650. BROWN, Dee & Marvin F. Schmitt. Trail Driving
Days. New York & London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952. xxii [2] 264
pp., profusely illustrated with documentary photographs, portraits, facsimiles,
and brands (erratum slip tipped onto contents page). Small folio, original red
cloth. Exceptionally fine in excellent d.j.
First edition, first issue, with captions for illustrations
on 194 and 199 reversed (in the first issue, the caption on p. 194 is incorrectly
labeled “XIT in Montana” and p. 199 is “A Montana Ranch, Comfortable If Not
Elegant”) and “A” beneath copyright on title verso. Adams, Burs I:54.
Campbell, pp. 185-86: “Begins with the development of the longhorns from Spanish
cattle and ends with the great blizzard of 1886.” Dobie, p. 98. Dykes, Fifty
Great Western Illustrators (Remington 436); Kid 436; Western High
Spots, p. 60 (“High Spots of Western Illustrating” #119): “Many excellent
photographs.” Guns 293. Herd 340. Photo-documentary history of
the long trail drives with information on many aspects and notable characters:
trail towns, Dodge City, open range, Prairie Rose, Cornelia Adair, “Queen of
the Jingle Bob,” Medora von Hoffman, etc. $50.00
Item 650
651. BROWN, Dee & Marvin F. Schmitt. Trail Driving Days. New York & London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952. Another copy, variant binding. Small folio, original terracotta cloth. Contemporary gift inscription on front flyleaf, else very fine in fine d.j. (price-clipped). $50.00
652. BROWN, Dee & Marvin F. Schmitt. Trail Driving Days. New York & London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952. Another copy, variant binding. Small folio, original black cloth. Very fine in very fine d.j. $55.00
653. BROWN, James S[tephens]. Life of a Pioneer.... Salt
Lake City: Geo. Q. Cannon & Sons Co., 1900. xix [1] [9]-520 pp., frontispiece
portrait (photographic), 6 half-tone plates (mostly of old prints). 8vo, original
brown gilt-lettered cloth. Moderate shelf wear (frayed at tips and edges, corners
bumped), two small stains on covers, front hinge cracked, internally fine. Historian
R. L. Hafen’s copy, signed by him on verso of portrait.
First edition. Cowan, p. 77. Eberstadt, Modern Narratives
of the Plains and the Rockies 55. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p. 34:
“Scarce and important. It is reported that almost the entire edition was destroyed
by water and mice.” Flake 900. Graff 426: “The writer went overland with the
Mormon Battalion to California in 1846 and was present when the first gold was
discovered at Sutter’s Mill.” Howes B849. Kurutz, The California Gold Rush
86. Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives 1663, 1750. Mintz, The Trail
523. See Wheat, Books of the California Gold Rush 22. California chapters
include sections on “Wild Horses and Cattle Driven into the Sea,” “Surrounded
by Wild Cattle,” “Dealing with Wild Horses and Cattle,” “Brutality of Bull Fights,
Horse Racing, etc.,” and “Threatened by Wild Horses.” Additionally, the author
discusses conflicts with Native Americans in regard to livestock, purchasing
a herd of cattle for his parents in Iowa, a trail herd with 4,000 head crossing
the Green River, and his experiences purchasing and moving “work cattle” (oxen),
something he was frequently called on to do by the Mormon church. $440.00
654. BROWN, James S[tephens]. Life of a Pioneer.... Salt Lake City: Geo. Q. Cannon & Sons, 1900. Another copy, variant binding (both in color and lettering on spine). 8vo, original gilt-lettered terracotta cloth. Binding lightly soiled and shelf worn (small snag at head of spine, corners bumped, some fraying along edges and at corners), hinges weak, interior fine. $330.00
655. BROWN, Jennie Broughton. Fort Hall on the Oregon Trail:
A Historical Study. With “Ferry Butte” by Susie Boice Trego. Caldwell: Caxton
Printers, 1932. 466 [1] pp., frontispiece portrait, numerous text illustrations
(mostly photographic), maps. 8vo, original slate green cloth. Light wear to
spinal extremities, endsheets browned (from d.j.), 2 embossed ownership stamps
of Wyoming collector E. A. Logan (on front and back free endpapers), overall
very good, in worn and browned d.j. with large chip at head of spine (loss of
a small section—about 2.5 x 1.8 cm).
First edition. Smith 1164. Mostly early history (exploration,
fur trade, conflicts with Native Americans, etc.), but the author does mention
Jesse Applegate’s “cow-column,” an overland party composed of owners of large
herds; Applegate’s thoughts on the superiority of the southern trail from the
Willamette Valley; buffalo hunts and stampede; and horse racing.
$80.00
656. BROWN, Jennie Broughton. Fort Hall on the Oregon Trail.... Caldwell: Caxton Printers, 1932. Another copy. Slight shelf wear, pencil ownership signature, otherwise very fine and tight, without the d.j. $70.00
657. BROWN, Jesse & A. M. Willard. The Black Hills
Trails: A History of the Struggles of the Pioneers in the Winning of the Black
Hills. Rapid City: Rapid City Journal Company, 1924. 572 pp., frontispiece
portrait, illustrations (mostly photographic). 8vo, original blue cloth. Very
fine, with bookplate of Western writer William MacLeod Raine (see Thrapp III,
pp. 1188-89).
First edition. Adams, Burs I:55. Graff 427. Guns
297: “Scarce.... One of the standard histories of the Black Hills, this book
contains much information on the outlaws of that section.” Herd 342:
“Has section on ‘The Language of the Roundup.’” Howes B850. Jennewein, Black
Hills Booktrails 126 (one of his five standards for the post-Gold Rush period):
“Personalities, hold-ups, hangings, freighting experiences, Indian troubles
and so forth.” Luther, High Spots of Custer 76: “Much of interest regarding
the personalities of the various participants is recorded here to make this
account one of the most valuable.” $300.00
658. BROWN, Jesse & A. M. Willard. The Black Hills Trails.... Rapid City: Rapid City Journal Company, 1924. Another copy. Fine. $300.00
659. BROWN, Jesse & A. M. Willard. The Black Hills Trails.... Rapid City: Rapid City Journal Company, 1924. Another copy, variant binding. 8vo, original(?) three-quarter maroon leather over maroon cloth. Fragile leather binding worn (3.8 cm square at top of spine almost detached, one small chip at top of lower joint and another small chip on spine about 4 cm from foot of spine), board slightly exposed where leather has worn away at lower corners. Front hinge cracked, a few internal leaves browned from old newspaper clippings. Author’s signed presentation copy: “Kind Regards to My Old Time Friend George Northum by Jesse Brown 4-27-25.” The binding appears to be original, and if not, it certainly is near contemporary with publication of the book. We find no records of special presentation bindings for this book, but given the inscription, it is possible that this is one of a few special bindings done for the author. In any case, the binding needs the attention of a gentle conservator. $350.00
660. BROWN, John. Autobiography of Pioneer John Brown,
1820-1896. Salt Lake City: [Stevens and Wallis], 1941. 491 pp., frontispiece
portrait, illustrations. 8vo, original black cloth. Other than mild discoloration
to binding, fine, signed and dated by author’s son, John Z. Brown, who arranged
and published the book.
First edition. Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives
163, 215. Mintz, The Trail 58: “Brown was one of the many who took part
in the Mormon migration to Utah in 1847. He continued his travels during his
life in efforts to help others in emigrating to the Salt Lake Valley.” In facilitating
Mormon migration to Utah, Brown crossed the plains 13 times and several times
oversaw the purchase of oxen and cattle for various Mormon entities, including
two carloads of sheep and cattle for the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing
Co. The book also mentions conflicts with Native Americans over livestock, buffalo
hunting, a lengthy dream about rampaging wild cattle, etc., primarily as recorded
in his journal. $90.00
661. BROWN, John Henry. History of Texas, from 1685 to
1892. St. Louis: L. E. Daniell, [1892-93]. 631 + 591 pp., frontispiece portrait,
engraved plates (some photographic), maps, text illustrations. 2 vols., thick
8vo, original maroon decorative leather gilt, marbled edges. Binding wear, especially
to spinal extremities (head of spine of vol. 2 chipped), labels partially removed
from spines, front hinges cracked, interior fine.
First edition. Basic Texas Books 22: “The earliest
comprehensive history of Texas written by an active participant.... Replete
with historical facts presented for the first time, and with incidents that
would not have been remembered without Brown’s work. His descriptions of events
in which he participated are vivid and memorable. The set is still useful today,
and forms one of the basic research sources for nineteenth century Texas.” Howes
B856. Rader 513. Raines, p. 32. Tate, Indians of Texas 151: “An account
filled with standard stories of Indian atrocities and pioneer heroism.” Mostly
deals with politics and military matters, but there are short accounts of wild
cattle corralled in Goliad and free grass and fence cutting troubles remedied
during Governor Ireland’s administration. $275.00
662. BROWN, John Henry. Index to History of Texas Volume
1 [and] ...Volume 2. N.p., n.d. 5 + 6 pp. 2 vols., 8vo, original
white printed self-wrappers. Lightly soiled and a few old pencil marks erased.
First edition. Helps open up for research the mass of material
in Brown’s History of Texas (see preceding entry). $35.00
663. BROWN, John Henry & John H. Cochran. History of
Dallas County, Texas: From 1837 to 1887, by John Henry Brown [and] Dallas
County: A Record of Its Pioneers and Progress, by John H. Cochran. The Two Major
Chronicles of Early Dallas County Now Republished Together, with a Foreword
by Sam Acheson. Dallas: Aldredge Book Store, 1966. xiv [4] 114; 296 pp.
2 vols. in one, 8vo, original brown cloth. Very fine.
Limited edition (510 copies). CBC 1218, 1227. Facsimiles
of the 1887 and 1928 first editions (Cochran’s was a supplement to Brown’s earlier
work). The two major chronicles of early Dallas County are republished together
in this volume. See item 979 for the first edition of Cochran’s supplementary
volume. Brown mentions the first brands and marks recorded in Dallas County,
and Cochran tells how stockraising contributed to the development of Dallas
County and “The Fence Cutting Legislature.” $125.00
664. BROWN, John Henry. Life and Times of Henry Smith,
the First American Governor of Texas. Dallas: A. D. Aldridge & Co.,
1887. 395 pp., lithographed frontispiece portrait of Smith. 8vo, original sheep,
red and blue leather spine labels. Binding worn and defective (upper cover detached),
as is often the case with this cheap sheep. Text fine. Association-presentation
copy, to Marion T. Brown from her mother dated in 1889 (Marion’s name is neatly
inked on fore-edges). Marion Brown, the author’s daughter, studied under San
Antonio artist Julian Onderdonk and illustrated her father’s History of Texas
and her mother’s A Condensed History of Texas. Two related clippings
laid in: San Antonio Daily Express (January 1, 1888) reviewing the book,
and another from the Dallas Times-Herald (ca. 1890) regarding the fiftieth
anniversary of the George W. Fultons—Mrs. Fulton being a daughter of Henry Smith.
Affixed to endpaper is the printed prospectus for the book.
First edition. Howes B858. Raines, p. 32: “Covers a critical
period of Texan history, a period of dissension and disaster.” Smith came to
Texas in 1827 and was active in the move for Texas independence from his arrival.
He went to California in 1849 and died in a mining camp in Los Angeles County
in 1851. Brown’s work is included here because it contains some early details
on his remarkable son-in-law, George W. Fulton, founder of the Coleman-Fulton
Pasture Company on Aransas Bay. Fulton was one of the most innovative men in
Texas in the nineteenth century and a real leader in the cattle trade (only
one of his many interests). Among his many accomplishments was shipping some
of the first cattle from Texas to New Orleans, inventing a system for shipping
beef under refrigeration, constructing early range fences in South Texas, and
introducing new cattle breeds that still impact South Texas. $110.00
665. BROWN, John Henry. Life and Times of Henry Smith.... Dallas: A. D. Aldridge & Co., 1887. Another copy, slight binding variant. 8vo, original sprinkled sheep, red and blue leather spine labels. Binding worn and peeling, joints cracked, head of spine chipped, hinges weak. Text clean except portrait is foxed. $85.00
666. BROWN, John Henry. Life and Times of Henry Smith.... Dallas: A. D. Aldridge & Co., 1887. Another copy, variant binding. 8vo, original gilt-lettered brown cloth. Some abrading and staining to binding, lower hinge cracked, occasional mild foxing. $85.00
667. BROWN, John P. Old Frontiers: The Story of the Cherokee
Indians from Earliest Times to the Date of Their Removal to the West, 1838.
Kingsport, Tennessee: Southern Publishers, 1938. xi [1] 570 pp., frontispiece
portrait, plates, maps (one double-page). 8vo, original blue cloth. Light edge
wear, otherwise very fine.
First edition. Though there is only slight mention of ranching,
it is interesting. The Cherokee disapproved of “the white man’s buffalo” (the
cow), even eschewing to waste shot and powder on them. “They liked to leave
the cows stuck full of arrows in derision. The presence of Indians in the woods
was often revealed by the nervousness of the cattle” (p. 213). Under the tutelage
of Mrs. William Bean, a Cherokee woman named Nancy Ward introduced cattle to
the tribe around 1776 and owned the first herd (dairy cattle). $125.00
668. BROWN, Mark H. & W. R. Felton. Before Barbed Wire:
L. A. Huffman, Photographer on Horseback. New York: Henry Holt and Company,
[1956]. 256 pp., numerous illustrations from Huffman’s photographs, endpaper
maps. 4to, original black cloth. Fine in fine d.j. (price-clipped).
First edition of a photo-documentary classic of range literature.
Dykes, Western High Spots, p. 59 (“High Spots of Western Illustrating”
#128); p. 84 (“A Range Man’s Library”). Guns 300: “Some information on
the Johnson County War of Wyoming.” Herd 346. Reese, Six Score 16:
“L. A. Huffman was the premier photographer of the northern range. Brown and
Felton have added an excellent text to the superb photographs.” “If there is
one quality which sets the Huffman collection apart from the work of others...it
is the intimate nature of the subject matter. Huffman was part of the society
which he photographed and many of his pictures portray not only certain individuals,
but...various details about their daily life. Herein probably lies their unique
appeal.... The Huffman pictures constitute one of the finest pictorial records
of life on the western frontier” (Thrapp II, pp. 688-89). $80.00
669. BROWN, Mark H. & W. R. Felton. The Frontier Years:
L. A. Huffman, Photographer of the Plains. New York: Henry Holt and Company,
[1955]. 272 pp., frontispiece self-portrait of Huffman, numerous illustrations
from Huffman’s photographs, endpaper maps. 4to, original black cloth. A few
faint spots on upper cover, but overall very fine in price-clipped and slightly
worn d.j. Inscription signed by both authors: “For Frank Kemp, Jr., lover of
the Old West...28 October 1955.”
First edition. Dykes, Western High Spots, p. 59 (“High
Spots of Western Illustrating” #126). Guns 301: “Some new material on
Calamity Jane.” Herd 347. Luther, High Spots of Custer 163: “Reproduces
Huffman’s photos of his 1877 visit to the battlefield. His views help us to
get an idea of how the ground looked at the time.” Reese, Six Score 16n.
This volume is primarily devoted to Huffman’s photographs of Native Americans,
settlements in the prairies, hunting and sport, and the military, but there
are a few photos with range subjects. $80.00
670. BROWN, Mark H. & W. R. Felton. The Frontier Years: L. A. Huffman, Photographer of the Plains. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1955]. Another copy. Very fine in price-clipped d.j. $75.00
671. BROWN, William S. California Northeast, the Bloody
Ground. Oakland: Biobooks, 1951. xiv [2] 207 [2] pp., photographic plates,
foldout map. Large 4to, original blue and red buckram. Slight fading to spine
and upper cover, otherwise very fine.
Limited edition (750 copies). Rocq 5411. Conflicts in regard
to land use, livestock, and depredations were some of the primary factors contributing
to the Modoc War, and these matters are discussed extensively. $65.00
672. BROWNE, J. Ross. Crusoe’s Island: A Ramble in the
Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk with Sketches of Adventure in California and
Washoe. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1864. 436 pp., numerous
humorous engraved illustrations (full-page and text illustrations; many after
author’s pen drawings). 12mo, original purple pebbled cloth. Some edge wear,
especially to spinal extremities, small split along top of lower joint, spine
and cover edges faded, a few miniscule spots to text, internally fine.
First edition. Cowan, p. 78. Hamilton, Early American
Book Illustrators and Wood Engravers I, pp. 86-87. Howes B876. Paher, Nevada
219: “Contains the famous and entertaining A Peep at Washoe.... Among
the best and liveliest reports of the early Comstock boom.... Nothing escapes
his inquiring mind: the Chinese, Indians, speculators, miners, aberrations in
human behavior, the madness over minerals,...restful Lake Tahoe.... This early
Nevada classic anticipated Mark Twain’s Roughing It by several years.”
Several brief accounts of ranches, vaqueros, and wild cattle in Mexico and California;
startling account of a fight between a wild bull and a grizzly; attending a
Sonora fandango thrown by rancheros and vaqueros from the neighboring ranches;
illustrations of the grizzly-bull fight, a Spanish caballero, roping a grizzly.
Browne’s writings are early and essential for the evolution of Western humor.
“Browne spent twenty-five years in the West, about twice as long as Bret Harte,
Mark Twain, Francis Parkman, Richard Dana, and Bayard Taylor combined. He traveled
extensively throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, and Washington;
and his letters, journals, articles, and reports constitute the fullest and
most reliable account of life in the West left by a single person in the third
quarter of the nineteenth century.... His cartoons portray as no words can the
ironic view he had of himself and the turbulent life of the West he experienced
so fully.” (WLA, Literary History of the American West, p. 90).
$190.00
Item 672
673. BROWNE, J. Ross. A Dangerous Journey, California,
1849. Palo Alto: Arthur Lites Press, [1950]. 93 [1] pp., printed in black
and green, text illustrations after Browne’s engravings for the first edition
(some in full color), decorated initials. 8vo, original green cloth. Lower front
corner bumped, otherwise very fine in d.j.
First book edition (first published in Harper’s Monthly
May-June 1862, reissued in 1864 as part of Crusoe’s Island). Rocq 15722.
Includes observations on California ranches, wild cattle, and episodes with
grizzlies, with related illustrations. $45.00
674. BROWNE, J. Ross. A Dangerous Journey. Ashland:
Lewis Osborne, 1972. 83 [2] pp., text illustrations after Brown’s engravings
for the first edition. Tall 8vo, original black cloth. Very fine in plain white
d.j.
Limited edition (#55 of 600 copies). With this book we include
Osborne’s printing of Browne’s A Peep at Washoe; or, Sketch of Adventure
in Virginia City (Palo Alto, 1968; 145 [3] pp., many text illustrations,
endpaper map. Tall 8vo, original green cloth. Printer’s flaw on p. 17, else
very fine in plain d.j. Limited edition (#68 of 1,400 copies). See Paher,
Nevada 222. $90.00
675. BROWNE, J. Ross. Explorations in Lower California,
1868. Tucson: Arizona Silhouettes, [1952]. Pp. [8] [577]-591; 740-52; 9-23
[1], text illustrations. 8vo, original stiff tan printed wrappers. Very fine.
Three articles extracted from Harper’s Weekly, with descriptions
and illustrations of ranches in Baja. Barrett, Baja California 372.
$20.00
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