1940. FLETCHER, Robert H. Free Grass to Fences: The Montana
Cattle Range Story. New York: University Publishers, [1960]. xii [8]
233 [3] pp., photographic plates, numerous text illustrations and endpaper
illustrations by Charles M. Russell, Large 8vo, original half grey linen
over tan boards with blind-stamped brands. Very fine in fine d.j.
First edition. Dobie & Dykes, 44 & 44 #67: “Sponsored
by the Montana Stockgrowers Association, this book is not only a good account
of Association activity over a period of 75 years but of the whole of Montana
cow country history.... Historically, cowmen, beginning with the roundup, have
worked together in solving their mutual problems. Books about their Associations
are a part of the story of the range.” Mohr, The Range Country 676.
Yost & Renner, Russell XVI:146. Smith S2643. $75.00
Item 1940
1941. FLETCHER, Sydney E. The Big Book of Cowboys. New
York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1950. [26] pp., color illustrations by the author.
4to, original orange pictorial boards. Very fine. Difficult to find in collector’s
condition.
First edition. Colorful juvenile pandering to the usual
stereotypes. $37.50
1942. FLETCHER, Sydney E. The Cowboy and His Horse. New
York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1951]. 159 [1] pp., frontispiece, sepia-tone illustrations
by author-artist, brands, map, printed music, endpaper map of the Chisholm
Trail (with descriptive paragraph on front flyleaf). 4to, original blindstamped
brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine. Very fine in fine d.j. Signed inscription
by J. Frank Dobie on front flyleaf: “Better than most juveniles on brands,
equipment, etc., most of brand material being swiped from me. J. Frank Dobie
7/5/56.”
First edition. Herd 813: “An excellent
example of western art illustrating some of the technical points of the cowboy’s
life.” $75.00
Item 1942
1943. FLETCHER, Sydney E. The Cowboy and His Horse. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1951]. Another copy. Light shelf wear, otherwise a fine copy in lightly worn d.j. $25.00
1944. FLINT, Thomas. Diary of Dr. Thomas Flint: California
to Maine and Return, 1851-1855. [Los Angeles: Historical Society of Southern
California, 1923]. 78 pp., frontispiece (portraits), foldout map. 8vo, original
grey printed wrappers. Fine.
Reprinted from the Annual Publications of the Historical
Society of Southern California. Cowan, p. 215. Eberstadt, Modern Narratives
of the Plains and the Rockies 165. Flake 3378. Kurutz, The California
Gold Rush 245a: “Flint left Maine for California via the Panama route
on May 31, 1851.” Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives 1370: “A
brisk businesslike account of three men who took sheep to California on speculation.
In this they succeeded, despite inroads by wolves, hawks, icy rivers, desert
mountains, ‘bloodsuckers’ and alkali and plant poisoning.” Plains & Rockies IV:242n.
Rocq 7002n. $125.00
1945. FLINT, Thomas. Diary of Dr. Thomas Flint: California
to Maine and Return, 1851-1855. N.p., [1924]. [4] 49 pp. 8vo, original
wrappers bound into blue cloth gilt. Some buckling and wear to pages, otherwise
a fine copy. Bookplate inside upper cover.
Reprinted from the Evening Free Lance, Hollister, California.
$100.00
1946. FLIPPER, Henry O[ssian]. Negro Frontiersman: The Western
Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, First Negro Graduate of West Point. El
Paso: [Designed by Carl Hertzog for] Texas Western College Press, 1963. x,
54 pp., frontispiece portrait, illustrations. 8vo, original beige cloth.
Very fine in near fine d.j. with one small abrasion on upper panel, plus
printer’s variant trial d.j. and two printed review slips laid in.
First edition, limited issue (125 copies bound in cloth).
Lowman, Printer at the Pass 161A.
Born into slavery, Henry Flipper (1856-1940) became the first
black graduate of West Point in 1877. He served on frontier duty in the Southwest.
In 1881 he was accused by his commanding officer of “embezzling funds and
of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” Acquitted of the former,
he was convicted of the latter and dismissed from the Army. Flipper maintained
his innocence until his death (in 1999 President Clinton pardoned Flipper of
all charges). As a civilian Flipper distinguished himself in governmental and
private engineering positions (including work for two ranchers, William C. Greene
and Albert B. Fall). Flipper became an authority on Mexican land and mining law,
and in 1891 the community of Nogales employed him to prepare the important Nogales
de Elias (Rancho Casita) land grant case. In 1913 while living in El Paso he
supplied information on conditions in revolutionary Mexico to the Senate subcommittee
on Mexican internal affairs; national media falsely reported that he was in league
with Pancho Villa (to which accusation Flipper wrote a blistering reply). See Handbook
of Texas Online: Henry Ossian Flipper.
We include Flipper in this catalogue because he was an active,
influential, and most interesting player in the cattle country of the Southwest
and borderlands (Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico). Flipper opens
his exceedingly frank, unedited Western Memoirs relating his very first
duties upon joining the Army in 1877. Posted at Fort Sill in Indian Territory,
Flipper was ordered to ride to the Wichita Indian Agency to inspect and receive
cattle for issue to Native Americans. “I rode 32 miles in four hours with
my white soldier orderly [and] was given the only vacant room in a combination
of frontier saloon and hotel, and my orderly a place in a grain room in the stable....
It stormed that night and grew intensely cold.... The cowboys came in the night
with their cattle and were put in the dining room to sleep on the floor.... They
raved and swore when they knew a ‘nigger officer’ was there to inspect
and receive the cattle and was occupying the only bed.... I got up, dressed and...brought
my orderly into the room and made him spread his blankets on the floor alongside
of my bed.... I inspected the cattle the next day and then rode back to Fort
Sill in four hours, in the cold.... My cook, Mrs. Matthews, had to cut my cowhide
boots from my feet.... I was sent again to the agency for the same purpose, but
my shyness and greenness had disappeared and my confidence had reasserted itself.” Plenty
other references to cowboys, ranchers, and rustling are found in this incredible
memoir. $375.00
Item 1946
1947. FLIPPER, Henry O. Negro Frontiersman: The Western Memoirs
of Henry O. Flipper.... El Paso: Texas Western College Press, 1963. x,
54 pp., frontispiece portrait, illustrations. 8vo, original rose pictorial
wrappers. Light wear to wraps, otherwise a fine copy. Carl Hertzog’s
copy, with his bookplate.
First edition, wrappers issue (500 copies in wrappers).
Designed by Carl Hertzog. Edited with an introduction by Theodore D. Harris.
$150.00
1948. FLORIN, Lambert. Boot Hill: Historic Graves of the Old
West. Seattle: Superior Publishing Co., [1966]. 192 pp., profusely illustrated
with photos. 4to, original slate blue cloth. Very fine in d.j.
First edition. Western Ghost Town Series 6. Edwards, Enduring
Desert, pp. 85-86: “In Mr. Florin’s books the ghost town enthusiast
can find material abundantly sufficient to satisfy his most exigent demands.
First and foremost, Mr. Florin is a master-photographer, and his photographs
of historic old ghost town buildings capture all the flavor and atmosphere of
his chosen subject. A concomitant pleasure...derives from his editorial and descriptive
comment.” Guns 738: “Tells about the Earp-Clanton fight and
the killing of Billy the Kid.... Many of the outlaws of Arizona and New Mexico
are mentioned.” $50.00
1949. FLORIN, Lambert. Ghost Town Treasures. Seattle:
Superior Publishing Co., [1965]. 192 pp., numerous photographic text illustrations.
4to, original green cloth. Very fine in lightly worn but fine d.j.
First edition. Western Ghost Town Series 5. Edwards, Enduring
Desert, pp. 85-86. Ghost towns from California, Washington, Oregon, Montana,
Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and British Columbia. The
primary focus is mining, but there are some references to ranching, such as the
case of rancher J. B. Dawson of New Mexico who came into conflict with the Maxwell
Land Grant Company, but whose land eventually ended up as a large cattle operation
run by Phelps Dodge (pp. 136-139). $35.00
1950. FLORIN, Lambert. Tales the Western Tombstones Tell. Seattle:
Superior Publishing Co., n.d. 191 [1] pp., numerous photographic text illustrations.
4to, original light green cloth. Fine in near fine d.j.
Bonanza reprint (first edition published by Superior Publishing).
Western Ghost Town Series 7. Adams, One-Fifty 55n: “Material on
some western characters, outlaws and gunmen. There is some information on Calamity
Jane, Pearl Hart and Joe Boot, Jack Gallaher, George Ives, Boone Helm, Club-Foot
George Lane, Haze Lyons and the hanging of the Plummer outlaws at Virginia City
by the vigilantes.” Chapter on the Pleasant Valley War between the Grahams
and Tewksberrys. $20.00
1951. FLORY, J. S. Thrilling Echoes from the Wild Frontier:
Interesting Personal Reminiscences of Author.... Chicago: Rhodes & McClure
Publishing Company, 1893. [6] 17-248 [2, ads] pp., woodcut frontispiece and
plates. 12mo, original red cloth gilt. Light shelf wear, covers soiled, lower
hinge cracked, front free endpaper separating, interior age-toned and quite
brittle. Overall a very good copy.
First edition. Graff 1365. Herd 814: “Scarce.” Howes
F216. Wynar 340. The work includes descriptions of cowboys in Wyoming (pp. 60-62)
and comments about a sheep ranch (pp. 237-240). $100.00
1952. FOGHT, H. W. The Trail of the Loup: Being a History
of the Loup River Region with Some Chapters on the State. N.p., 1906.
296 pp., frontispiece portrait, photographic illustrations (including 2 foldout
panoramas of Ord, Nebraska), maps. 8vo, original red gilt-lettered cloth.
Binding slightly abraded, stained, and worn, occasional inoffensive pencil
notes to text, otherwise a very good copy of a scarce book. Contemporary
ownership inscription of Harry E. Weaver on front pastedown.
First edition. Guns 741: “Scarce.... Has some
information on cattle stealing; I. P. Olive and his feud with Mitchell and Ketchum.” Herd 816.
Includes information on Native Americans of Nebraska (Sioux War of 1862-69, the
Creek Massacre, Custer’s last stand, Sioux War of 1890-91), grasshopper
problems of the 1870s, development of Loup County, as well as a chapter on the “cowboy
regime.” $350.00
1953. FOHLIN, E. V. Salt Lake City, Past and Present: A Narrative
of Its History and Romance, Its People and Cultures, Its Industry and Commerce.... Salt
Lake City: E. V. Fohlin, [1908]. 208 pp., frontispiece, photographic text
illustrations, portraits. 8vo, original blue cloth. Shelf-worn, upper hinge
cracked, lacks front endpaper.
First edition. Flake 3384. Local history and guide,
including a small section on the livestock industry. $50.00
1954. FOLEY, Thaddeus J. Memories of the Old West. N.p.,
n.d. [ca. 1927-1928]. 54 pp. 12mo, original grey printed wrappers, stapled.
Very fine in original mailing envelope. Scarce.
First edition. Graff 1369. Herd 817: “Scarce....
A chapter on the cattle industry in Nebraska.” Around 1870 the author traveled
from New York to Omaha. He includes comments on cattle drives in which he participated,
such as an 1874 drive of 400 head from Ogalalla (“at the end of the Texas
trail [and] the biggest and last market for the sale of Texas cattle”)
to the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies on a previously untraversed route
via North Platte River, South Loup, Dismal, and Foley Lake (named for the author),
where the cattle stampeded. The trip was so rough that it was decided to seek
a different route in the future. Foley laments the demise of the cattle industry
in Nebraska because of the rise of farming (pp. 30-31, “The First Irrigation
Ditch in Nebraska and the Passing of Range Cattle”). He also gives a dramatic
account of how an 1869 surveying party of which he was a member fought off a
determined attacked by Native Americans. The obligatory buffalo hunt is included
in a chapter entitled “A Buffalo Hunt on the South Platte.” $275.00
Item 1954
1955. FOOTE, Stella Adelyne. Letters from Buffalo Bill, Taken
from the Originals Now on Exhibit at the Wonderland Museum, Billings, Montana. Billings:
Foote Publishing Co., 1954. 80 pp., photographic text illustrations, portraits,
facsimiles. 8vo, original white wrappers with photograph portrait of Cody.
Fine.
First printing, “Museum Edition.” Guns 742: “Has
some mention of Wild Bill Hickok.” This interesting series of letters from
Buffalo Bill to his sister from 1873 until his death in 1917 includes commentary
on Annie Oakley, the TE Ranch, Buffalo Hunting, Wild West Show, Custer, etc.
$75.00
1956. FORBES, Mrs. A. S. C. [Harrie Rebecca Piper Smith]. Mission
Tales in the Days of the Dons. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1909.
[12] 343 [1] pp., frontispiece portrait, illustrations by Langdon Smith (nine
plates and marginal illustrations in green on every page). 8vo, original
dark green pictorial cloth. Light shelf wear, hinges loose, interior fine.
First edition. Cowan, p. 217. Weber, California
Missions, p. 39: “The initial ninety-three pages of this work are devoted
to foundations in Peninsular California.” For more on the author, who energetically
worked to preserve the missions, see Walker, A Literary History of Southern
California (p. 172). Historical fiction set in Pastoral California. The chapter
on “The Penance Bell of Los Angeles” includes descriptions of ranching
activities and the hide trade in and around Mission San Gabriel. $40.00
1957. FORBES, Alexander. California: A History of Upper and
Lower California from Their First Discovery to the Present Time; Comprising
an Account of the Climate, Soil, Natural Productions, Agriculture, Commerce &c.;
A Full View of the Missionary Establishments and Condition of the Free and
Domesticated Indians. With an Appendix Relating to Steam Navigation in the
Pacific. Illustrated with a New Map, Plans of the Harbours, and Numerous
Engravings. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1839. xvi, 352 pp. (printed
errata slip at p. 339), lithographic frontispiece of Father Antonio Peyri,
9 lithographic plates, text illustrations, folding lithographic map of California
on thin paper with original outline coloring in red, green, and yellow: The
Coasts of Guatimala [sic] and Mexico, from Panama to Cape Mendocino;
with the Principal Harbours in California. London, Smith Elder & Co. 1839. John
Arrowsmith (37 x 50 cm; 14-1/2 x 19-3/4 inches), with insets: (1) Harbour
of San Francisco, by Captn. Beechey R.N.; (2) Sketch of
Puerto de S. Diego by Captn. John Hall; (3) Sketch of Monterrey
Harbour, by Captn. John Hall; (4) Sketch of St. Barbara
Harbour by Captn. John Hall; (5) Sketch of Port S. Gabriel,
or S. Pedro by Captn. John Hall. 8vo, early twentieth-century
three-quarter tan sheep over brown cloth, spine with raised bands and gilt-lettered
maroon leather labels, edges sprinkled. Binding rubbed, frontispiece with
mild to moderate foxing, otherwise fine. Overall a very good copy, with engraved
armorial bookplate of the Bodleian Library (with ink deacession stamp).
First edition. Barrett 866. Cowan, p. 217. Graff 1377.
Hill, p. 107. Howell 50, California 83. Howes F242. LC, California 42.
Van Nostrand & Coulter, California Pictorial, pp. 22-27 (illustrating
one lithograph and watercolors on which two other plates were based). Zamorano
80 #38: “The book is of value as being the first one printed in English
to relate exclusively to California.”
This classic book contains a section on California cattle,
and interspersed comments on livestock throughout, sometimes including quotations
from earlier visitors’ accounts, such as Langsdorff: “Numerous herds
of horses and cattle were running wild here, without any attention being paid
to them; the horned cattle even render the country not very safe for foot passengers” (p.
174). Chapter 5 with a section on missionary establishments discusses presidial
soldiers’ “ranchios” (“depositories of tithes to be collected
in cattle and grain by the government”); land grants to soldiers “to
commence their new occupation of husbandry...with the aid of the natives”;
arrangement of mission grounds with “part left in its natural condition
and occupied as grazing ground”; virtual slavery of the missionized indigenous
population; etc. Chapter 6 contains a section on livestock, including statistical
table enumerating numbers of cattle, horses, sheep, and other livestock at each
mission followed by the statement: “In addition to the above there are
a great number running wild, particularly mares, which they hunt and kill in
order to prevent their eating up the pasture from the useful [domesticated] cattle.”
Forbes goes on to discuss cattle management, mentioning cattle
drives of around a thousand head to Mexico City (for use in bullfights!). Forbes
describes the wild cattle and the California method of using the lasso to capture
them: “Although it is in general a useful and necessary occupation to secure
cattle in this way, yet it is by the lookers-on, and even by those engaged in
it considered as an amusement, and to which they are passionately attached.” The “rodea” (roundups),
horsemanship, and equipage are explained, and the author provides details on
the accompanying lithograph (“Californian Mode of Catching Cattle with
a Distant View of the Mission of St. Joseph”) after the famous painting
by William Smyth. $2,000.00
Item 1957
1958. FORBES, J. Alexander. The Golden West Souvenir: Primitive
Years in California. [Los Angeles?: J. Alexander Forbes and I. C. Funetes,
1919]. 103 pp., frontispiece portrait, photographic text illustrations. 12mo,
original grey pictorial wrappers, stapled. Light wear to cover, text block
detached from binding, otherwise a fine copy.
First edition. Cowan, p. 217. Rocq 16849. Weber, The
California Missions, p. 39: “Historical memoir concerned predominantly
with the missions.” Included is discussion of the vast mission herds of
such livestock as cattle and sheep and the fact that many of the missions slaughtered
all their livestock when secularization occurred. $25.00
1959. FORD, Gus L. (ed.). Texas Cattle Brands: A Catalogue
of the Texas Centennial Exposition Exhibit 1936. Dallas: Clyde C. Cockrell
Company, [1936]. xx, 240 pp., 4 plates (historical maps of Texas), text illustrations
(hundreds of brands), endpaper maps of cattle trails with descriptive text.
8vo, original gilt-lettered red cloth with navy blue vignette of cow on upper
cover, navy ruling on spine and upper cover. Very fine and bright, signed
by author on title page.
First edition. Campbell, p. 130. Loring Campbell, My
Favorite 101 Books about the Cattle Industry 34. CBC 4962. Dobie,
p. 102. Herd 818. History of brands and brand law, with brief discussion
of cattle breeds and the cattle trade. A “Hall of Cattle Kings” gives
biographies of fifty-three ranchers, including Gail Borden, Oliver Loving, Richard
King, Robert J. Kleberg, et al. $425.00
Item 1959
1960. FORD, Gus L. (ed.). Texas Cattle Brands.... Dallas: Clyde C. Cockrell Company, [1936]. Another copy, variant binding, original maroon cloth with gilt lettering, ruling and vignette in orange. Binding slightly abraded, otherwise fine. $350.00
1961. FORD, Thomas W. A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Austin: Steck-Vaughn,
[1968]. ii [2] 44 pp. 12mo, original beige printed wrappers, stapled. Very
fine.
First edition. Southwest Writers Series 15. Review
and analysis writings. $15.00
1962. FORD, Tirey L. Dawn and the Dons: The Romance of Monterey. San
Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1926. xiii [3] 236 pp., text vignettes and sketches
by Jo Mora, endpaper maps. 8vo, original half black cloth over tan pictorial
boards, paper spine label. Slight shelf wear, upper margin of pages 79-80 torn
(no losses), otherwise fine.
First edition. Cowan, p. 218. Dykes, Fifty Great
Western Illustrators (Mora 9). Guns 743: “Scarce.” Herd 819: “Chapter
on cattle raising in California.” Rocq 5693. $75.00
Item 1962
1963. FOREMAN, Carolyn Thomas. The Cross Timbers. [Muskogee,
Oklahoma: The Star Printery], 1947. 123 [9, index] pp., folding map of the
Cross Timbers. 8vo, original green cloth. Binding lightly worn, otherwise fine,
signed by author.
First edition. History of the exploration and settlement
of the Cross Timbers region of north-central Texas and south-central Oklahoma,
with descriptions of cattle rustling by Kiowa and Comanche and details on early
trail drives through the Cross Timbers. “During the winter of 1865-1866
large herds of cattle were assembled at points in Texas to be driven north in
late March or early April when the grass should be high enough for feed. These
herds numbered from one to three thousand steers and each herd was in charge
of a ‘boss’ and from eight to fourteen cowboys; a cook drove the
chuck wagon containing the food and bedding. The usual route from central Texas
passed west of Fort Worth, and crossed the strip of prairie between the Upper
and Lower Cross Timbers, via Denton and Sherman, and the Red River. North of
that stream the road crossed Indian Territory, past Fort Gibson and on to the
Kansas line south of Baxter Springs” (p. 110). $60.00
1964. FOREMAN, Carolyn Thomas. Oklahoma Imprints 1835-1907:
A History of Printing in Oklahoma before Statehood. Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1936. xxiv [2] 499 [1] pp., frontispiece, plates (some
foldout), foldout maps, facsimiles. 8vo, original black patterned cloth.
Very fine in fine d.j.
First edition. Campbell, p. 187. Mohr, The Range
Country 677: “An excellent bibliography.” Books, newspapers,
pamphlets, and periodicals dealing with the various Native American tribes (Cherokee,
Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Osage, Peoria, Seminole) of the Oklahoma Territories,
Legislative journals, statutes, Supreme Court decisions, and various religious
presses. Inroads to research on ranching. $100.00
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