1150. COOLIDGE, Dane. Ranger
Two-Rifles. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1937. 248 pp. 12mo, original
tan cloth. Binding a bit faded and spotted, endpapers browned, generally a very
good copy in lightly worn d.j. (price-clipped). Contemporary postcard (probably
by Coolidge) with photographic print of Texas Ranger John R. Hughes, with contemporary
ink notation in margin of photo: “Capt. John R. Hughes, The Old Texas Ranger.”
Hughes (1855-1947), who spent most of his adult life as a Texas Ranger, was
one of the most colorful of the Rangers; Hughes got his start in chasing rustlers
in 1886 when he successfully apprehended in New Mexico the horse thieves who
had stolen livestock from his ranch near Liberty Hill, Texas. See Handbook of Texas Online: John R. Hughes. Dudley R. Dobie suggested that this novel was based
on Hughes, who is one of the men discussed in Coolidge’s Fighting Men of
the West (see item 1145 herein).
First edition. Western novel about Texas Rangers, Mexican
rustlers and outlaws, and romance along the Rio Grande. “[Coolidge] wrote some
forty novels of Western life and was considered an expert on Indian and cowboy
lore. His novels with a Southwest or Texas setting include The Texican
(1911), The Law West of the Pecos (1924), Lorenzo the Magnificent:
The Riders from Texas (1925), Jess Roundtree, Texas Ranger (1933),
and Ranger Two-Rifles (1937)” (Handbook of Texas Online: Dane Coolidge). $100.00
1151. COOLIDGE, Dane. Texas
Cowboys. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1937. 162 pp., frontispiece,
photographic plates by author. 8vo, original orange cloth. Very fine in slightly
worn d.j. (price-clipped).
First edition. Campbell, p. 85: “Coolidge wrote his novels
for money and his fact books for love. Incidentally, his (genuine) Texas cowboys
were at work in New Mexico.” Campbell, My Favorite 101 Books about the Cattle
Industry 21. Dobie, p. 100: “Thin, but genuine.” Dykes, Western High
Spots, p. 59 (“High Spots of Western Illustrating”). Herd 576. A
firsthand account of the work of the Cherry Cow outfit on the San Carlos Indian
Reservation in Arizona—“every man a straight Texan.” $85.00
1152. COOLIDGE, Dane. The
Texican. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Company, 1911. 368 [1] pp., frontispiece
and color plates by Maynard Dixon. 8vo, original tan pictorial cloth. Binding
worn and with mild to moderate staining, preliminary leaves and fore-edges mildly
foxed, occasional light stains to text. Good to very good.
First edition. Dobie, p. 178n: “Some ‘Westerns’ have a kind
of validity. If a serious reader went through the hundreds of titles produced
by William McLeod Raine, Dane Coolidge, Eugene Cunningham, B. M. Bower, the
late Ernest Haycox, and other manufacturers of range novels who have known their
West at firsthand, he would find, spottedly, a surprising amount of truth about
the land and men, a fluency in genuine cowboy lingo, and a respect for the code
of conduct.” Dykes, Fifty Great Western Illustrators (Dixon 47). Historical
novel about the Pleasant Valley range war between the Grahams and the Tewksburys.
$50.00
1153. COOLIDGE, Dane. Wally
Laughs-Easy. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1939. 249 pp. 12mo, original
tan cloth. Endpapers a bit browned, otherwise fine in lightly worn d.j. Author’s
signed presentation inscription to G. W. Harris tipped onto front pastedown:
“To my old friend G. W. Harris who got me started as the Dean of the Western
Writers. I always look up to you in the Times. Dane Coolidge.”
First edition. Romantic Western fiction featuring gold mining
and range wars in Nevada. $55.00
1154. COOLIDGE, Herbert. Pancho
McClish. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Company, 1912. [10] 341 pp., 4 color
plates after oil paintings by J. N. Marchand (including frontispiece). 8vo,
original green decorated gilt-lettered cloth. Lightly worn, top edge mildly
foxed, overall very good. J. Frank Dobie’s copy with his pencil note on front
free endpaper: “Owned for the illustrations by Marchand. J. Frank Dobie.”
First edition. Dykes, Fifty Great Western Illustrators
(Marchand 17). Adventures of the narrator and his foster father and brother,
the McClishes, who trade, doctor, and break horses. $50.00
1155. COOLIDGE, Mary Roberts. The
Rain-Makers: Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. Boston, New York & Cambridge:
Houghton Mifflin Company & Riverside Press, 1929. xii [1] 326 pp., photographic
frontispiece and plates, endpaper maps. 8vo, original teal cloth lettered and
decorated in red. Very fine, mostly unopened, in fine pictorial d.j. with only
a few chips. Bookplate.
First edition. Campbell, p. 113: “Well-written descriptions
of the Desert tribes.” Dobie, p. 28: “Contains an excellent account of the Hopi
snake ceremony for bringing rain.” Laird, Hopi 458. Saunders 2124. Has
a chapter entitled “The Pastoral Navajos” and brief discussions of the origins
and cultural impacts of Navajo and Pueblo stockraising. One of the photographic
plates shows a Hopi woman at summer camp tending a herd. Mary Coolidge (wife
of Dane Coolidge [see items 1141-1153 above]) was a member of the California
State Board of Education and a professor of sociology at Mills College, working
for years in social and economic research and on behalf of women’s rights. The
present work covers the social life, religion, arts, and crafts of the Southwest
Indians. $125.00
1156. COOLIDGE, Mary Roberts &
Dane Coolidge. The Navajo Indians. Boston, New York & Cambridge:
Houghton Mifflin Company & Riverside Press, 1930. x, 316 pp., photographic
frontispiece and plates (mostly by authors), endpaper maps. 8vo, original bright
orange cloth decorated and lettered in black. Very fine in near fine d.j. (price-clipped
and lightly chipped) illustrated with photographs by the authors.
First edition. Campbell, p. 113: “Contains a good bibliography.
Well-written description.” Dobie, p. 28. Laird, Hopi 457. Saunders 904:
“History, customs, arts, religion, governmental relations.” The chapter on “Navajo
Men and Navajo Sheep” explores cultural and economic aspects of Navajo sheepraising.
The photographs are wonderful, and although we prefer Dane Coolidge’s “Canyon
de Chelly, the Old Navajo Stronghold,” in the context of this catalogue we are
obliged to mention that there are four photographs relating to sheepraising.
Includes three chapters on Navajo blankets and one on “Silver-Work and Symbolism.”
$165.00
1157. COOMBES, Cha[rle]s E. Moods,
Meditations, and Memories. Stamford, Texas [& Arlington: Berachah Press
for] Chas. E. Coombes, [1939]. 38 [2] pp. 12mo, original tan printed wrappers,
stapled. A few stains on lower wrapper, otherwise fine.
First edition. Herd 577: “Scarce.... Has a chapter on the
Texas cowboy.” The author declares that “the Texas Cowboy is the most unique
character in all history and as different from others as if an inhabitant of
another world.” Among those designated as true Texas cowboys are Larry Chittenden,
Will Rogers, Walt Cousins, David Guion, Charles Russell, Will James, and J.
Frank “Doby” (one shudders to think what Pancho would have to say about that
misspelling). In only two pages, the author manages to capture in purple prose
every stereotype about the mystique of Texas cowboy. $35.00
1158. COOMBES, Charles E. The
Prairie Dog Lawyer. Dallas: Texas Folklore Society & University Press,
1945. xv [1] 286 [1] pp. 8vo, original blue cloth. Light foxing to fore-edges,
one spot on lower fore-edge, endpapers slightly browned, otherwise fine in lightly
foxed d.j.
First edition. Dobie, p. 68: “Experiences and anecdotes by
a lawyer better read in rough-and-ready humanity than in law.” Herd 578.
The northwest Texas lawyer started out as a cowpuncher in the 1890s. Introduction
by Amon Carter. $65.00
1159. COOPER, J[oe]. E. With
or without Beans: Being a Compendium to Perpetuate the Internationally-Famous
Bowl of Chile (Texas Style) Which Occupies Such an Important Place in Modern
Civilization.... Dallas: William S. Henson, 1952. 247 [1] pp., text illustrations
(cartoons), illustrated endpapers. 8vo, original grey cloth with illustration
of devil reading a book while stirring a steaming caldron of chili over a flaming
fire. Very fine in very fine d.j. (with cover illustration repeated on background
of red and white checks). Laid in is a mint copy of the illustrated publicity
brochure for the book.
First edition. An informal biography of chili, mostly history,
lore, humor, and comments about chili from statesmen, journalists, ranchers,
authors (including J. Frank Dobie), and humorists, with a few recipes. Doyle
L. West, then co-owner and manager of Wolf Brand, Inc., states that “Chili is
not a Mexican food,” suggesting instead that “the chili we now know originated
among the cowboys, whose cooks had been preparing for them their own indigenous
brand of Irish stew.... A cook ran out of black pepper [and] searching for a
substitute, he was offered some red pepper by the Mexicans, or Indians, of the
region now known as Southwest Texas.” The author declares in the preface: “In
Texas four things temporal are held inviolate—woman, states’ rights, a cattle
brand, and chili.” We would have to take exception to at least one of those.
$75.00
1160. [COOPER, JOE E.]. The
Hottest Book of the Year.... [Dallas: William S. Henson, 1952]. Publicity
brochure. 1 folio sheet, illustrated, folded to brochure size. Very fine. Chiliana
ephemera.
Publicity brochure for With or without Beans. Includes an
insert with reprints of six newspaper articles reviewing the book (1 folio sheet,
folded to brochure size, printed in brown on one side, very fine). $5.00
1161. COPELAND, Fayette. Kendall
of the “Picayune”: Being His Adventures in New Orleans, on the Texan Santa Fe
Expedition, in the Mexican War, and in the Colonization of the Texas Frontier.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943. [12] 351 [2] pp., plates (including
the Kendall Post Oak Spring Ranch), folding facsimile of the first issue of
the Picayune. 8vo, original brown cloth. Light shelf wear, otherwise
fine, with Carl Hertzog bookplate. Related newspaper clippings and magazine
article laid in.
First edition of the best biography of the first modern war
correspondent and the father of the sheep industry in Texas. Basic Texas
Books 116n. Rittenhouse 134. Tate, Indians of Texas 2032. The chapter
entitled “Gentleman Rancher” describes Kendall’s sheep ranch. Handbook
of Texas Online: George Wilkins Kendall: “In the 1850s Kendall played
a major role in promoting the sheep business in Texas. In 1852 he and three
friends purchased and placed twenty-four Spanish merino rams and a flock of
chaurro ewes on a ranch on the Nueces River.... Within a year Kendall
moved the flock to the Waco Springs Ranch, near New Braunfels, and acquired
the Post Oak Springs pasture, near Boerne. He battled blizzards, grass fires,
and disease until 1856, when he began making a profit. The flock doubled to
3,500 animals within two years.... Kendall promoted the Texas sheep business
in every way.... At his death on October 21, 1867, Kendall generally was regarded
as the father of the sheep business in Texas.” $55.00
1162. CORDIER, A. H. Some
Big Game Hunts. Kansas City, Missouri: [Union Bank Note Company], 1911.
317 [1] pp., frontispiece, photographic text illustrations. 12mo, original pale
green pictorial cloth. Lower hinge cracked, endpapers browned and stained, first
signature loose, title with light marginal browning and staining, a good to
very good copy, with two old printed catalogue slips pasted to front free endpaper.
First edition. Eberstadt 121:388. The Kansas City physician-hunter’s
quest for game includes an account of javalina hunting on the Callaghan Ranch,
located between Laredo and San Antonio and made famous beyond Texas in the tales
of O. Henry. Cordier gives a good description of the Callaghan Ranch, and a
few details on the nearby Coleman Ranch, including: “Ford’s ranch is composed
of one hundred and fifty thousand acres all under a four wired, barbed fence...
[The Coleman Ranch] has under wire about nine hundred miles of fence enclosing
five hundred thousand acres of Southwestern Texas grazing land.... Ford...is
one of the pioneer cattle men of the Southwest. His stories of early hardships,
Indian scares and cattle roundups are very interesting, and would make a most
readable book.... Of all my hunting trips, this one to the Callahan (sic) and
Coleman ranches was the most comfortable and enjoyable” (pp. 287-302).
Cordier regales the reader with other hunts, including the following
in North America: Colorado (deer and bear, 1888), Wyoming (elk, deer, bear,
and mountain sheep on difficult mountain trails, 1905), New Brunswick (moose
and caribou, 1900), British Columbia and Alaska (mountain sheep, goat, and bear,
1907), etc. Most interesting is Cordier’s trip to the No Man’s Land of southwest
Kansas, where he hunted antelope and buffalo in 1883. His party heard from some
cowboys that a buffalo herd was in the vicinity, but despite their searches,
initially they could not find the herd. After the author left, the remaining
hunters eventually discovered the herd by a waterhole and surrounded it, killing
all seventeen of the buffalo. Cordier expresses keen disappointment that he
missed being part of “the last successful buffalo hunt of the whole Southwest.”
He describes the kill as “ruthless slaughter” but goes on to say: “It only hastened
the inevitable.... This same broad expanse of prairie at the present time has
a farm on every quarter section of tillable land. The buffalo and the Indian,
the original inhabitants, have been corralled and put on reservations or in
side-shows, where the curious can see them at so much a ticket. After all, I
presume that the white settlers with their vast fields of grain, millions of
domesticated animals and little white school houses are making better use of
the country and prove to be far better and more desirable citizens than the
Indian and the buffalo” (pp. 34-35). $450.00
1163. CORLE, Edwin. The
Gila: River of the Southwest. New York & Toronto: Rinehart & Company,
[1951]. [14] 402 pp., decorated title and text illustrations (some double-page)
by Ross Santee. 8vo, original yellow cloth. Very fine in slightly worn d.j.
with illustration by Santee.
First edition. Farquhar, The Colorado River and the Grand
Canyon 31: “A good summary of miscellaneous activities in the Gila basin
from two hundred million years ago to the present time.” Guns 495. Herd
583. Wallace, Arizona History I:14. Corle includes a section on ranching
enterprises and cowboys of the Gila, in which he comments: “The industry that
followed mining and became as essential to the economy of the Gila Valley as
its predecessor was stock raising. And with the cattle ranch came the great
American figure popular in ‘horse operas’ from generation until generation,
with possibly Hopalong Cassidy as the quintessential example—the cowboy” (p.
361). $80.00
1164. CORLE, Edwin. The
Royal Highway (El Camino Real). Indianapolis & New York: Bobbs-Merrill,
[1949]. [2] 351 pp., plates (mostly photographic), maps, endpaper maps decorated
with cattle brands. 8vo, original red cloth. Binding slightly worn and mildly
stained, internally fine.
First edition, limited “Mission Bell Edition,” signed by
author. Guns 497. Rocq 16784: “Past events are located in terms of present
landmarks.” Weber, The California Missions, p. 21: “A lively and popular
book about the roadway extending northward from Peninsular California to Sonoma.”
Includes ranches and ranching activities along the Camino Real. $35.00
1165. CORNER, William (ed.). San
Antonio de Bexar: A Guide and History. San Antonio: Bainbridge & Corner,
1890. vi [2] 166 [26, ads (some illustrated)] pp., plates (many photographs
and plans), front endpaper with photographic illustration of the Menger Hotel,
back endpaper with map of central San Antonio. Large 8vo, original gilt-decorated
maroon cloth, beveled edges. A trace of outer wear, otherwise exceptionally
fine and bright, in the deluxe binding, with extra gilt and beveled edges.
First edition. Agatha, p. 71: “Today a rare item for the
book collector because of the historical sketch by Sidney Lanier.” Bradford
1076. CBC 312. Graff 878. Guns 498. Howes C778. Raines, p. 55:
“A mass of authentic information...the best which has yet appeared relative
to San Antonio.... The maps and ground plans of old San Antonio, the Alamo,
and the four missions were especially made for this work, and constitute the
only permanent record of the original lines of this interesting town and its
mission establishments.” Schoelwer, Alamo Images, p. 190. Contains extracts
from the memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (see Herd 1460), illustrated plate
of sketches of ranch life, section on the resources of West Texas with statistics
on livestock and touting the region as excellent for grazing, description of
San Antonio stockyards, etc. $190.00
Item 1165
1166. CORNER, William (ed.). San Antonio de Bexar.... San Antonio: Bainbridge & Corner, 1890. Another copy, variant binding. 4to, original gilt-decorated blue cloth, beveled edges. Moderate cover wear, contemporary pencil gift inscription on blank preliminary leaf, interior very fine—overall very good to near fine, in the deluxe binding, with extra gilt and beveled edges. $165.00
1167. CORNER, William (ed.). San Antonio de Bexar.... San Antonio: Bainbridge & Corner, 1890. Another copy, variant binding. 4to, original gilt-decorated turquoise cloth. Light shelf wear, some spotting and discoloration to covers, interior fine. $165.00
1168. CORNER, William (ed.). San Antonio de Bexar.... San Antonio: Bainbridge & Corner, 1890. Another copy, variant binding. 4to, original gilt-decorated red cloth. Slight shelf wear, covers lightly soiled, contemporary gift inscription in ink on front free endpaper, otherwise very good. $140.00
1169. CORNER, William (ed.). San Antonio de Bexar.... San Antonio: Bainbridge & Corner, 1890. Another copy, variant binding. 4to, original olive cloth. Light shelf wear, pencil inscriptions on title page, a few pencil inscriptions to blank margins, otherwise fine. $140.00
1170. CORNETT, Frank M. Recollections
of a Pioneer Cowboy (A True Story). Simi: Simi for Service, 1962. [4] 31
[13] pp., text illustrations (photographic). 8vo, original stiff brown pictorial
wrappers, spiral bound. Lower edge of first few leaves foxed, otherwise fine,
with pencil notations by J. Frank Dobie, and his initialed comment: “Not much,
but not pretending to be otherwise.”
First edition. Rocq S2419. Interesting reminiscences of old-time
cattle trading, with many good photos of the cattle trade in California at the
turn of the century. $140.00
1171. CORNING, Leavitt. Baronial
Forts of the Big Bend: Ben Leaton, Milton Faver, and Their Private Forts in
Presidio County. [Austin]: Trinity University Press, 1967. xv [1] 146 pp.,
title and text illustrations by Leavitt Corning, Jr., plates (photographic),
endpaper maps. 8vo, original terracotta cloth over yellow cloth. Very fine in
fine d.j. Carl Hertzog bookplate. Related newspaper clippings laid in.
First edition. History of the Big Bend area in the mid-1800s,
focusing on two of the early personalities. Ben Leaton, the “noble desperado,”
lived a controversial life at his fortress, El Fortin and was law unto himself.
Of greater ranching interest is Milton Faver, who owned three large ranches:
Big Springs Cibolo, Cienega, and La Morita. Two of Faver’s ranches that were
forted and manned with soldiers were used by locals as a refuge from Native
American attacks. In addition to ranching, Faver freighted, farmed, and traded,
accruing great wealth that he used to become a cattle king. $40.00
1172. CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES.
Corpus Christi: A History and Guide.... [Corpus Christi]: Corpus
Christi Caller-Times, 1942. [2] viii, 245 [1] pp., numerous photographic
text illustrations, decorated chapter headings and tail pieces, endpaper maps.
8vo, original turquoise cloth. Back cover lightly spotted, otherwise very fine
in fine d.j. The pictorial d.j. is seldom found with the book.
First edition. This book was part of the American Guide Series,
prepared by the Works Project Administration in Texas and sponsored by the Corpus
Christi Chamber of Commerce. CBC 3505. The guide was the basis for a
1952 history of Corpus listed by Herd (584), but the present work is
not in Herd. A chapter is devoted to the history of stockraising in the
area, including the King Ranch. There is also a chapter on Henry Lawrence Kinney
(1814-1862), founder of Corpus Christi, who engaged in ranching and trading
beginning in 1841. Kinney’s practice of buying out small ranchers and traders
in the area created considerable opposition. $110.00
1173. CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES.
Corpus Christi 100 Years. [Corpus Christi]: The Corpus Christi
Caller-Times, 1952. 148 pp., photographic plates. 8vo, original tan cloth.
Minor outer wear and a few light stains, interior fine.
First edition. Herd 584: “Contains a chapter on the King
Ranch and its cattle.” $35.00
1174. [CORY, V. L. & Parks,
H. B.]. Catalogue of the Flora of Texas. College Station: Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station, 1937. 130 pp., map. 8vo, original printed self-wrappers,
stapled. Wrappers detached from text, tape repairs to spine and one tear at
top of wrap, first few leaves foxed.
First printing. An attempt to catalogue the plant life in
Texas and standardize names. Of prime consideration is “the relationship of
plant life to the other factors which taken together permit animal life to exist.”
Surely the animal life of primary importance to the agricultural college was
livestock in its various forms. $40.00
1175. COSSLEY-BATT, Jill L. The
Last of the California Rangers. New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls
Company, 1928. xix [1] 299 pp., frontispiece portrait, plates, facsimiles, endpaper
illustrations after Nahl’s painting “Sunday in the California Diggings.” 8vo,
original blue cloth gilt. Very fine and bright in lightly worn d.j. (with illustration
of Murieta falling off his horse when captured).
First edition. Cowan, p. 144. Guns 499: “Scarce....
Continues to rehash Ridge’s account of Murieta” (see Zamorano 80 #64).
Rocq 15762. Biography of William James Howard (ca. 1829-1924), the last surviving
member of the California Rangers. Includes information and photograph of his
wife, who had difficulty adjusting to living on the isolated Howard Ranch, close
to the mining camps and nine miles from any other woman. Isabelle eased her
unrest by attending Spanish fandangos, riding about the countryside, and hunting.
“At 24 Howard, who owned a ranch twenty miles west of Mariposa, California,
joined Harry Love in the California Rangers in an attempt to extirpate banditry
in central California, his ranch to be headquarters. Howard helped Love recruit
the twenty men considered necessary and accompanied the posse on its long circuitous
search for the bandit Joaquin, also known as Murieta, and his principal lieutenant,
Three Fingered Jack. The pair were run down and killed July 25, 1853, on Cantua
Creek, near present Coalinga, California” (Thrapp II, pp. 684-85). There is
also some Texas interest: William James Howard came to the Republic of Texas
with his family in 1843 and lived at Laffite’s Fort on Galveston Island. Includes
an interesting story about Sam Houston and a photographic plate of the Alamo.
$190.00
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