3/8 x 7 inches (25 x 17.5 cm); dedication leaf from the editor to the Executive Committee of the Boston Board of Trade, 24 ff. Binding toned, overall a very sound copy.
A rare book, and quite possibly the first volume ever assembled on a train. As Eberstadt states (1940) "his extraordinary newspaper was written, put into type and published on board one of the first trains to make the trip across the continent and back. The press room was in the baggage car, and the compositor's room in the smoker. Aside from recording the incidents of this early journey by steam, the paper describes the entire route, with historical notes on the regions traversed and articles descriptive of the cities and country. A remarkable and extremely interesting memorial of the overland railroad and its first press." Howes S929.