American Western History from Quercus Rare Books

Chicago: The Lakeside Press/R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 1935. Carson, the companion of Jim Bridger and scout for John Fremont, was famous in his lifetime due to the dime novels that made him into a super-hero. His actual memoirs were found and published in 1926, to little notice. Here they are given their due. The Lakeside Press was the fine… Read more about this item

New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1928. "Long Lance" was born Sylvester Clark Long (1890-1932) and worked as a journalist, actor, and advocate for Native American rights. During his life he claimed native ancestry through several different tribes, including the Cherokee and Blackfoot. Because his story changed often, he became to be considered a sort of fraud, but the real story… Read more about this item

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1918. First published in 1899, here is another piece of the Cody saga, this written by his sister, with the able help of Zane Grey. This is a Very Good copy of the reprinted edition, issued one year after the death of the Great Scout (Wetmore had died in 1911). Brown cloth binding with titling… Read more about this item

London: Henry G. Bohn, 1845. One of the most significant works of American history and art. First published in 1841.This is a disbound copy of Volume One only (of the original two) of the Fifth Edition.Red cloth decorative binding, decoratively stamped on the covers, featuring a Plains Indiam on his rearing horse. Clean text; 312 pages. Leaves and signatures are… Read more about this item

Chicago: Rhodes & McClure Publishing Company, 1909. A famous memoir of the American west, first published in 1888. This is a Very Good (Minus) copy of a reprint edition. Dark green cloth binding with a rather spectacular decoration of a cowboy and his horse in silver within a floral border. More florality and lettering on the spine. Clean text; 471… Read more about this item

New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1871. Ludlow (1836-1870) was a prolific journalist; his most famous work is "The Hashesh Eater" (1857) describing his addiction to opium. Ironically, he has become an icon of the current American drug culture. This is his account of a trip across the American West with the artist Alfred Bierstadt in 1859. Of interest is a… Read more about this item

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1868. This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of a Later Edition by Putnam's, part of the Geoffrey Crayton Edition of Irving's Works - the "Author's Revised Edition." This is the 13th volume (of twenty-seven in the full set) . Green cloth binding with gilt lettering on the spine and crossed pens on the front… Read more about this item

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1868. Originally published in 1837, this is a Very Good (Plus) copy of a Later Printing by Putnam's, part of the Geoffrey Crayton Edition of Irving's Works - the "Author's Revised Edition." This is the eighth volume (of twenty-seven in the full set) . Green cloth binding with gilt lettering on the spine and… Read more about this item

Cincinnati: United States Book and Bible Co., 1879. Burdett (b.1815) wrote popular history and juvenile works. His biography of Kit falls somewhere between the two. First published in 1862, this is a Very Good (Plus) copy of what may be, according to the Preface, a revised edition. The spine has a different publisher (Potter) than the Title Page; Quercus proposes… Read more about this item

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1951. This is a "semi-fictional" biography of Dr. Carlos Montezuma ("Wassaja" in his native tongue). an Apache boy sold by the Pima to an Anglo who raised him. His outstanding mind led Wassaja to become a prominent physician and an important Native American activist. With the rise of the various Native American rights movements, these… Read more about this item

New York: Harper & Bros, 1892. R.H. Davis was one of the most popular journalists of his era; here he presents an account of the West, as it was just to become iconic in the American conscience, as seen by train travel. This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of the First Edition. Bright blue cloth binding with silver decoration… Read more about this item

New York: Harper & Bros, 1892. Despite the title, this book is a wide-ranging group of essays about California (there is no doubt of the similarities between the two Mediterranean climates). Warner (1829-1900) was a well-published essayist and close friend of Mark Twain. This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of a Later Printing (one year after the First Edition)… Read more about this item

New York: J.H. Sears & Company, 1929. Estelline Bennet was the daughter of the federal judge who brought law-and-order to the rough mining community; she provides an important memoir of her girlhood surrounded by the characters who are now part of our American mythology: Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, et.al. Her narrative has served fiction writers handsomely, since they did not… Read more about this item

Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1856. Initially issued anonymously as a political biography for Fremont's run at the presidency. This copy lists Upham as the author, but Fremont was a collaborator. Upham (1802-1875) was a rather well-known politician of the time. This is a Very Good Plus copy of the First Edition.Brown cloth binding (it was originally purple, a colour popular… Read more about this item

Chicago & Duluth: The Duluth Press Publishing Company, 1899. This is a Very Good (Minus) copy of the First Edition. Red cloth binding with gilt lettering. Clean text; 296 pages. The book has seen some use, with wear at the margins and a bump to the front cover. Spine has darkened and the blindstamped buffalo on the front cover has… Read more about this item

Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1926. The author worked as Agent in the Navajo Nation. This is a Very Good Plus to Near Fine copy of the Second Impression (February 1926) of the First Edition (September 1925). Beautiful decorative binding: black cloth with yellow lettering; the front cover features a Pueblo scene in Turquoise, black, and yellow. Clean Text: 364… Read more about this item

Chicago & New York: Rand McNally & Company, 1910. Russell Waters (1843-1911) was a prominent Californian banker and cattle rancher who served one term in Congress; this (perhaps true) memoir is based upon his experiences "south of the Tehachapis." This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of the First Edition. Tan cloth decorative binding, stamped in the blind with a… Read more about this item

New York: Doubleday, Page & Co, 1900. The story of "a woman-who-goes-hunting-with-her-husband" (Ernest Thomspon-Seton, the naturalist/founder of the American Scouting movement). Grace (1872-1959) would later change her name to "Anya Seton" and become a best-selling author. Light green cloth binding with a cover decoration of a howling coyote. Gilt lettering on the spine. Gilt top-edge, others deckled. Profusely illustrated. Clean… Read more about this item

New York & London: Harper & Bros, 1899. Frederic Remington (1861-1909), one of the premier artists of the American West, began his art career for "Harper's Weekly" in the 1880s; three decades later, the west was gone but Remington's work remains as an authentic record. Originally published in 1895; this is a Very Good copy from an edition issued three… Read more about this item

New York & Toronto: Rinehart & Company, 1954. One of the great feats of American western history scholarship; Horgan won both the Pulitzer and the Bancroft for this work. These are Fine copies of the First Trade Edition, lacking the dustwrappers. Black cloth binding with gilt lettering. Clean text; 447 pages, with appendix; and 1020 pages, indexed. Volume One is… Read more about this item