Auction 5: Lots 160-169

 

160. [TEXAS. GOVERNOR (O. B. Colquitt)]. Inaugural Ball in Honor of Governor O. B. Colquitt.... [Austin], 1911. 8 pp. 32mo, original brown suede wrappers with embossed lone star on upper cover. A few light stains to wrappers, otherwise fine, with thirteen dance "engagements" listed in pencil. Texas gubernatorial ephemeron.

Program and dance card for Governor Colquitt's inaugural ball, which was held in the State Capitol. The program lists all committee members for the Ball as well as the music for the twenty scheduled dances.
($40-80)

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161. [TEXAS. LEGISLATURE]. Collection of 10 photographs (8 cabinet cards and 2 mounted albumen photographs), relating to the 23rd and 24th Texas Legislature (1893 & 1895). Each approximately 5-1/2 x 4 inches. Generally very good to fine except for the two mounted albumen photos, which are chipped (some losses at edges) and rather light, also a few stains.

Photographers are S. B. Hill (New Handbook of Texas III:617), Austin (James W. Truitt, John H. Cochran, Jr., Seth P. Mills, C. A. Allen, composite photograph of the members of the 23rd Legislature); Journeay (Mautz, p. 86), Austin (John T. Curry, Joseph Peter); Peery's Studio, Kaufman (document file invented by Capt. R. S. Rich about 1888); unidentified ("Capt. Rich's Office" and photograph of the Texas Legislature in session).
($400-800)

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Item 162

 

162. TEXAS. SECRETARY OF STATE (Jane Y. McCallum). Printed attest form regarding Miriam Ferguson, completed in typescript, signed by Jane McCallum as Secretary of State, embossed seal of the State of Texas. Austin, August 11, 1930. 1 p., folio. Creased where formerly folded.

A fine document for Texas women's history, pairing two important women in Texas, though the document is one that documents them to be on opposite sides of the political fence. McCallum (New Handbook IV:369-70) was a leading figure in the Texas woman suffrage movement. In 1927 she became the second woman in Texas to be Secretary of State. Ferguson (New Handbook II:981-82) was elected governor in 1924 and was the second woman governor in U.S. history. Her administration was controversial to say the least, and McCallum actively worked to defeat Ferguson in subsequent campaigns. This document is part of the 1930 gubernatorial campaign in which Ferguson was seeking reelection after being out of office for four years. McCallum certifies that former Governor (and present candidate)

Miriam Ferguson was frequently criticized for granting too many pardons.
($150-300)

 

163. TRAVIS, Charles E. Printed discharge from U.S. Army, completed in manuscript, signed by Travis on verso. Fort Clark, Texas, April 1, 1855. Text commences: To All Whom it May Concern. Know ye, that [James Lee] a [Private] of Captain [Chas. E. Travis's] Company...Texas [Mtd Volunteers].... 1 p., oblong 4to. On verso is Travis' autograph signed claim for $23.50 out of Lee's pay. Stains, split at fold, a few minor chips along blank margins.

Charles Edward Travis (1829-1860, New Handbook VI:550), who commanded one of two companies of Mounted Volunteers at Fort Clark, was the son of William Barret Travis and Rosana Cato. He was in Texas with his father before the Battle of the Alamo and returned to Texas to settle in 1848. The younger Travis was as controversial as his father—at various times accused of slander, cheating at cards, and unauthorized absence from camp. In 1856 Travis faced a court-martial on charges of "conduct unbecoming to an officer and a gentleman." Following a sensational trial, he was found guilty and dismissed from the service. Travis claimed his conviction was the result of West Point graduates' prejudices against citizen soldiers. His subsequent attempts to clear his name through appeals to the Texas legislature and President Franklin Pierce only resulted in a backlash of sentiment against him. Fort Clark (New Handbook II:1092-94) was established at Las Moras Springs in Kinney County (near present-day Brackettville) in 1852 to guard the border, protect the military road to El Paso, and defend against Indian drepedations.
($250-500)

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164. VIELÉ, [Teresa]. "Following the Drum:" A Glimpse of Frontier Life. New York: Rudd & Carleton, 1858. 256 [4, ads] pp. 12mo, original brown diced cloth. Fine, with contemporary ownership embosure of Frederick C. Griffin.

First edition. Hanna, Yale Exhibit: "As a bride she went with her soldier husband to Texas, when the Mexican War was not long over and where the fierce Comanches were plentiful. Effervescence does not keep her account of life there from being a very informative one." Howes V92. Myres, Following the Drum, p. 214: "Vielé was the first woman to publish an account of army life in the trans-Mississippi West...and one of the few women who wrote about Texas." Plains & Rockies IV:312a:1: "Vielé describes her year's stay at Ringgold Barracks in Texas, where her husband, Egbert Ludovicus Vielé, was stationed...an entertaining commentary on life on the Texas frontier in the early 1850s." Includes descriptions of Henry Clay Davis' ranch and the Mexican ranchos of the Rio Grande Valley.
($150-300)

 


Item 165, detail

 

165. WAGNER, Henry R. The Spanish Southwest, 1542-1794. Los Angeles: Quivira Society, 1937. 270 + [271]-553 pp., frontispiece portrait, numerous facsimiles and maps (many folding). 2 vols., 8vo, original half white cloth over tan boards, gilt. Spines a little dark else a fine set, mostly unopened, in original glassine dustjackets.

First edition, limited edition (#163 of 401 copies). Basic Texas Books B202: "The essential starting point for any study of Spanish Texas." Griffin 2278. The premier bibliography on the Spanish Southwest. (2 vols.)
($250-500)

 

166. WALTON, W. M. Life and Adventures of Ben Thompson, the Famous Texan. Austin: Published by the author, 1884. 229 pp., frontispiece portrait. 12mo, original pictorial wrappers bound into contemporary green cloth. Front wrapper and frontispiece portrait silked, else a fine copy. Rare.

First edition. Adams, Guns 2302; One-Fifty 142: "I can remember when a copy of the original paperback could be bought for ten cents from a bushel basket that sat out in front of an Austin bookstore. Now this book is exceedingly rare as well as exceedingly high in price when one is fortunate enough to locate a copy." Basic Texas Books 210: "This is the life story, taken from his own lips, of one of the most notorious lawmen and gunmen who ever lived." Dobie, p. 121. Fifty Texas Rarities 47: "The subject of this engaging sketch was a Texas desperado and gambler who seems to have looked at life most of the time down the sights of his gun. On one occasion he was a Texas Ranger; on another, he was hired by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe as guard against the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad." Graff 4527. Howes W82. Rader 3584. Raines, p. 212. Vandale 189.
($2,500-4,500)

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167. WEBB, Walter Prescott. The Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense. Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Riverside Press, 1935. [2] xiv [2] 583 [1] pp., frontispiece, text illustrations (photographic and drawings by Lonnie Rees). 8vo, original tan pigskin over beige buckram, black leather spine label, t.e.g. Endsheets slightly foxed, otherwise very fine, in publisher's black slipcase.

First edition, limited edition (#100 of 250 numbered, signed copies). Adams, Guns 2333; One-Fifty 45: "The most thorough and reliable work to date on the Texas Rangers." Agatha, p. 65. Basic Texas Books 212A: "The most important work on the Texas Rangers." Dobie, p. 60: "The beginning, middle, and end of the subject." Howes W194. WLA, A Literary History of the American West, p. 626: "A re-creation of border life as well as the story of Texas's famous--and sometimes infamous--peace-keeping organization."
($400-750)

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168. WEST, John C. A Texan in Search of a Fight. Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood's Texas Brigade. Waco: Press of J. S. Hill & Co., 1901. 189 pp. 12mo, original orange-brown printed cloth wrappers. Moderate wear to fragile wraps, paper brittle, title and first few leaves lightly chipped along right blank margin, with author's signed presentation inscription. Very scarce.

First edition. Coulter 469: "A diary kept by West...with various letters written during his term of service.... He reached his unit [Hood's Texas Brigade] on the Rapidan shortly before Gettysburg, in which he took part. Returning to Virginia, he joined Bragg's army around Chattanooga.... After fighting at Chickamauga, he went into East Tennessee with Longstreet." Howes W278. Nevins, Civil War Books I, p. 176: "Among the best personal accounts of life in Hood's famous Brigade." Parrish, Civil War Texana 103.
($250-550)

 

Last Survivor of the Battle of San Jacinto

 

169. ZUBER, William Physic (1820-1913). Autograph letter, signed, to John E. Lewis. Darby, Grimes County, Texas, April 9, 1887. 4 pp., 8vo, on ruled paper. Bound in old drab library boards, grey cloth backstrip, typewritten label on upper cover. Creased where formerly folded, a few old stain and minor repairs.

Zuber (New Handbook VI:1155-56), the last surviving San Jacinto veteran writes another San Jacinto veteran, John E. Lewis (1808-1883):

"Although only fifteen at the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Zuber served in the Texas Army, Fourth Company, Second Regiment, Texas Volunteers, from March 1 to June 1, 1836. During the battle of San Jacinto he was a member of the rear guard, which was stationed on the north bank of Buffalo Bayou opposite Harrisburg to secure the Army's baggage and attend the sick and wounded.... Late in his life Zuber began composing articles on the early Texas military conflicts and biographical sketches of Texas veterans.... In 1909 he was honored by the Texas legislature as the last surviving veteran of the Army of San Jacinto" (New Handbook).
($400-600)

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