Dorothy Sloan Books – Catalogue 5 (5/88)
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Dorothy Sloan Books – Catalogue 5 (5/88) 1. ABERT, J. W. Message...Communicating a Report of an Expedition...on the Upper Arkansas and through the Country of the Camanche Indians, in the Fall of the Year 1845. Washington: S438, 1846. 75 pp., 11 hand-colored lithographs, folding chart, large folding map. 8vo, original full diced brown morocco gilt (expertly rebacked, original spine preserved). A very fine copy, the beautifully colored plates superb. Very rare with colored plates--only Abert's presentation copies had color plates, and the 2 other such copies we trace are incomplete. First edition. Alliot, p. 17. Bennett, p. 1: "Very fine colored lithographic plates." Graff 6. Howes A10. Plains & Rockies IV:120: "The report begins on August 9, 1845, at Bent's Fort. The party traveled south to the Raton Mountains and thence down the Canadian River, returning through the Creek Nation and arriving at Fort Gibson on October 21." Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi West 489 & p. 194. "Abert's carefully drawn map provided authoritative information about the north Texas country...His map was important because it was the first trustworthy representation of the Canadian River region...Abert's descriptions of Indians, both pictorially and in the text of his report, provided [for] the first time [to] the federal government...data on the Kiowas and Comanches from one of its own agents. His descriptions of the hostile Comanches and Kiowas, if they discouraged settlement, served a practical purpose...He brought to his western survey a kind of enlightened, almost pragmatic, common sense, in that he noted the regional geography with an eye to everything that would contribute toward the possible solution of the problem of settlement and national development in the particular area" (Goetzmann, Army Exploration, pp. 111 & 126-7). The lithographs are of scenes along the route, including Fort Bent. See illustration. $17,500.00 2. ABERT, J. W. Original autograph letter signed, dated at Washington City, December 8, 1845, addressed to his brother-in-law, Dr. Robert King Stone. 4 pp., 4to. A few clean tears at folds, otherwise very fine, preserved in a half maroon morocco case. An outstanding lengthy letter describing his tour of the Comanche country along the Canadian River to survey the Texas border country (see preceding), written about a week after his arrival from the field to Washington. Recounts Dorothy Sloan Books – Catalogue 5 (5/88) his arrival at Fort Gibson on October 22nd, the evening of his wedding anniversary. "I was on my hands & knees feeling for the road in a wild wood almost 4 miles south of the Fort...I had sent my party across by a nearer route, I being obliged to go to the mouth of the Canadian River in order fix its mouth astronomically. Lt. Peck accompanied me as my assistant having been placed under orders by Capt. Fremont, who directed on the 15th of Aug. last to make a complete survey of the Canadian river. This took me through the heart of the `Coman-che' country. I had a party of 37 men & 62 animals i.e. mules & horses with 9 head of cattle for we had no hopes of meeting the Buffalo... Imagine then our trouble traveling over the wildest country where never wagon tire had ere bruised the turf before or crushed rocks uncrushable...In going out to Bents Ft. on the 29th of July we were alarmed by the warwhoop & a discharge of guns...On the next morning Capt. Fremont with 6 men went in search of them leaving me in command of the camp & our hearts were soon made glad by the safe return of all... We never ascertained what Ind[ian]s had shot at us, but suppose them to be the Pawnees. A few days after we met some `Arrapa-hoes' the chief when at a distance dismounted & gracefully tossing his robe in the air so it should fall spread on the ground made signs seating himself, that we should sit beside him - `come shair the same blanket - let us eat together & be brothers' I translate the meaning of his gestures." He describes buffalo hunting; camping with the Cheyenne for 2 weeks ("The women dress beautifully - some whiten their leggins with clay & the juncture of the leggins & moccasins is so beautiful neat that it much resembles a stocking of the city ladies"); parting ways with Frémont, who was going on to California; his guide ("Old Fitzpatrick a man of great notoriety in this region & one who led Capt F[rémont] in a former expedition"); and meeting up with "some `Kio-way's' a bold & desperate set of fellows who have the greatest hostility towards the Texians for killing 40 of this tribe in cold blood, having induced them to enter a Fort under a truce...we might have killed some of these Indians - but it is well not to be the first to shed blood." $3,500.00 3. ALLEN, R. P. The Whooping Crane... New York: Audubon Society, 1952. [4] xxviii, 246 pp., frontispiece, plates, maps, illustrations. 4to, original grey pictorial wrappers. Frontispiece loose, else fine. First edition. This field study helped focus public awareness on the declining population of the whooping Dorothy Sloan Books – Catalogue 5 (5/88) crane, then the second rarest species of North American bird. $75.00 4. [ALLEN, William (attrib.)]. Five Years in the West...By a Texas Preacher. Nashville: Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1884. 211 pp. 12mo, original brown cloth. Binding worn and stained, interior very good. Scarce (NUC lists only the UT copy). First edition. Howes (p. 203) enters the title with reference "See Allen, Wm. M.," but the book is not entered under Allen. Memoir of author's experiences in Kansas and later (1856-1861) in Texas in the Cross Timbers region. After being swindled out of his savings in Texas by a land fraud scheme, the author turned to teaching school and finally preaching. $575.00 5. ARRICIVITA, J. D. Crónica seráfica... Mexico: Zuñiga y Ontiveros, 1792. [20] 605 [16] pp. Small folio, recent limp vellum (from an antiphonal leaf). Occasional light spotting, but overall a fine copy of a rare book. The Doheny copy, with her gilt morocco label. First edition. Bancroft, N. Mexico & Texas I, p. 686 (describing the material on Arizona and Sonora as "beyond comparison, the best authority"). Bolton, Texas in the Middle 18th Century, p. 96: "One of the greatest contributions to the history of the Southwest in the 18th century." Clark, Old South I:1: "Deals with the entire frontier of northern New Spain, with particular bearing on Texas, the first book containing an account of Margil, founder of Texas missions." Cowan, p. 20. Howes A337. Medina 8171. Palau 17522. Raines, p. 12. Wagner, Spanish Southwest 174: "For a long time the principal, in fact only, source for the travels of Garcés and his two expeditions to California." A foundation work of the first importance for California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Central America (chronicles Margil's activities there, where he was known as the "Apostle of Guatemala"). This book is a continuation of Espinosa's chronicle published 46 years earlier (see entry 99 herein); together the Espinosa and the Arricivita "comprise the most important contemporary account of the activities of the Franciscans in Texas" (Basic Texas Books 60n). $4,000.00 6. AUDUBON, John Woodhouse. Hand-colored lithograph: The Jaguar. Philadelphia: Bowen, 1840's. Image and caption measure approximately 6 x 8 inches. Fine in acid-free mat. Dorothy Sloan Books – Catalogue 5 (5/88) Holman & Tyler, Texas Lithographs 1818-1900: "In conversation with General Sam Houston at Washington City, [Audubon] informed us that he had found the Jaguar east of the San Jacinto River, and abundantly on the headwaters of some of the Rio Grande's tributaries." $150.00 7. AUDUBON, John Woodhouse. Hand-colored lithograph: Texan Skunk. Philadelphia: Bowen, 1840's. Image and caption measure approximately 6 x 7-1/2 inches. Fine in acid-free mat. Holman & Tyler, Texas Lithographs 1818-1900. $125.00 8. BAEGERT, Jacob. Noticias de la peninsvla americana de California... Mexico: Robredo, 1942. xliv, 262 [6] pp., folding map, plates of California Indians. 4to, original black cloth. Fine. First edition in Spanish (original edition, Mannheim, 1772); limited edition. Cowan, p. 27: "Baegert, a Jesuit missionary, resided for 18 years in California... According to his accounts the country was absolutely unfitted for habitation; it was inhabited by wild and ferocious beasts; peopled by inhospitable and cruel savages; water was unfit for use; wood was scarce; and the soil would not sustain life." Hill, p. 13. Howes B29. Wagner, Spanish Southwest 157. $125.00 9. BAILLIE-GROHMAN, W. A. Camps in the Rockies. Being a Narrative of Life on the Frontier, and Sport in the Rocky Mountains, with an Account of the Cattle Ranches of the West. London: Sampson Low, et al., 1882. viii, 438 [4, ads] [32, ads] pp., frontispiece, 3 plates, folding map of Idaho & Wyoming. 8vo, original green cloth gilt. Very good. First edition. Adams, Herd 194. Smith 434. An English sportsman's jocular account of travels in the northern Rockies with an original map based on the most recent government survey. $250.00 10. [BAJA CALIFORNIA]. The Lower Californian. Magadalena: Vol. I, no. 2, November 10, 1870. 4 folio pages, decorative title, map. Lightly browned, overall fine. First printing. Barrett 1525: "Published by the Lower California Company...Vol. I, No. 1 appeared October 12, 1870. I have seen two issues: Vol. I, No. 1, and Vol. I, No. 2. It is included here because it is such a curious Baja California item, and is quite typical of a great deal of promotional literature and ephemera which appeared Dorothy Sloan Books – Catalogue 5 (5/88) during the 1870's and 1880's." Arrival of ships; long report by the director of the colony; expedition to examine colonization lands; extract from the report of J.