A guide to the early history of El Camino Real, the California Missions and mission life with a map showing the location of the California Missions inside the front cover, and two pages at the rear contain a directory to the missions, with name, date of founding, and location.

1st Edition, 1939
Photographs by Floyd Ray
Forward by Rexford Newcom
Hardcover, 64 Pages, 78 Photos
Publisher: Garden City Publishing Co., New York
Size: 6.25” x 7.375”
Language: English
Condition: Very Good, consistent with age and use

From the forward by Rexford Newsom
“Begun in 1769, this chain of churches along El Camino Real was
complete by 1823, and in these establishments the devoted followers of
Padre Junípero Serra sought to win for Christ and the Crown of Spain
devotees among the dusky inhabitants of this land. How well they
succeeded may be judged when we learn that often in the more prosperous
missions as many as two thousand Indians were being trained at one time.

Through the glamor that time and an exotic origin have cast over these
old monuments, they continue to hold for us a fascination matched by
that of few American structures. And, in journeying to these historic
shrines, you will discover how these hard-headed priests, in sheltering
their converts, created in simplicity and strength a type of
architecture which considered from the standpoint of practical living,
climatic background, materials of construction and ethnic significance,
has rarely been equaled in any land. What a matchless artistic heritage
they have left us!”