“Rhymes from the Round-Up Camp”—Russell’s Copy
974. COBURN, Wallace D. Rhymes from the Round-Up Camp.
[Great Falls, Montana], 1899. 138 pp., 8 plates (line engravings) by Charles
M. Russell. 12mo, original olive green gilt-pictorial cloth. First few signatures
a bit loose, occasional mild foxing, otherwise fine and bright. From Charles
M. Russell’s library, with his illustrated bookplate and illustrated card for
Parker-Russell Mining & Manufacturing Company of St. Louis laid in. Very
rare.
First edition, first issue, with “the” instead of “a” in
title and the issue points set out by Yost & Renner for text and binding
(I:8). Dykes, Western High Spots, p. 188 (“Russell Rarities 4”). Graff
779. Merrill, Aristocrats of the Cow Country, p. 16n (citing the issue
in flexible leather). Smith 1836. Yost & Renner, Russell I:8. From
Coburn’s preface to the 1903 edition: “Many and varied volumes have been written
concerning Western life by authors who have depended for their facts entirely
upon a flying trip through the West, or a summer’s sojourn in a Western city.
It has been my aim in this little book of verse to tell of cowboy life as it
actually was, twenty years ago, and as it may still be found to a limited degree
in some parts of the West along the line between Texas and Northern Montana.
My characters are taken from real life as I have myself seen it during many
years spent on the range, in town, and in camp with the wildest of wild cowpunchers.
Some of these old companions are now successful and highly esteemed business
men; others are still following their vocation on the now diminishing cattle-ranges;
and others, too many, are gone forever from the ranges which they loved so well.
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my old friend and fellow range-rider,
Charles M. Russell, the well-known cowboy artist, for his drawings which illustrate
so faithfully and vividly the life which we knew together.” $3,000.00
975. COBURN, Wallace D. Rhymes from a Round-Up Camp....
New Edition, Revised and Enlarged. New York & London: G. P. Putnam’s
Sons & Knickerbocker Press, 1903. ix [3] 137 pp., frontispiece, text illustrations
by Charles M. Russell (some full-page), brands on endpapers. 12mo, original
red gilt-pictorial cloth, t.e.g. A few trivial spots to binding, but overall
very fine, bright, and fresh. Contemporary ink gift inscription on blank flyleaf:
“J. E. Meeker from Maurice Wight Christmas/05.”
First English edition, revised and with additional illustrations
that did not appear in prior editions and issues. Yost & Renner, Russell
I:8d. $330.00
976. COBURN, Wallace D. Rhymes from a Round-Up Camp.
Los Angeles: Gem Publishing Company, 1925. xvii [3] 137 pp., frontispiece, text
illustrations by Charles M. Russell (some full-page), brands on endpapers. 12mo,
original embossed pictorial brown cloth over thin boards, t.e.g. Front free
endpaper beginning to split at gutter, otherwise very fine. Author’s presentation
copy: “Dear Earl, Just a little token in memory of many of the precious hours
passed together spitting in the camp-fire and swapping yarns, and living over
again a life never seen in any part of this world except Western North America
and which can never be seen again unless the Great Spirit can forget mavericking,
forgive long rope cowmen, and has a good grass range and good horses—Here’s
praying that there is such a camp ground however ‘old scout’ and that you and
I may point a trail-herd in that direction. Yours sincerely in bad weather as
well as good. Wallace D. Coburn September 1, 1927.” With his hand-drawn brand
(encircled C).
“New edition, revised and enlarged,” in the “art” binding (boards
simulating a bunkhouse door). The illustrations are the same as those in the
English edition. Yost & Renner, Russell I:8e. This edition contains
a tribute to Coburn by Russell that did not appear in previous issues, in which
Russell writes: “Horseman of the plains, mighty hunter, ranchman, cowpuncher,
scholar, wit, practician and poet, he rounds out his career as a Westerner by
being the only White Chief of the Assinaboine Sioux, his tribal name being Peta-kooa-honga,
which means Cowboy Chief.... For all his prowess as horseman and hunter, he
is gifted of the tenderness of a woman, the generosity of a prince, and the
soul of an artist. With him friendship is almost a religion, and for all the
wild vicissitudes of his adventurous life, he has always clung to the tender
influences of literature and art, of home and the humanity. We have been friends,
he and I, for many years, friends as only men can be who love the same life,
who have camped together like true comrades and who are aware of one another’s
fidelity, loyalty and courage without the need of a spoken word. Wallace D.
Coburn was born in Helena, Montana, of Scotch-Irish parentage in 1876; almost
from childhood he spent his summer vacations on the round-up, and for years
he lived neighbor to the Assinaboine Sioux of whose nation he is the titular
chieftain.” $550.00
977. COBURN, Walt. Pioneer Cattleman in Montana: The Story
of the Circle C Ranch. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, [1968]. xii,
338 [2] pp., foldout color plate by Russell, text illustrations (mostly photographic).
8vo, original dark brown cloth. Very fine in very fine d.j. (illustrated by
Russell). Pasted onto front free endpaper is a tan book-plate size piece of
paper signed by author and with printed illustration of a cow.
First edition. Guns 2479: “This excellent book gives
a fine picture of one of the famous ranches in Montana and tells about some
of that state’s outlaws.” Smith S2596. Coburn’s book is one of the author’s
few non-fiction works, presenting his own memories, a biography of his father
(pioneer rancher Robert Coburn), and the men and events of the region they called
a “cattleman’s paradise.” Coburn (1889-1971) had every intention to be a cattleman
like his father, but he was disabled in two accidents. When Coburn read a Western
pulp story in Adventure Magazine written by his Montana friend Robert
J. Horton, Coburn recognized a story he had told Horton long ago. Coburn wrote
Horton and asked him how he might become a writer. Horton wrote back very specifically—that
Coburn should read Roget’s Thesaurus, O. Henry, Jack London, and Joseph
Conrad (but no other Western stories); live a story in his mind as he wrote
it; never devise a plot beforehand; and never rewrite. Coburn took Horton’s
advice to heart and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of pulp
Western fiction, earning the sobriquet “The Cowboy Author.” Tuska & Piekarski
(pp. 49-51) estimate that Coburn wrote some 600,000 words during the 1930s and
1940s. $140.00
978. COBURN, Walt. Pioneer Cattleman in Montana.... Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, [1968]. Another copy. Very fine in very fine d.j. $95.00
979. COCHRAN, John H. Dallas County: A Record of Its Pioneers
and Progress, Being a Supplement to John Henry Brown’s History of Dallas County
(1887).... Dallas: Arthur S. Mathis, Service Publishing Co., [1928]. 296
pp., frontispiece. 8vo, original maroon cloth. Very fine in very fine d.j.
First edition. CBC 1227. This book was written as
supplement to John Henry Brown’s History of Dallas County. The author
corrects errors in Brown’s work and supplies history to which Brown did not
have access. Cochran mentions early stockraisers (William Kennedy, William Rowe,
and others, including Alexander Cockrell, who was in the stock business before
he became a city builder). He tells of the establishment of the first tannery
in the county in the 1840s by R. J. West, commenting that “the demand for leather
was so great that Mr. West did not let the hides remain in the vats long enough
to get thoroughly tanned. They were prematurely taken up and sold as leather,
which when it got wet and dried became so hard, it was called rawhide” (p. 51).
(Dallas in its early years had a thriving trade in cattle and buffalo hides,
and by the early 1870s was the world center for that trade.) Cochran discusses
the influx of a large number of moral, intelligent, industrious, and well-to-do
settlers of English, Irish, and Scottish descent who came to Dallas as result
of advertising by the Peters Colony and notes that these pioneers were skilled
in farming and stockraising. Earlier settlers had brought inferior breeds from
Missouri and other northern states. Cochran tells how the Dallas State Fairs
contributed to better breeding of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. He states
that in 1882 barbed wire was introduced to Dallas, causing a contagion of fence
cutting and violence that led to the “Fence Cutting Legislature” in an extra
session of the Eighteenth Legislature. He claims that a piece of prairie land
near the Dallas-Denton road (about two miles south of Farmers Branch) was the
site of the first fence cutting in Texas. The first marks and brands recorded
in Dallas were on September 28, 1846, to John Neely Bryan, John Beeman, and
John Young. $275.00
980. CODY, William F. The Life of Hon. William F. Cody,
Known As Buffalo Bill, the Famous Hunter, Scout and Guide. An Autobiography.
Hartford: Frank E. Bliss, [1879]. xiv, 17-365 pp., engraved frontispiece portrait
of Cody, numerous text engravings (many by True W. Williams, some full-page).
8vo, original purple embossed cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, upper
cover with gilt-stamped buffalo lettered “BILL.” Spinal extremities worn and
frayed, corners bumped, edges rubbed, hinges cracked, small tear on front free
endpaper (no loss), occasional mild staining to text, a few pencil notations
in text, contemporary ink ownership inscription of J. C. Curtiss on verso of
portrait. A worn copy, but still quite respectable and in its original cloth
binding, with two associated items laid in: an early reprint of a photograph
of Cody originally inscribed by him to Lovell H. Jerome and a contemporary clipping
from the New York Tribune (with article “Conquest of the Sioux: With
Crook and Custer in the Campaign of 1876”).
First edition. Campbell, p. 63. Graff 786. Guns 224.
Howes C531: “Probably ghost-written by Prentiss Ingraham” [Ingraham was a friend
of Cody’s and wrote over two hundred wildly exaggerated dime novels about him].
Jennewein, Black Hills Booktrails 75: “The first, and the best of the
many ‘autobiographies.’” Rader 859. Smith 1849. Wynar 8352. The book relates
Cody’s youthful experiences: learning expert California horsemanship from his
uncle (the dashing “bocarro” Horace Billings); rounding up wild horses on the
plains; herding cattle for Russell, Majors, and Waddell; and the intense influence
of witnessing the incredible panorama of the West opening as the young boy viewed
it from the Cody family homes in Kansas and Iowa (exotic Native Americans, thousands
of emigrants moving West, the romance of freighting). In the last chapters Cody
tells of embarking into the cattle business with Major Frank North, purchasing
a ranch sixty-five miles north of North Platte in Nebraska, and buying, branding,
and driving their first herd of cattle from Texas cattle drovers in Ogallala.
He extols the horsemanship of the cowboys on the North Platte range (p. 361):
“In this cattle driving business is exhibited some most magnificent horsemanship,
for the ‘cow-boys,’ as they are called, are invariably skillful and fearless
horsemen—in fact only a most expert rider could be a cow-boy, as it requires
the greatest dexterity and daring in the saddle to cut a wild steer out of the
herd.” Ironically, Cody, who is generally conceded to be the greatest of all
romanticizers of the cowboy, describes his participation in a round-up on the
North Platte in rather realistic terms: “As there is nothing but hard work on
these round-ups, having to be in the saddle all day, and standing guard over
the cattle at night, rain or shine, I could not possibly find out where the
fun came in, that North had promised me.” Many of the vivacious engravings are
by artist True W. Williams, who also illustrated works by Mark Twain, Joaquin
Miller, and Bret Harte. $550.00
981. CODY, William F. The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, Known As Buffalo Bill.... Hartford: Frank E. Bliss, [1879]. Another copy. Moderate shelf wear (especially at spinal extremities), corners bumped and frayed, front hinge cracked, three ink spots on fore-edges, text clean except for minor spotting and a few pencil marks in margins. $385.00
982. CODY, William F. The Life of Hon. William F. Cody,
Known As Buffalo Bill.... Hartford: Frank E. Bliss, [1879]. [i]-iv [2, inserted
leaf with facsimile of Sheridan letter to Cody on recto and “Opinions of the
Press” on verso] [v]-365 pp., engraved frontispiece portrait, numerous text
engravings. 8vo, original purple embossed cloth, spine lettered and decorated
in gilt, upper cover with gilt-stamped buffalo lettered “BILL.” Shelf worn and
rubbed, corners bumped and frayed (boards exposed), spine faded and slightly
shelf-slanted, gilt buffalo on upper cover almost exterminated, rear hinge cracked,
frontispiece and tissue guard foxed, minor spotting to text, pp. xv/xvi trimmed
at outer blank margin (this leaf appears to be supplied from another copy),
new endpapers. Gift inscription in pencil: “Louis K. Gould ‘Happy New Year’
from Uncle John Jan 1st 1887—John D. Candee.” Gould’s garish orange
embossed notary public seal on dedication leaf.
First edition, later issue? This copy varies from the two
preceding copies. The dedication leaf (pp. [iii]-[iv]) of the preceding copies
has the short dedication to General Sheridan on recto and facsimile of Sheridan’s
letter to Cody on verso. In the present copy, the dedication leaf has the short
dedicatory statement on recto, and the verso is blank; next is an inserted leaf
on thinner paper with facsimile of Sheridan’s letter to Cody on recto and “Opinions
of the Press” on verso. Otherwise the two books appear to be identical. One
can only speculate why this change was made, but Storm comments in the Graff
Catalogue (786): “According to a letter by A. D. Worthington of Hartford, to
Richard I. Dodge, March 10, 1884, only three or four thousand of these books
were sold.” The optimistic cataloguer might suggest that the inserted leaf with
the glowing “Opinions of the Press” was a marketing ploy to attempt to lure
more buyers. The pessimistic cataloguer would look askance at the present copy,
wondering if it might be a cleverly made-up copy, the inserted leaf perhaps
being a separately issue promotional piece put to “good” use. However, that
does not explain why the verso of the dedication leaf in the present copy is
blank, while the copy listed above has the facsimile of the Sheridan letter
on the verso of the dedicatory leaf. The optimistic cataloguer would end by
suggesting that despite the wretched condition of the present copy, an opportunity
is offered for interesting bibliographical investigation. $220.00
Programme for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
983. [CODY, William F. (“Buffalo Bill”)]. Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Chicago: Blakely Printing,
1893. 64 pp., photographic portrait of Cody on title, numerous text illustrations
(many photographic). Small 4to, original chromolithographed pictorial wrappers.
Upper wrapper detached and with minor marginal chipping, one dark nickel-size
stain on upper wrap, internally fine. Ink notation at top of upper wrapper:
“Mr. Joe Byrne & Miss Laura Gibbs went to Buffalo Bills Wild West Show Sept.
29, 1893.”
First edition? (collation and publication information as
in the Graff copy). Graff 784: “In his best years as a showman, Cody had few
rivals.” This rousing and ephemeral programme for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show
contains historical sketches and biographies (often with photographs) of Western
military heroes, scouts, and many of the performers, including Annie Oakley,
“Cow-Boy Kid” Johnnie Baker, Sitting Bull (and other Native Americans), and
Cody (including unusual shots, such as Cody in a gondola in Venice and visiting
Earl’s Court, London, with his troupe). On p. 18 is a photograph of “‘Buffalo
Bill’s’ Home and Horse Ranch on the Old Fighting Ground of the Pawnee and Sioux.”
Among the articles are “The Cow-Boys” (discusses Texas cowboys); “Vaqueros of
the Southwest”; “How ‘Buffalo Bill’s’ Cow-Boys Tame the Roman Wild Horses”;
“Cossacks with the Wild West”; “South American Gauchos at the ‘Wild West’”;
“On a Mustang” (from Sweet & Knox’s Texas Siftings); “The Wild West
at the Vatican”; “Explicit Denial of the Various Charges Made against ‘Buffalo
Bill’” (in response to charges of starvation and cruelty to Native Americans
in the show); “The Rifle as an Aid to Civilization”; etc. Cody found his true
calling in 1882 in his hometown of North Platte, Nebraska. While relaxing at
the local saloon one afternoon, he was dismayed to learn that the town had no
festivities planned for the Fourth of July. Always the irrepressible showman,
he quickly worked up a program to show off cowboy skills, offering prizes for
bronco busting, shooting, and riding. He expected about a hundred cowboys, but
over a thousand applied. Cody realized that with some added frills, he had the
makings of a magnificent theatrical property exhibiting Western prowess. By
the following year, Cody had organized his flamboyant Wild West Show that brought
the romanticized cowboy to America and Europe and transformed the image of the
cowboy from uncouth and rowdy to squeaky-clean national hero. $400.00
984. COE, George W. Frontier Fighter: The Autobiography
of George W. Coe, Who Fought and Rode with Billy the Kid. As Related to Nan
Hillary Harrison. Boston, New York & Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin &
Riverside Press, 1934. xiv [2] 220 pp., frontispiece portrait, photographic
plates. 8vo, original grey cloth. Lower free endpaper browned where a newspaper
clipping was laid in, otherwise very fine and fresh in very good d.j. (slightly
chipped). Clipping (in acid-free mylar) from an English newspaper (1941) laid
in, with article “Aged Rancher Who Fought with Billy the Kid Dies,” reporting
Coe’s death in Roswell, New Mexico, at the age of 85.
First edition, first printing (with date 1934 under imprint
on title). Adams, Burs I:86; One-Fifty 32. Campbell, p. 70: “Coe
is anxious to correct inaccuracies and quash false rumors.” Dobie, p. 140. Dykes,
Kid 195: “It has the ring of truth.” Guns 458: “Scarce.... Though
a good friend of Billy the Kid, the author was never considered an outlaw. As
a participant in the Lincoln County War, he gives...a fairly accurate account.”
Herd 498. Howes C534. Rader 863. Saunders 2822. The author arrived in
New Mexico in 1874, traveling from Iowa with a herd of cattle. Before becoming
embroiled in the Lincoln County War, he worked on his cousin, Lou Coe’s ranch.
After the turmoil ended, in 1884 he set up his own ranch adjacent to Frank Coe.
“Keleher reports that Coe ‘was not in any sense of the word an outlaw,’ and
Adams says he ‘was never considered an outlaw,’ but others with equal or better
firsthand knowledge of the facts felt differently” (Thrapp I, p. 295).
$385.00
985. COE, George W. Frontier Fighter.... Boston, New York & Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin & Riverside Press, 1934. Another copy. Other than minor rubbing to joints, fine, in very good d.j. (price-clipped and with a few minor chips and tears). $360.00
986. COE, George W. Frontier Fighter.... Boston, New York & Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin & Riverside Press, 1934. Another copy. Binding moderately worn (primarily to spine, which is a bit dark), endsheets slightly browned, dust jacket not present. Signed in ink by Coe beneath frontispiece portrait. Carl Hertzog’s copy, with his bookplate on front pastedown. $330.00
987. COE, George W. Frontier Fighter.... Boston, New
York & Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin & Riverside Press, [1934]. xiv [2]
220 pp., frontispiece portrait, photographic plates. 8vo, original grey cloth.
Other than slight outer wear, very fine in near fine d.j. (very light wear).
Signed by Coe and with his notation of his age at the time of the photograph.
Front pastedown with ink ownership inscription of Frank W. Little of Seattle,
Washington, indicating acquisition of the book in February 1941. Small printed
label of Cobean Stationery Co. of Roswell, New Mexico, on lower pastedown.
First edition, second printing (without date 1934
under imprint on title). $250.00
988. COE, George W. Frontier Fighter.... Boston, New York & Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin & Riverside Press, [1934]. Another copy. Signed by Coe beneath frontispiece portrait: “Geo. W. Coe Glencoe New Mex Dec 25-1938 age 82.” Binding moderately worn and with a few spots and small stains, a few small spots to fore-edges, front hinge cracked, first signature a bit loose. Only one inside flap of the d.j. is present. Laid in is a newspaper clipping with a contemporary review of the book. $220.00
989. COE, George W. Frontier Fighter.... Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, [1951]. xiv [2] 220 pp., frontispiece portrait.
8vo, original maroon cloth. Binding lightly stained, tape stains to first and
last leaves and endpapers, pencil ownership inscription of Joel Palmer. Dust
jacket slightly worn and with some light staining on back panel.
Second edition. $20.00
990. COE, Urling C. Frontier Doctor. New York: Macmillan
Company, 1939. ix [3] 264 pp., tailpieces. 8vo, original green cloth. Top edge
foxed, endpapers browned. Good to very good copy, in slightly foxed d.j.
First edition. Dobie, pp. 69-70: “Lusty autobiography full
of characters and anecdotes.” Guns 459: “One chapter, entitled ‘Horse
Thieves and Rustlers,’ relates the author’s experiences in doctoring shot-up
rustlers.” Smith 1854. Coe worked in Eastern Oregon in the early 1900s. $50.00
991. COE, Wilbur. Ranch on the Ruidoso: The Story of a
Pioneer Family in New Mexico, 1871-1968.... With an Introduction by Peter Hurd.
New York: [Designed by Carl Hertzog for] Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. xviii, 279 [3]
pp., color frontispiece after a painting by Peter Hurd, color plate of Coe by
Peter Hurd, plates (photographic), maps by José Cisneros. 8vo, original red
cloth over green cloth. Very fine in near fine d.j. (slight wear). Author’s
signed presentation copy to Carl and Vivian Hertzog: “November 9, 1968. To my
dear friends Carl & Vivian. Thanks for your wonderful work of design on
this book. With love Wilbur Coe.” Beneath is publisher’s inscription to Hertzog
“And with love too from the publisher. We don’t make books like this one anymore...Coe
Ranch 12 September 1975.” Laid in are a signed photograph of Louise Coe, a couple
of related newspaper clippings and xerox copy of author’s TLs in regard to the
book.
First edition. Dykes, Fifty Great Western Illustrators
(Cisneros 56), (Hurd 60). Guns 460. Lowman, Printer at the Pass
222: “Both the binding and dust jacket are rich, colorful, and appropriate.
The title-page is exceptionally well done. A period atmosphere is achieved,
in part, by the use of horse-and-buggy type, which Hertzog loaned the publisher.
The maps were drawn by José Cisneros.” The story of the Coe clan of pioneer
ranchers in New Mexico overlaps the early history of New Mexico Territory and
the transition to statehood. $220.00
992. COE, Wilbur. Ranch on the Ruidoso.... New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Another copy. Light staining to edge of upper cover, otherwise fine in lightly foxed d.j. $85.00
993. COE, Wilbur. Ranch on the Ruidoso.... New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Another copy. Fine, without the d.j. $40.00
994. COFER, Irene Cornwall. The Lunch Tree. Brooklyn:
Theo. Gaus Sons, Inc, [1969]. xvi [2] 210 pp., text illustrations (mostly photographic),
chapter decorations by Roy Purcell. 8vo, original blue cloth. Upper fore-edge
lightly foxed, otherwise fine in moderately foxed d.j. Signed by the author.
First edition. Powell, Arizona Gathering II 334. We
obtained this book from Fred White, Sr., who notes: “A ranch wife describes
her life in western Arizona (Mohave Co.) from early this century.” Cofer, a
descendant of the ill-fated Donner Party, was born in 1891 near the present
village of Wickieup and grew up in an adobe ranch house in what she describes
as “happy poverty.” She married Clyde Cofer at age nineteen and spent almost
twenty years living in the rough range country, cooking for cowboys, washing
with a scrub board, and bearing five children. She was a charter member of the
“Cowbelles,” the distaff side of the Cattle Growers’ Association. Cofer documents
ranches and ranch families in her region (including photographs) and gives an
account of an 1893 drive of 5,000 cattle from Mohave County. $50.00
995. [COFFEEN, Herbert (ed.)]. The Teepee Book. Sheridan,
Wyoming, 1915. 5 issues: July (1:7), August (1:8), September (1:9), October
(misnumbered 1:9), and November-December, 1915 (misnumbered 1:10). Each issue
is about 32 pp., with illustrations and ads. 5 vols., 12mo, original printed
wrappers (brown, grey, and green). Some wear and soiling to wraps, but internally
very fine.
First printings. Includes articles and poetry relating to
ranching and cowboys, such as “The Canyon Trail” and “The Fight” by Badger Clark,
“The Wagon Box Fight” by E. A. Brininstool, illustrations by Borein, etc. There
is an account of a ride from the Salt River Valley to Tucson by Alberta Claire,
“the girl from Wyoming” who rode horseback all over the United States: “Discretion
cautioned me to ignore their seeming distaste for a member of my sex in camp.”
Many of the ads relate to ranching (real estate, working ranches and dude ranches,
supplies, rodeos). “Friends, Romans, Cowpinchers.—also Bankers, Doods, and Half-breeds,
record your brand with the commissary of The Teepee Book so you may get
your ration of one copy each month, for every month of the year.” $165.00
996. [COFFEEN, Herbert (ed.)]. The Teepee Book: A Magazine
Devoted to the Romantic Side of the Indians and the Northwest. Sheridan,
Wyoming, 1916. 11 issues from 1916 (lacking only the August issue). Each issue
is about 32 pp. (though the June Custer issue is 104 pp.), with illustrations
and ads. 11 vols., 12mo, original printed wrappers (various colors), illustrations,
advertisements. February issue bound upside-down in wrappers; May issue water
damaged along blank lower margin; first page (ads) torn out of July issue; generally
some wear, soiling, and chipping to wraps, overall very good to fine.
First printings. “The Heavenly Roper” by Fred LaFlaire, “Mountain
Music” and “The Glory Trail” by Badger Clark, “The Cowboy” and “Powder River!!”
by C. B. Davis, “Christmas Out West” by Arthur Chapman, “Buckin’ Horses” by
Ee-soshke-oah-bush, “A Cowboy Song” by an unknown author, “The Fetterman Massacre”
by E. A. Brininstool, “Marking the Site of Historic Fort Bonneville” by Dr.
Grace Raymond Hebard, “Some Adventures of Sweet Root: A Cheyenne Story” by George
Bird Grinnell, two contributions by Alberta Claire, “The Girl from Wyoming,”
about the pioneers of the Powder River country and her travels in Mexico in
1913 (when all the news was of Pancho Villa), etc. $385.00
997. COFFIN, Morse H. The Battle of Sand Creek. Edited
and with Introduction and Notes by Alan W. Farley. Waco: W. M. Morrison,
1965. 40 pp. Small 4to, original brown cloth. Very fine.
First edition, limited edition (300 copies). Wynar 1699.
Tensions ran high in the area northeast of Denver in the summer of 1864 as Cheyenne
warriors rustled or ran off stock, took several captives, and caused overland
mail and stage to be suspended, cutting off settlements in Colorado, Montana,
Utah, and New Mexico from supply lines to the East. The Third Colorado Volunteer
Calvary was eventually called upon to “keep open the highway to and from the
East, protect ranches, etc.” (p. 5). $75.00
998. COFFIN, Robert P., et al. Lone-Star Longhorns: Texas
Ballads. Cleveland: American Weave Press, [1953]. [6] 43 pp. 16mo, original
brown printed wrappers, stitched. Very fine.
First edition. Ballads chosen from manuscripts submitted
at the 1953 Fine Arts Colony at Corpus Christi creative writing workshops under
the direction of Coffin. Coffin’s poem “The Ghost-March” bemoans the passing
of the longhorns like the buffalo before them. The subject of “Red Gober’s Ride,”
by John Vail vows “I picked up my rope / Stumbled off to the pen / And swore
every step / Not to trail-drive again” (unfortunately, he did, and when lightning
struck, the herd stampeded). $35.00
999. COKE, Henry J. A Ride over the Rocky Mountains to
Oregon and California. With a Glance at Some of the Tropical Islands, Including
the West Indies and the Sandwich Isles. London: Richard Bentley, 1852. x,
388 [2] pp., mounted lithographed frontispiece portrait on India paper (printed
by the pioneer lithography firm of Hullmandel). 8vo, original blindstamped purple
cloth (rebacked several decades ago, original spine preserved, endpapers replaced).
Some shelf wear (especially at spinal extremities and corners), spine dark,
small paper spine label, back hinge cracked. Interior clean except for offsetting
and browning to frontispiece and title, paper age-toned (as is usually the case
with this book).
First edition. Cowan, p. 134. Flake 2449. Graff 796. Hill,
p. 57: “A fascinating account of this perilous 1850 expedition, undertaken for
sheer adventure...in which two of their seven companions perished, and the survival
of any was a miracle. Coke was a globe-trotter, and his excessive spirit is
thoroughly exhibited in every chapter of this book. His ability to describe
easily the sights and sensations of his journey has resulted in a most entertaining
book.” Howes C547. Kurutz, The California Gold Rush 144: “The last chapter
of this travel book features California and the Gold Rush.... He met Captain
Sutter in Marysville and went to the Hock Farm.... He [gives] his views on ‘Judge
Lynch’ and the Yankee personality.” Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives
761. Mintz, The Trail 100: “One of the most stimulating of all overland
narratives, and one of the West’s best adventure stories.” Plains & Rockies
IV:211. Wheat, Books of the California Gold Rush 44. Englishman Coke’s
book is a great read, and we include it here because of the short appendix at
the conclusion which encourages Englishmen to settle in Oregon, giving details
on obtaining land and outlining the advantages of agriculture and stockraising.
“The winters are so clement in Oregon that no provision is made for the stock,
and they are nearly as fat in the winter as in the summer” (p. 389). Peripheral
ranching material is found in the main part of Coke’s account (on buffalo, horse
racing, breaking mules, encountering a party of emigrants driving a herd of
three hundred cattle, visiting Sutter’s establishment, etc.). $550.00
| <Back to Table of Contents | Home | <View previous group of items | View next group of items> |