Auction 5: Lots 75-83

75. GOUGE, W. M. The Fiscal History of Texas. Embracing an Account of Its Revenues, Debts, and Currency, from the Commencement of the Revolution in 1834 to 1851-52.... Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, 1852. xx [17]-327 [1, blank] [20, 23-34, ads] pp. 8vo, original blind-stamped slate green cloth. Two or three small nicks on binding and endpapers with mild foxing, otherwise a very fine, tight, and clean copy.

First edition, second state, with slip cancel pasted over "ex-" on p. iii and rear ads. Basic Texas Books 77A: "The standard account of the financial history of the Texas Revolution, this book is much more interesting reading than the title suggests, mixing humor, anecdotes, and historical sidelights with statistics, finance, and fiscal theory.... Although the Texans did not understand currency and bond trading, Gouge remarks, they were masters at land trading. They financed their revolution and populated their republic with land." Rader 1634. Raines, p. 96. For the inside story of the Republic and Revolution and the men and means that made it possible, this book is essential. The book is also the illuminating primary early source for collectors of Texas currency. Of local Austin interest is Gouge's wickedly humorous recounting of the infamous Pig War, wherein he states: "As Rome was saved by the cackling of geese, so Texas was saved by the squeaking of pigs" (p. 111).
($350-650)

76. GRAHAM, J. D. Report of the Secretary of War, Communicating...the Report of Lieutenant Colonel Graham on the Subject of the Boundary Line Between the United States and Mexico. Washington: SED121, 1852. 250 pp., foldout profile (San Antonio to Santa Rita, New Mexico), 2 folding maps (including Mexican Boundary B. Extract from the Treaty Map of Disturnell of 1847.... 9 x 15-1/2 inches). 8vo, original blind-stamped plum cloth. Binding worn, especially at spine and extremities, spine slightly faded.

First edition. Alliot, p. 89. Basic Texas Books 57n. Garrett, Mexican-American War, p. 298, 413, 414. Graff 1609. Howes G296. Martin & Martin 40: "The history of the Mexican Boundary Survey was, perhaps more than any other episode in the American West, colored by ineptitude, personal animosity, ambition, and political interference. It was to have a significant effort on the final shape of the region." Meisel III, p. 100. Plains & Rockies IV:212: "In addition to reporting his troubles with John R. Bartlett, Graham included information and reports on southern New Mexico." Raines, p. 96. Wheat, Transmississippi West 717-18 & pp. 225-27. The map entitled Mexican Boundary B (see Plate 40 in Martin & Martin) delineates the boundary difference which would result from the two different interpretations of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo vis-à-vis the Disturnell map. The first interpretation was based on strict reference to the lines of longitude and latitude on the map; the second on actual reference to the landmarks of El Paso and the Rio Grande. The Disturnell map had placed El Paso too far north and west of actual position. Graham's maps show that the two interpretations would result in a dfifference of 5,950 square miles to U.S. territory in an area strategic to mining and railroads.
($200-400)

77. GRAY, W[illia]m F[airfax]. From Virginia to Texas, 1835: Diary...of His Journey to Texas and Return in 1835-36 and Second Journey to Texas in 1837...Printed for the Information of His Descendants. Houston: Gray, Dillaye & Co., Printers, 1909. viii, 230 pp. 8vo, original grey printed wrappers. Wraps browned, with a few short tears, and ink inscription neatly removed, marginal browning, interior fine. Housed in a near contemporary leather folder with silk moiré lining which should be discarded. Privately printed in a small edition (said to be around 200 copies).

First edition. Basic Texas Books 79: "The best account of events in Texas during the revolution written as they occurred.... The only extensive diary written by an outsider to have survived.... One of the best and most unbiased records of the turmoil in Texas during its most important winter and spring." Clark, Old South III:171. Eberstadt 162:353: "Gray attended the 1836 Convention, including in his diary 'a faithful record of its proceedings, in some cases more complete than the official journal.'" Howes G341. Sibley, Travelers in Texas, p. 182: "Of great value. Gray's description of society and land speculations on the eve of the Revolution and his account of the Runaway Scrape merit special attention, while his description of Negroes recently imported from Africa is classic." Vandale 79. Gray (1787-1841) Virginia soldier, lawyer, and author, arrived in Texas in 1835 as land agent for Thomas Green and Albert T. Burnley. He attempted to obtain the position of secretary to the Convention of 1836 and failed, but his account surpasses the official account. Gray settled in Texas in 1837. When we were researching the James Morgan-New Washington archive in our Auction Four, this work proved to be the source that unravelled several mysteries that other standard works did not even address. Very strong on sub rosa financial dealings. New Handbook III:295.
($2,000-3,000)

78. GREEN, Thomas Jefferson. Journal of the Texian Expedition against Mier; Subsequent Imprisonment of the Author; His Sufferings, and Final Escape from the Castle of Perote. With Reflections upon the Present Political and Probable Future Relations of Texas, Mexico, and the United States.... New York: Harper, 1845. 487 pp., 11 engraved plates, 2 maps. 8vo, original blind-stamped blue cloth (faded). Cloth rubbed, preliminary and terminal leaves foxed; binding tight, text clean, plates excellent.

First edition. Basic Texas Books 80: "The most important account of the tragic Texan expedition against Mier and the drawing of the black beans, this is also one of the most vitriolic Texas books.... The book recounts the abortive expedition in 1842 under William S. Fisher and Thomas J. Green into Mexico after the withdrawal of the Somervell Expedition." Graff 1643: "One of the most exciting accounts.... As a participant Green was able to write a vivid and terrifying tale. He was particularly bitter toward Sam Houston and believed Houston was responsible for the deaths of those Americans shot as brigands." Howes G371. Rader 1670. Raines, p. 98. Streeter 1581 & p. 329 (selected as one of the top books for a Texas collection): "The unauthorized so-called Mier expedition into Mexico...by a group of hot-headed Texans...when one out of ten of the captured Texans was immediately shot."
($600-900)

Click for image

79. GREGORY, T. W. Reconstruction and the Ku Klux Klan: A Paper Read before the Arkansas and Texas Bar Association. N.p.: Privately printed, [1906]. 22 pp. 8vo, original grey printed wrappers. Very fine.

First edition. For its era, a fair-minded evaluation of the Ku Klux Klan-the factors leading to its formation and the conclusion that the Klan had outlived its original purposes. "From the nightmare of reconstruction and Ku Kluxism two things have been born which have wrought incalculable injury to the South and may continue to do so for a century to come. One of these is the Solid South, and the other is contempt for law." Gregory (1861-1933), Austin politician, U.S. Attorney General, advisor to President Woodrow Wilson, and UT Regent, established his credentials as a progressive reformer but participated in Col. Edward M. House's essentially conservative Democratic coalition. New Handbook III:331. ($150-250)

Item 80

80. [HAMMETT, Samuel A.]. Piney Woods Tavern; or, Sam Slick in Texas. By the Author of "A Stray Yankee in Texas".... Philadelphia: Peterson, [1858]. 309 [1] [10, ads] pp., engraved frontispiece, pictorial title, endpaper ads. 8vo, original blind-stamped brown cloth, gilt pictorial spine. Occasional mild to moderate foxing, otherwise a fine copy, the binding clean and tight. A difficult book to find in collector's condition. Author's signed presentation copy dated October 23, 1858.

First American edition (first edition, London, 1857; Eberstadt 162:380: "Wright gives a copyright date of 1858 for the American edition, so presumably the English is first. Describes life in Texas in the 1840s"). The book was part of the publisher's "Humorous American Works." Agatha, p. 115. Clark, Old South III:379: "The author-sportsman roamed over much of Texas and parts of Louisiana experiencing and collecting the material for his yarns.... An interesting, humorous, and at times terrifying descriptive narrative of the Texas frontier." Dobie, p. 47. Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators 1070. Raines, p. 107: "Notes on the 'Runaway Scrape.'" Wright II:1079. The book consists largely of tales told in Texas dialect by frontier types sitting around a bar swapping stories about why they came to Texas and their experiences.
($150-300)

81. HARDIN, John Wesley. The Life of John Wesley Hardin, from the Original Manuscript, as Written by Himself. Seguin, Texas: Smith & Moore, 1896. 144 pp., illustrations by noted Texas artist R. J. Onderdonk. 12mo, original pale blue-grey printed wrappers. Mild foxing to wraps, otherwise very fine and tight. Difficult to find in collector's condition. A very desirable copy, with full-page portrait of Hardin inserted (after publication, the portrait in the book on page [3] was discovered to be a picture of JWH's brother Joe instead).

First edition. Adams, Guns 919; One-Fifty 66. Basic Texas Books 84A: "The autobiography of one of the most ferocious of all Texas killers. Robert G. McCubbin says in his introduction to the latest edition that 'Hardin has become somewhat of a legend in Texas. He ranks head and shoulders above other notorious desperadoes of that state, which certainly had no scarcity of the breed.... [His] book is an accurate and amazing account of one of the West's most notorious badmen and gunslingers.' C. L. Sonnichsen wrote that 'Hardin was an unusual type killer; a handsome, gentlemanly man who considered himself a pillar of society, always maintaining that he never killed anyone who did not need killing.'" Graff 1780. Howes H188. Rader 1773. New Handbook III:454-55.
($200-400)

82. HATCHER, Mattie Austin. The Opening of Texas to Foreign Settlement, 1801-1821. Austin: University of Texas Bulletin No. 2714, 1927. 368 pp., maps, charts. 8vo, original tan printed wrappers. Other than light wear to fragile wraps, fine, signed twice by Dudley R. Dobie. Very scarce.

First edition. Basic Texas Books 87: "A seminal study of the beginning of foreign immigration into Spanish Texas...prior to the colony of Stephen F. Austin, during which a surprising amount of immigration and settlement in Texas occurred.... One of the best explanations and analyses of the political and cultural activities of this period within Spain, Mexico, and Texas—activities that led slowly but inexorably to the opening of Texas to Anglo-American colonization. I doubt that it is possible for anyone to fully understand the Anglo-American takeover of Texas without reading this book."
($200-400)

Item 83

83. HINKLE, James F. Early Days of a Cowboy on the Pecos. Roswell, 1937. 35 pp., photographic illustrations. 16mo, original white pictorial wrappers. Mint.

First edition. Adams, Herd 1041. Dobie, p. 125: "Hinkle...says: 'One noticeable characteristic of the cowpunchers was that they did not talk much.' Some people don't have to talk to say plenty. Hinkle was one of them." Dykes, Kid 245. Graff 1898. Howes H507. Reese, Six Score 58: "One of the rarest of all pamphlets on ranching. Only 35 copies were printed, according to the colophon. However, Dudley Dobie stated in a 1981 book catalogue that Gov. Hinkle had told him that 300 copies were printed, although none were sold. The rarity of the item in the marketplace would support the smaller number. It is possible, of course, that the bulk of a larger edition was destroyed. Hinkle was for a time Governor of New Mexico (1923-25), and was long a prominent rancher in southwest New Mexico. Although brief, this little pamphlet conveys the flavor of the range with a great flair." The last copy we found offered on the market was in Reese's Catalogue 50 ($850).
($1,500-2,500)