1365. DA CAMARA, Kathleen. Laredo on the Rio Grande. San Antonio: Naylor, [1949]. ix [3] [4, photographic plates] 85 [9] [17, ads] pp., text illustrations. 8vo, original blue cloth. Small spot on upper cover, foxing to fore-edges and front free endpapers, otherwise fine in slightly soiled d.j. with a few small voids and minor chips.
First edition.CBC 4667. Laredo was established in 1755, when Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza received permission from José de Escandón to form a new settlement about thirty miles upriver from Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Hacienda, in what is now Zapata County. Laredo, the oldest independent settlement in Texas, was founded on the site of Tomás Sánchez’ ranchería. The raising of livestock—chiefly goats, sheep, and cattle—thus became the principal livelihood of Laredo. In 1757 the population of the town was eighty-five persons and 9,000 head of sheep, goats, and cattle. “Some of the world’s greatest ranches are located within a few miles of Laredo. Of the 2,050,760 acres of county land, over 1,819,000 acres is pasture land” (p. 36). Includes information on problems with Native American rustling and raids in the early decades of the nineteenth century and the Republic era. $125.00
1366. DABNEY, Owen P. The True Story of the Lost Shackle; or, Seven Years with the Indians. [Salem, Oregon: Capital Printing Co., 1897]. [6] 98 pp., frontispiece, text illustrations. 12mo, light original blue pictorial wrappers. Slight spotting and discoloration to wrappers, otherwise very fine.
First edition. Ayer (supp.) 38 (conjectures the work is fictional). Eberstadt, Modern Narratives of the Plains and the Rockies 116. Flake (supp.) 2641a. Graff 966. Howes (1954) 2527. Rader 1017. Smith 2200. If one is to believe what appears to be lurid fiction, the family of Lillian Ainsley migrated to the Yellowstone Valley in the 1870s, where they established a cattle ranching operation. In the family’s first year in the Valley, Lillian was taken captive by Native Americans. Most of this volume consists of an account of her capture, the time she spent with the tribe, and her eventual rescue. Included is an account of a case of Brigham Young’s wife stealing. $65.00
1367. DABNEY, Owen P. The True Story of the Lost Shackle.... [Salem, Oregon: Capital Printing Co., 1897]. Another copy, 12mo, original red pictorial wrappers. Wrappers with a few minor chips and splits, otherwise fine. $50.00
1368. DACUS, J. A. Life and Adventures of Frank and Jesse James, the Noted Western Outlaws. St. Louis: N. D. Thompson & Co.; San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft; Indianapolis: Fred L. Horton & Co., Chicago: J. S. Goodman, 1880. 383 [1, ad for Buel’s biography of Wild Bill Hickok] pp., engraved text illustrations (including “Fight with Mexican Cattle Thieves”). 8vo, original maroon decorative cloth gilt. Worn, faded, shelf-slanted, hinges cracked, lacking free endpapers, title and first few signatures with mild to moderate staining at top corner, some old pencil scrawls on rear pastedown and ad, later gift inscription on front free endpaper.
First edition, the issue with the combined imprint as shown above (no priority established). In this issue, the copyright is to N. D. Thompson & Co., and the final chapter is entitled “Jesse James Still a Free Rover.” Guns 538 (lists this imprint first and mentions the following Indianapolis imprint in his note). Dykes, Rare Western Outlaw Books, pp. 16-17 (listing and illustrating only this combined imprint): “Rare.” Howes D6. The book contains information on the James gang’s run-ins with Mexican cattle thieves, as well as a description of their cattle ranch in South Texas. $350.00
1369. DACUS, J. A. Life and Adventures of Frank and Jesse James, the Noted Western Outlaws. Indianapolis: Fred L. Horton & Co., 1880. 383 [1, ad for Buel’s biography of Wild Bill Hickok] pp., engraved text illustrations. 8vo, original maroon decorative cloth gilt. Considerable outer wear, especially at edges and corners (frayed with portions of boards exposed); hinges cracked and very loose; front free endpaper removed; tear to rear free endpaper. In marked contrast to the external condition, the interior is fine, with only a few scattered spots to blank margins in this scarce Indianapolis first edition.
First edition, the Indianapolis issue (same collation as the 1880 combined imprint of St. Louis, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Chicago—see preceding entry; no priority established). In this issue, the copyright is to W. S. Bryan, and the final chapter is entitled “Anecdotes of the Great Outlaws” (however, content is same as in preceding issue). Guns 538n (lists the St. Louis, etc. imprint first and mentions this imprint in note). Dykes, Rare Western Outlaw Books, pp. 16-17n (listing only the combined imprint): “Rare.” Howes D6 (refers to present imprint as another issue, while noting a similar imprint with Chicago publisher only). $350.00
1370. DACUS, J. A. Illustrated Lives and Adventures of Frank and Jesse James and the Younger Brothers.... New York & St. Louis: N. D. Thompson & Co., 1882. 518 [2] pp., including engraved frontispiece, text illustrations. 8vo, original green textured cloth gilt. Shelf-slanted, covers rubbed and worn at edges, corners bumped, hinges cracked, interior shaken, occasional mild staining to text.
Best edition (“most complete edition”—Howes D6). At p. x is “Publisher’s Preface to the New Electrotype Edition” declaring: “The extraordinary demand for this history having worn out the original set of electrotype plates within the first year of its issue, the publishers, at heavy outlay, had the entire work reset and newly electrotyped. Advantage was taken of this opportunity to revise and also to enlarge and greatly improve the work, as befits its character as the standard authority on this important and popular historic subject.” Graff 967. Guns 540: “This edition has forty-two pages on the Youngers not included in the 1880 edition and has different portraits and illustrations.” $150.00
1371. DACUS, J. A. & James W. Buel. A Tour of St. Louis; or, The Inside Life of a Great City. St. Louis: Western Publishing Company, Jones & Griffin, 1878. [4] ix [1] 5-564 pp., engraved frontispiece portrait, numerous text illustrations (some full-page), maps (including Map of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway and Connections, 15.3 x 10 cm). 8vo, original blindstamped brown cloth with gilt lettering on upper cover and spine. Light shelf wear, corners frayed, front hinge starting, interior very fine. Miscellaneous unrelated items laid in: certificate of promotion of Margaret Means of Denver from 1st to 2nd grade, typewritten poem, and two souvenirs.
First edition of a well-illustrated, early history of St. Louis, Gateway to the West.Rader 1021. Contains a full-page plate and section of text on the St. Louis National Stockyards: “Of the numerous institutions built in St. Louis during the past quarter of a century calculated to advance her commercial interests, there are none of such vast importance as the National Stock Yards” (p. 331). Also present are sections on the hide trade, horses and mules, the Texas Land and Immigration Company, etc. Excellent ads, business history, material culture, social history, etc. The lurid side of St. Louis life is not neglected, with disclosure on tramps, grave robbers, “clandestine depravity” (seduction of the innocent), organized prostitution, gamblers, saloons, swindlers, murders, etc. $150.00
1372. DACUS, J. A. & James W. Buel. A Tour of St. Louis; or, The Inside Life of a Great City. St. Louis: Western Publishing, 1878. Another copy. 8vo, original blindstamped blue cloth with gilt lettering on upper cover and spine. Corners and edges worn, spine darkened, front and rear free endpapers not present, covers and spine rubbed, interior fine and bright. $125.00
1373. DAGGETT, Carleen M. Noah McCuistion: Pioneer Texas Cattleman. [Waco: Texian Press, 1975]. vii [1] 308 pp., frontispiece, text illustrations (mostly photographic). 8vo, original brown cloth. Top edge slightly foxed, otherwise very fine in very fine d.j. Prospectus laid in.
First edition. This biography of pioneer Panhandle rancher and cattleman Noah McCuistion (1857-1937) was taken from old letters, journals, a diary kept by Noah’s sister, and personal papers of members of one of Texas’ early ranch families of Scottish descent. McCuistion also operated ranches in New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana.
Included is an account of McCuistion’s 1880s Montana trail drive with 2,636 head of cattle, relating a risky and complex crossing of the hazardous frozen Platte River. “‘It took all hands and the cook’ was an old ranch saying, and this time it brought into play a whole village, but a finer set of people, the cowboys never knew” (p. 202). During the two-month delay waiting for the Platte to freeze hard enough for the cattle to cross, thirty-two-year-old McCuistion took time out to marry Miss Grace Dean of Kansas, who was living at Sheridan, Wyoming. McCuistion and his Texas cowboys never did adjust to the unrelenting cold of Montana; McCuistion would say “I’d like to be in Texas when they round up in the spring.” McCuistion’s words were put to music and became a classic cowboy song. Excellent social history, local history, and good coverage of the McCuistion women, as well as their slaves both before and after the Civil War. $75.00
1374. DAHLQUIST, Laura. “Meet Jim Bridger”: A Brief History of Bridger and His Trading House on Black’s Fork [wrapper title]. N.p., [1948]. 38 pp., text illustrations (mostly photographic, including early map of the Wyoming region in charcoal on hide, transcribed by Col. William O. Collins from Bridger’s drawing made in the sand). 8vo, original cream wrappers with photographic illustration of Bridger. Fine.
First edition. This history and description of Fort Bridger mentions Bridger’s establishment of a herd of cattle for supplying overland emigrants (perhaps one of the first cattle operations in Wyoming). Also discussed is Bridger’s assistance with the U.S. Army’s expedition into Utah from Fort Leavenworth in 1857 with a cavalcade of 800 beef cattle, 3,250 oxen, 360 men, 312 wagons, and 48 mules. $40.00
1375. DAKIN, Susanna Bryant. The Lives of William Hartnell. Stanford: Stanford University Press, [1949]. viii [4] 308 pp., frontispiece portrait of Hartnell, 10 plates (photographic and from early prints). 8vo, original orange pictorial cloth. Very fine in fine d.j. (price-clipped).
First edition.Herd 628: “Has a chapter on ranching.” Rocq 5660. Hartnell (1798-1854) arrived in Monterey in 1822 as resident manager for an English trading company and married into the prominent Guerra y Noriega family. He spent the remainder of his life in California as a prominent rancher, educator, politician, and diplomat. In 1831 Hartnell acquired former mission lands in the Salinas-Monterey foothills country where he established his rancho with an initial herd of 500 cattle. The ranching chapter includes vivid descriptions of early ranchero life in 1830s California. “A vaquero’s whole fortune was often displayed in [his] trappings, and his devotion to a chosen animal sometimes seemed deeper than to any human being. Actually his horse knew the cattle business, exclusive of buying and selling, as well as he.” $50.00
1376. DAKIN, Susanna Bryant. A Scotch Paisano, Hugo Reid’s Life in California, 1832-1852 Derived from His Correspondence. Berkeley: University of California, 1939. xvii [1] 312 pp., folding map (Spanish and Mexican land grants of old ranchos within the limits of Los Angeles), 2 full-page text illustrations (by Maynard Dixon). 8vo, original orange cloth. Very fine in fine d.j.
First edition. Dykes, Fifty Great Western Illustrators (Dixon 49). Hill 408. Rocq 2883. Hugo Reid (1811-1852), a Scottish trader who settled in California in 1832, formed a partnership with Jacob Leese and traded in hides and tallow with Yankee ships. An influential and important figure, Reid served as a delegate to the California Constitutional Convention.
Besides its value for ranching and the hide and tallow trade in California, this book is essential for other areas of study. The work is a primary source for the social history of Pastoral California. Reid’s sympathetic letters on the Los Angeles County Indians (pp. 215-86) must be consulted for any serious study of Native Americans of California. Another value of this work is for women’s history, with biographical information on Reid’s wife, Victoria Bartolomea Reid, the highly cultivated daughter of a Gabrielino chief whose dowry included the two substantial landholdings of Rancho Santa Anita (eventually transferred to her husband’s name) and La Huerta del Cuati, both in present-day Los Angeles. She was one of the few Native Americans to hold a Mexican land grant in Alta California. A useful feature is a register of British and U.S. residents of California prior to 1840. Reid, his family, and lifestyle were the prototypes for Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona. $125.00
Dakota Territory Imprints
1377. [DAKOTA TERRITORY]. House Journal of the Sixth Session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, Begun and Held at Yankton...December 3rd, A.D. 1866, and Concluded January 11th, A.D. 1867. Yankton, Dakota Territory: Geo. W. Kingsbury, Public Printer, Union and Dakotaian Office, 1867. 228 pp. 8vo, contemporary three-quarter law sheep over drab blue boards, red leather spine label. Sheep abraded, hinges cracked (but strong), interior very fine.
First edition of an early Dakota Territory imprint, printed by the second territorial printer (see Trienens, Pioneer Imprints from Fifty States). Allen, Dakota Imprints 54 (14 copies located). Printer Kingsbury went west in 1858, arriving at Fort Leavenworth where he intended to be a driver of government ox trains. A portion of an afternoon witnessing the yoking of several hundred oxen and getting them into a train convinced Kingsbury to take a job as a compositor for the Daily Ledger. After printing stints in Kansas (including the first imprint west of Topeka—at that time Colorado), Kingsbury settled in Dakota Territory in 1862, where began the publication of the Weekly Dakotian and created some of the earliest Dakota imprints.
The present journal includes legislation concerning ranching, such as the establishment of a fence law in Union County (“the amendment was adopted”) and an act to restrain unspecified “certain animals” from running at large (“which motion was lost”). $250.00
1378. [DAKOTA TERRITORY]. Public and Private Laws, Memorials and Resolutions of the Territory of Dakota Passed by the Legislative Assembly at the Seventh Session Thereof Begun and Held at Yankton.... December 2d. A.D., 1867, and Concluded January 10th, A.D. 1868.... Yankton, Dakota Territory: [Printed by George W. Kingsbury], 1867-[18]68. 327 pp., printed errata affixed to rear pastedown. 8vo, original sheep, later crude cloth backstrip (original brown gilt-lettered spine label preserved). Binding worn and rubbed, hinges cracked, text fine with occasional pencil notes.
First edition of an early Dakota imprint. Allen, Dakota Imprints 61. See preceding entry for more on pioneer printer Kingsbury, who also printed the first history of Dakota (Armstrong’s History and Resources of Dakota, Montana, and Idaho.... Yankton, 1866) [see Item 137 in Part I of this catalogue]. Laws and legislation regarding construction of wagon roads, Native Americans (removals, citizenship, etc.), land grants, settlers, squatters, fences, suffrage, mines and mining, territorial library, creation of South Dakota, incorporation of cities and counties (e.g., Cheyenne and Laramie), mail, railroads, etc. In the sections on land offices and land grants, the potential for grazing and agriculture in the Red River Valley is extolled, with offerings of land at $1.25 per acre. A wagon road and military post are proposed for the Red River Valley to protect settlers from the Pembina and Red Lake bands of Chippewa and Cree. $300.00
1379. DALE, Edward Everett. The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association...and Charter and By-Laws of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association. Wichita: First National Bank, 1951. [2] 19 [3] pp. 8vo, original terracotta printed wrappers. Very fine.
Facsimile reprint of the exceedingly rare charter and by-laws of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association (first published in 1883), with Dale’s scholarly article (first appeared in the Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Convention of the Southwestern Political and Social Science Association, March 24-26, 1924; see Herd 630). Herd 631: “Scarce.” Dale provides an excellent history of ranching in the Cherokee Strip, including formation of the Association and its leasing of lands from the Cherokee Nation and eventual public pressure on the Cherokee to sell the Strip in order to open the area to farming and settlement. Cattle were introduced into the unfenced Cherokee Strip in the early 1870s, and by 1880 the range was well stocked. The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association leased six million acres at $100,000 (less than two cents per acre). $50.00
1380. DALE, Edward Everett. Cow Country. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1942. ix [3] 265 [1] pp., text illustrations (line drawings by Richard G. Underwood). 8vo, original light brown cloth. Very fine in slightly worn d.j. (price-clipped).
First collected edition (this collection of essays first appeared in various periodicals 1917-1942). Campbell, p. 104: “Expert interpretation and history of the land of cattle. Humorous, humane, and nostalgic.” Guns 543. Herd 632. Malone, Wyomingiana, p. 18: “Largely an economic history.” Reese, Six Score 27n.
From d.j. blurb by J. Frank Dobie: “Dale has been a top hand for a good while in writing about the range. Cow Country is certainly his climax. It is a delicious...blend of the knowledge mastered by Dale the historian and of an easy intimacy with the subject acquired by Dale the man while he rode horseback over grass, bached in a dugout and owned his own cows. The two chapters ‘Riders of the Range’ and ‘The Humor of the Cowboy’ have more bully anecdotes than any other chapters, with the possible exception of Charlie Russell’s, ever printed. A historian without a sense of humor can’t possibly tell the truth about human beings. Dale’s humor and humanity make him the grass roots historian.”
Dale (1879-1972) grew up in Greer County (then part of Texas, but now several counties in southwest Oklahoma). He witnessed the transition from cattle trail to railroad. After failing in a small ranching operation with his brother, Dale entered the University of Oklahoma when he was almost thirty years old. He studied under Frederick Jackson Turner and did field work with Native Americans for the Brookings Institution, but is best known for writing on cattlemen and ranching history. $100.00
1381. DALE, Edward Everett. The Cow Country in Transition [caption title]. N.p., n.d. (ca. 1937). 3-20 pp. 8vo, stapled (as issued). Very fine.
Separate issue of an address first printed in the Mississippi Valley Historical Review 24:1 (June 1937). Herd 633 (lists a separate printing without imprint but attributed to Torch Press at Cedar Rapids in 1937; same collation as present item, but apparently wrappers were added; Torch Press version is 25.3 cm tall and present offprint is 25 cm tall). This essay appears in Dale’s Cow Country (see preceding entry). $35.00