This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/21/2024
[WESTERN AMERICANA]. KRAKEL, Dean. The Saga of Tom Horn The Story of a Cattleman’s War with Personal Narratives, Newspaper Accounts and Official Documents and Testimonies Illustrated with the Pageant of Personalities. [Laramie, Wyoming: Powder River Publications, 1954]. 8vo. ix, [1, blank], [1]-[230] pp. Publisher’s full red cloth, front board and spine stamped in gilt, publisher’s unclipped dust jacket (some toning, rubbing to cloth, gilt is a bit dull, several pages unopened, fp is chipped at upper corner; jacket spine a bit toned, some rubbing, mild soiling to jacket, jacket is a bit shorter than the book). Near fine. FIRST EDITION, UNEXPURGATED ISSUE WITH CORRECTED SHEETS LAID-IN; ONE OF ONLY 9 COPIES SPECIALLY MADE UP BY THE AUTHOR WITH HIS INSCRIPTION AND TYPED NOTE, AND WITH SIGNATURES OF SEVERAL PEOPLE FROM THE LIFE OF TOM HORN. On the typed label signed by the author on the fp: “This is copy No. 9. Only eight other copies are similar and seven remain unsold at this date, 12 September 1956. It is unexpurgated and autographed by individuals intimately involved in the life of Tom Horn. It can never be duplicated by the very nature of the signatures contained. Signed [in green manuscript] Dean F. Krakel”. With an additional inscription by Krakel to a former owner. There are 7 Horn-related autographs included: Andrew Ross, F. Chatterton, Bill Carlisle (paper slip glued in), T. Joe Cahill, T. Blake Kennedy, Nettie LeFors (slip glued in), and Joe LeFors (clipped signature taped in). Former owner has stapled a contemporary book review and newspaper article to the reverse of the title page and dedication page. Publisher’s order form laid-in. Thomas Horn (1860-1903) was an American scout, cowboy, soldier, range detective, and Pinkerton agent in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West. He was also a hired killer. Convicted of the murder of a 14-year-old boy, he died in prison, where he wrote his autobiography. Krakel here reviews his career. This book was subject to a lawsuit and Krakel was forced to make revisions, the so-called “Expurgated” version. This copy is the true first, without those changes. The autographs make this very rare, one of nine copies. Herd 1287. Adams One-Fifty 92. Six-Guns 1256.