The Wolf and the Buffalo

New York: Doubleday, 1980. SIGNED. 1st/1st. VG-/VG-. Stated First Edition. Signed by Elmer Kelton on the first free endpaper. The book is tight and square with solid hinges and binding. Spine ends pushed. Tiny stain to top page edges and faint brown vertical stains to side fore-edges. The textblock has tape residue on front pastedown, light foxing to front endpaper and creases to bottom edge of pages 419-420, else clean with no writing, bookplate or markings and not BCE, ex-library or remaindered. The dust jacket is unclipped ($12.95). Chipping, creases and small closed tears to spine head and top front panel. Mild soiling. Protected in a new Brodart Mylar cover. 420 pages. 5 3/4" X 8 1/2" tall

The poignant story of a freed slave who goes west with the army and confronts much more than the hostilities of the Comanche and Kiowa.

The Civil War has ended and Gideon Ledbetter is feed from slavery. Like many, he has no land, no money, and no means to make a living. Gideon is drawn into the army by a recruiter who paints an alluring picture of cavalry life out in the west. The Indians called the black men "Buffalo" soldiers, as their tightly twisted hair reminded them of the large animals that they hunted for survival. Gideon is drawn into a conflict with a Comanche warrior, Gray Horse Running, which leads to a shattering confrontation on the plains of west Texas. This is the story of two men drawn together amid the blood and the fury of a conflict not of their making.

Elmer Kelton is considered one of the greatest western writers of all time, generating over 50 novels, usually infused with the dusty open spaces and hardscrabble values of West Texas.