Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2004 Issue
Western Americana From William Reese
The
One of the best-known figures of the old West is General George Armstrong Custer, though it’s doubtful he would be pleased to know why he is remembered. Item 58 is a circa 1872 photo of the young general, who was evidently very concerned about his image. $900. Item 217 is a group of letters from physician William Turner, one of those charged with recovering Custer’s body. In these letters written many years later (1934-36) to photographer Frank Fiske, he speaks of his days as a scout under General Nelson Miles. “I knew Custer & the 7th Cav. well – was at Lincoln & saw him start out to his death. All of these historians overlook the fact that Custer only had two fights with Indians. One at the Washita which he won and the other at the Big Horn where the Sioux cleaned him." $2,250.
General Custer is also remembered in Philip Sheridan’s Record of Engagements with Hostile Indians… This book recounts over 400 engagements between the military and the Indians between 1868 and 1882, and the Battle of Little Big Horn is one of them. Item 187 . $850.
Item 28 is the manuscript log from the Mary Wilder, which sailed from Boston to San Francisco in the Gold Rush year of 1849. The Mary Wilder set off on January 30, sailing around Cape Horn, arriving in San Francisco on August 9. The log retells activities on board, sites seen, and includes drawings of several other ships she passed at sea. The log continues reporting on onboard activities for almost a month after arrival, recording the weather in San Francisco, which Reese describes as “often windy and foggy.” Some things never change. $13,500.
Item 198 is a book compiling the twelve issues of a most unusual newspaper, W.R. Steele’s The Trans-Continental. This was a newspaper published onboard a train traveling from Boston to San Francisco in 1870 (this was a much faster and more comfortable trip than it had been just 21 years earlier when the Mary Wilder sailed). It carried world and local news, advertisements from stops along the way, and descriptions of events onboard the train. It also wrote about visitors, such as Brigham Young, who joined the passengers for dinner at their stop in Salt Lake City. “Brigham Young informed our party that he had now 16 wives and 49 living children only, and that he was sixty-nine years old, and had only attended school eleven days when a boy.” $1,500.
The William Reese Company’s website is www.reeseco.com, and their phone number 203-789-8081.
