Combining 50 rare, beautiful, and diverse maps of California from the collections of the Library of Congress, informative captions about the origins and contents of those maps, and essays on Golden State history, this book is a collectible for cartography buffs and a celebration of state history for residents, former residents, and visitors.

Vincent Virga has been called, "America's foremost picture editor." He is the coauthor of Eyes of the Nation and the author of Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations, produced in cooperation with the Library of Congress. Ray Jones is the author or coauthor of numerous books on history and travel. The founding editor of Albuquerque Living magazine and a former writing coach at Southern Living, he now lives in Pebble Beach, California.