William Smedley Across the Plains in '62

Title: Across the Plains in '62
Author: Smedley, William
Description: [2], 56 pp. With 6 plates including frontispiece & map. 8¼x5½, cloth-backed boards. First Edition.Inscribed and signed on front free endpaper "To J. Cornly(?) Hall, with love from his uncle, Wm. Smedley," with rubberstamp date Oct. 24 1916. Original photograph portrait of Smedley, dated 1916 (emulsion quite silvered), mounted to half-title. Very scarce (Mintz notes 50 copies were produced, Howes "small ed. ptd.") day-by-day diary which Mintz says "tells of still another instance where the author, quite sickly during his lifetime, develops into a robust pioneer once on the trail. His story of traveling overland to Oregon with a wagon and usually only one companion, is a strong argument for those who lean toward the belief that small parties fared the best. His two worst enemies were mosquitoes and Indians." He also calls it a "rare account." Graff 3820; Howes S566; Mintz 427; Streeter Sale 3220.
Heading: Place Published: [Denver]
Publisher:
Date Published: [1916]

Rubbing and extremity wear, top left of front cover dampstained; occasional foxing within, contents shaken, date 1862 penciled beneath Smedley's portrait frontispiece, about very good.