Western Life in the Stirrups: A Sketch of a Journey to the West in the Spring & Summer of 1832

Chicago: The Caxton Club. New with No dust jacket as issued. 1965. First Edition Thus. First Printing. Hard Cover. Limited First Edition. Quarter bound in brown cloth over marbled boards, gilt lettering on spine, maps on endpapers. Illustrated with photographs of Rich's bound manuscript, a section of manuscript itself, and a portrait. Edited with an Introduction by Dwight L. Smith. This is the first printing of Virtulon Rich's journal of his travels West from his home in Vermont to the Ohio Valley. Rich's manuscript was re-discovered in the Los Angeles bookshop of Bennett and Marshall in 1963. They had purchased it some years earlier for a Mr. Spicer who claimed to be a descentant of Rich's. The editor, Dwight L. Smith was assisted in his work by members of the Caxton Club and by the staff of the Newberry Library. The President of the Newberry Library at the time was Hermon Dunlap Smith, who was also a former President of the Caxton Club. Dwight L. Smith was a prolific author and editor of works on early American history and Westward expansion. He was the author of "Era of the American Revolution: A Bibliography," Indians of the United States and Canada: A Bibliography," and "American and Canadian West." He edited numerous works in this field, including "John D. Young and the Colorado Gold Rush," Survival On Westward Trek: 1858-1859: The John Jones Overlanders," "The Colorado River Survey: Robert B. Stanton and the Denver, Colorado Canyon & Pacific Railroad," and many others. . The volume is in perfect, pristine condition, unmarked, unread, tight, square and clean; still in original sealed shipping box. NEW.. B&W Photographs. Small 4to 9" - 11" tall. xix, 81 pp .