The Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, the Texas Ranger and Hunter [bound in GENUINE LEATHER]

Alexandria, Virginia: Time Life Books, 1983. A beautiful copy. Fine condition. Bright, clean, square, and tight. No corner bumps. No owner's name. Not a remainder. Fresh and crisp, apparently never read. The binding on this copy is GENUINE LEATHER, superior to the cheaper leatherette (imitation leather) found on some later printings. Although at first glance, leatherette can look a lot like leather, it does not age as gracefully in the long run. Laid-in is the publisher's introductory letter, which says in part: "This leather-bound volume..." There is also a statement printed in the book on a preliminary page: "This volume is bound in leather." [These references to leather were later removed for the leatherette copies]. The binding is gilt stamped, and embossed with a handsome western motif (including rising sun, longhorn steer, tomahawk, and six shooter/bullets). A silk ribbon page-marker is sewn into the headband. All edges gilt. Attractive marbled endpapers. Illustrated with portrait and engravings. A volume in the Classics of the Old West series. Biography of William Alexander Anderson (Big-Foot) Wallace, who was born in Virginia in 1816. According to John H. Jenkins [Basic Texas Books 50]: "This is a well-written account of a fascinating Texas Ranger and hero... The work divides naturally into three parts: Wallace as hunter and Indian fighter; Wallace on the Mier Expedition; and Wallace's trip home to Virginia. The first part (28 chapters) contains Wallace's first-person narrative of all his adventures in the wilds of unsettled Texas, with dozens of hunting tales and even more Indian fights. The second part (11 chapters) is the nearly exact history of Wallace's service in the Mier Expedition, his capture, the drawing of the black beans, and his term in Perote Prison. The last part (7 chapters) is a hilarious first-hand account of his trip via New Orleans to Virginia." J. Frank Dobie called the book "the rollickiest and most flavorsome that any American frontiersman has yet inspired." See also: Howes D602; [Final Edition D611]; Clark NEW SOUTH I-65; Dobie p.55; Graff 1187; Rader 1247; Raines p.73. Laid-in is the publisher's introductory letter, which says in part: "If anything, Wallace was a greater attraction as a storyteller in Texas than he had been in Virginia. One saloonkeeper kept him supplied with free drinks as long as he cared to sit in the establishment and talk, because of the crowds who came to hear him. In THE ADVENTURES OF BIG-FOOT WALLACE, published in 1871, Duval echoes his subject's easy narrative style, partly because Duval himself was so close to Wallace in career and character." . Facsimile reprint of 1871 edition. Hardcover. Fine condition/No dust jacket, as issued.. 8vo. 291pp. Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.