Western Americana
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CATALOGUE TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN Western Americana WILLIAM REESE COMPANY 409 Temple Street New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 789-8081 A Note This catalogue is made up entirely of newly acquired Western Americana, including items from the James S. Copley Library, late of La Jolla, California, which did not appear in the Copley auctions over the last year or so, but were bought privately by ourselves. Virtually all of the catalogue relates to the trans-Mississippi West in the 19th century. Highlights include a manuscript firsthand account of the Alamo by James Morgan; a second edition of The Book of Mormon; a copy of Muybridge’s famous panorama of San Francisco in 1877; General John Gibbon’s original manu- script account of his role in the Little Big Horn debacle in 1876; classic overland accounts by Pike, James, Root, and Reid; and a St.-Mémin portrait of a leading figure in early Louisiana. Available on request or via our website are our recent catalogues 278, World Trade: The First Age of Globalization; 279, Pacific Voyages; 281, Americana in PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN; 282, Recent Acquisitions in Americana; 283, American Presidents; 284, Latin American Independence; and 285, The English Colonies in North America 1590-1763 as well as Bulletin 21, American Cartography; Bulletin 22, Evidence, and many more topical lists. Some of our catalogues, as well as some recent topical lists, are now posted on the Internet at www.reeseco.com. A portion of our stock may be viewed via links at www. reeseco.com. If you would like to receive e-mail notification when catalogues and lists are uploaded, please e-mail us at [email protected] or send us a fax, specifying whether you would like to receive the notifications in lieu of or in addition to paper catalogues. Terms Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described and are con- sidered to be on approval. Notice of return must be given within ten days unless specific arrangements are made. Connecticut residents must be billed state sales tax. Postage and insurance charges are billed to all nonprepaid domestic orders. Overseas orders are sent by air unless otherwise requested, with full postage charges billed at our discretion. Payment by check, wire transfer or bank draft is preferred, but may also be made by MasterCard or Visa. William Reese Company Phone: (203) 789-8081 409 Temple Street Fax: (203) 865-7653 New Haven, CT 06511 E-mail: [email protected] www.williamreesecompany.com FRONT COVER: 132. Saint-Mémin, Charles B.J.F. de: [Chalk Profile Portrait...]. Richmond. 1807. REAR COVER: 48. [Francis, Charles Spencer]: Sport Among the Rockies.... Troy, N.Y. 1889. Magnificent Photographs 1. Adams, Ansel Easton, and Mary Austin: TAOS PUEBLO. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1977. [6] preliminary pages followed by [14]pp. of text and twelve photographic illustrations, each with a caption leaf bound in before it. Woodcut decorations by Valenti Angelo. Folio. Original half leather and cloth. Spine slightly scuffed, else fine. In a slipcase. With the bookplate of James S. Copley. Number 345 of the facsimile edition limited to 950 copies, signed by Adams. Possibly the most famous modern photographic work on the West, Taos Pueblo, originally published by the Grabhorn Press in 1930 in an edition limited to 108 copies, was a collaboration between the young photographer, Ansel Adams, and one of the most evocative writers on the Southwest, Mary Austin. An elegant design by the Grabhorn Press provides a counterpoint to Adams’ photographs of the adobe Pueblo. The book distilled the romance and naturalism that many Americans found in the Indian pueblos of New Mexico, and defined the style that was to make Adams the most popular photographer of the American West. GRABHORN BIBLIOGRAPHY 137 (ref ). $2750. The “Child of the Alamo” 2. [Alamo]: Bryan, Guy M.: SPEECH OF GUY M. BRYAN, MEM- BER FOR BRAZORIA, ON A JOINT RESOLUTION FOR THE RELIEF OF THE INFANT DAUGHTER OF SUSANNAH AND ALMIRAM DICKINSON [caption title]. [Np. nd, ca. 1850]. Broad- sheet, 11¾ x 8½ inches. Several small holes in the text (affecting parts of a few letters but not the readability) and chips at edges expertly repaired with tissue. Lightly tanned. About very good. In a half morocco and cloth folding case, spine gilt. A rare printing of Guy M. Bryan’s “Child of the Alamo” speech, in support of a bill in the Texas legislature to raise funds for the welfare of Susanna Dickinson and her daughter, Angelina, two of the few survivors of the Alamo. Bryan was a nephew of Stephen F. Austin and a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. In 1849 a bill was introduced in the Texas House for the relief of the Dickinson women, and specifically to raise funds for the education of the teenage Angelina. Young Angelina was a little over a year old when she, her mother, and her father, Almaron Dickinson, found themselves under siege by Mexican forces in the Alamo, in late February and early March, 1836. Mother and daughter survived the slaughter, though Almaron did not. The Mexican general, Santa Anna, wanted to adopt Angelina, but her mother refused and both were granted their freedom. Texas granted the Dickinsons 640 acres of land in 1839, and they received another large grant of land in 1855. In this speech, Bryan argues stridently for the grant to the “christened child of the Alamo, baptised in the blood of a Travis, a Bowie, a Crockett and a Bonham!” His fiery speech to the Texas House helped the bill pass through that body, but it was later killed in committee. Angelina died in Galveston in 1869, where she was a known “courtesan.” Copies of this text are also known to have been printed on silk and on vellum. Thomas W. Streeter had a copy on vellum, now at Yale. WINKLER 139. $2500. Striking Platinum Print of an Inuit Family 3. [Alaska Photographica]: Justice, J.M.: [PHOTOGRAPH OF AN INUIT FAMILY TAKEN ABOARD THE U.S.S. BEAR]. [Alaska]. 1895. Platinum print, 9½ x 13 inches. Image sharp and clear. In a contem- porary wooden frame. Fine. Large, clear photograph of an Inuit family taken aboard the U.S.S. Bear, a former whale ship employed in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in Alaska. The Inuit are arranged in a standard “family portrait” group, centered in the shot with the two daughters seated while the son and parents stand behind them. Both parents look slightly dubious, while the oldest daughter peers shyly at the camera and the youngest daughter frowns and appears to be slightly hostile. The five are dressed in bulky winter clothing and wearing traditional footwear. The photo is signed and dated at the bottom left: “JM Justice, 95.” A lovely image. $1250. Fine Early California Local History 4. [Angel, Myron]: HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND BIOGRAPHI- CAL SKETCHES OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS. Oakland: Thompson & West, 1883. 391pp. plus sixty engraved plates and portraits, several with more than one image on a plate. Quarto. Original half morocco and gilt cloth, rebacked with most of gilt backstrip laid down. New endpapers, bookplate on front pastedown. Internally clean. Very good overall. A handsome entry in Thompson & West’s series of histories of California counties, this one focusing on San Luis Obispo County, on the southern California coast. The text includes a general history, with much on native Indians, missions (and their secularization), and California under Mexican rule. Other topics include political, military, financial, and immigration history; a discussion of the agriculture and mines of the region; and the activities of the Vigilance Committee. The attractive plates include portraits of prominent citizens, as well as views of homes, ranches (including a number of dairy ranches), and businesses. “This scarce book has three long chapters on crime and criminals, giving accounts of such California outlaws as Jack Powers, Joaquin Murieta, and Joaquin Valenzuela” – Adams. HOWES A275, “b.” ROCQ 13148. COWAN, p.565. NORRIS CATALOGUE 3538. ADAMS SIX-GUNS 60. $1000. A Major Early Arizona Promoter 5. [Arizona Mining]: Willing, George M.: [CONTEMPORARY COPY OF A MANUSCRIPT LETTER FROM GEORGE M. WILLING TO THE EDITOR OF THE UNITED STATES RAILROAD AND MINING REGISTER, DESCRIBING EXPLORATIONS IN ARI- ZONA AND PROPOSING A MINING COMPANY TO EXPLOIT THE GOLD AND SILVER OF THE REGION]. [Washington, D.C. (but copied in Philadelphia)]. 1863. [6]pp. of manuscript on the rectos only of six folio sheets. With original mailing envelope. Horizontal folds. Very good. An interesting pair of documents, being contemporary copies of an original manu- script on the potential of mining in Arizona, sent by George M. Willing to Thomas S. Fernon, editor of the United States Railroad and Mining Register. Willing’s letter was comprised of two parts, a description of “Dr. G.M. Willing’s Discoveries of Gold and Silver Mining in the New Territory of Arizona,” and a plan for forming a company to mine in the territory. Having been unsuccessful during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush a few years earlier, George Willing led a party of prospectors to Arizona in the early 1860s. Willing would later become notorious in Arizona history for his role in the frauds of James Reavis, the so-called “Baron of Arizona.” Despite the tarnishing of his reputation in Reavis’ schemes, Willing did do significant work in searching for gold and silver in Arizona, as is documented by this report. Fernon has attested at the conclusion that the present document is an actual copy of Will- ing’s original report and proposal, made in December 1863, just a few months after Willing sent Fernon the originals.