The Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, the Texas Ranger and Hunter

Alexandria, Virginia: Time Life Books, 1983. A gorgeous, pristine copy. New condition. No previous owner's name. Not a remainder. Bright, clean, square, tight, and unmarked. Sharp corners. Fresh and crisp, obviously never read. Handsomely bound in full, brown leatherette that is gilt stamped, and embossed with a western motif/ longhorn design. 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. New condition/No dust jacket, as issued. 8vo. 291pp. Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.