A Texas Ranger and Frontiersman: The Days of Buck Barry in Texas, 1845–1906
Publication: Dallas, TX: The Southwest Press, 1932. First Edition.
Notes: "The best memoir of a Texas Ranger during the mid-19th century... One of Barry's most valuable contributions is his account of the daily life of the pioneer on the edge of civilization"—John Jenkins, Basic Texas Books, no. 11.
"Modern readers may not find Buck Barry's attitudes and views entirely lovable, especially concerning Indians. But while he didn't sympathize with them, he treated them as honorable foes, never sneering at them or projecting them as mere savages to be exterminated"—A. C. Green, Fifty Best Books on Texas.
Ramon Adams, The Rampaging Herd, no. 927, "A chapter on stock farming."
Barry kept a journal and other documents which he used to compile this memoir. He died before he finished it; Greer, the first historian to earn a Ph.D. in Texas, edited the completed chapters and finished compiling the final ones.
xii, 254, [6: blank] pages, plus a frontispiece, a list of illustrations (after p. x), and five inserted plates (four of which are maps).
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing with 1932 on the title page and the copyright page). This book is found in at least three bindings. This is probably the earliest, in blue cloth, with a blindstamped single rule border on the front cover and the spine text printed in red. The publisher's name is on three lines and there are four rules at the top and bottom of the spine. I have seen a picture of another copy in blue cloth with yellow printing on the spine (possibly without the rules); a third binding, in green cloth with the publisher's name in one line on the spine, is definitely later.
This copy is good, with mottling to the cloth, foxing to the preliminaries, and some shelfwear. It is, however, generically inscribed and signed by the editor, "With sincere regard, James K. Greer. 4/6/34."
Item No: #365280
Price: $200