Allen, Benjamin Shannon (editor). California and Its Resources: An Illustrated History. San Francisco: California Development Board, 1910. Quarto (14 x 11 inches). Original full dark brown pebble-grained cloth, front covers lettered in gilt “California” diagonally across center and “Volume One / 1910″ and “Volume Two / 1910″ at lower right corners. Patterned endpapers in tan and orange floral motif. Volume I: An Illustrated History. Edited by Benjamin Shannon Allen, with contributions from writers of the leading San Francisco newspapers. Title printed in black within a yellow field with red pictorial border; illustrated throughout with maps, portraits, and photographic plates. Includes a “General Map of California” reproduced from the map issued by the California Development Board, Arthur R. Briggs, President and Manager. Volume II: The Men of the State. Biographical sketches of prominent Californians, each page printed within red pictorial borders depicting agricultural and frontier scenes. Illustrated with halftone portraits on yellow panels; includes a “Relief Map of California” reproduced from the California State Mining Bureau, Lewis E. Both volumes printed on coated stock with high-quality gravure illustrations. Condition: Very good overall. Light rubbing and minor fraying to spine ends and corners; a few faint scuffs to boards. Some offsetting and mild age toning to endpapers; occasional light foxing and top edge staining, marginal smudging to text. Bindings tight, contents clean and well-preserved. An attractive and substantial turn-of-the-century survey of California’s industries, civic development, and leading figures, prepared under the auspices of the California Development Board shortly before the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Combining boosterism, economic analysis, and photographic documentation, it captures the state’s rapid transformation in the early twentieth century.