1565. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Flavor of Texas. Dallas:
Dealey & Lowe, 1936. [12] 287 pp., frontispiece and text illustrations
by Alexander Hogue (mostly full-page). 8vo, original patterned salmon and cream
cloth printed in brown, spine with GTT at foot, top edge pale green.
Very fine in fine d.j. (green, brown, and beige, with rider on rearing horse).
Signed by JFD.
First edition, first issue binding, first issue d.j. (chapter
1 first appeared in The Country Gentleman, the other chapters were printed
serially in The Fort Worth Press). Campbell, p. 105. Cook 16. Dobie, p.
51: “Considerable social history”; p. 55: “Chapters on Bean,
Green, Duval, Kendall, and other representers of the fighting Texans.” Dykes, My
Dobie Collection, p. 8: “Hard to find and expensive” (#11 on
his rarities list). Guns 602. Herd 691. McVicker A5. One Hundred
Head Cut Out of the Jeff Dykes Herd 8.
References to cowboys and ranching are found throughout, and
two chapters are specifically devoted to ranching history (“Riders of the
Stars” and “The Trail Driver Breed”). One of Hogue’s
striking black-and-white illustrations shows a cowboy drinking water from a cow
track, with Ab Blocker’s famous quote about how he had “drunk more
water out of cow tracks than any trail driver left alive.” JFD includes
a first-rate chapter on “How Texas Was Hell on Women.” $400.00
Item 1565
1566. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Flavor of Texas. Dallas: Dealey & Lowe, 1936. Another copy. Fore-edges slightly foxed, otherwise very fine, d.j. not present. $150.00
1567. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Flavor of Texas. Dallas:
Dealey & Lowe, 1936. [12] 287 pp., frontispiece, illustrations by Alexander
Hogue. 8vo, original orange and cream cloth printed in dark blue, plain beige
spine, without GTT at foot, top edges uncolored. Very fine in d.j. (salmon
and cream pattern with illustration of Texas flag and leaping man firing a
pistol). Signed by author.
First edition, second issue binding, second issue d.j.
$175.00
1568. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Flavor of Texas. Austin:
[Designed by Larry Smitherman for] Jenkins Publishing Company, 1975. [8] 167
pp. Large 8vo, original tan cloth. Very fine in d.j.
Second edition (illustrations omitted). $25.00
“The Best of All Books of Its Kind” (Lawrence Clark Powell)
1569. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the
Southwest, with a Few Observations. Austin: University of Texas Press,
1943. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1943. 111 pp., frontispiece, text
illustrations (some full-page) by Russell, Borein, Bugbee, et al. 8vo, original
grey printed wrappers. Faint rust stain to back wrapper from clasp on mailing
envelope, else very fine, in original mailing envelope, signed by JFD in
ink on title: “1st edition—J. Frank Dobie.”
First edition of a pivotal book in the literary historiography
of the West (“one of J. Frank Dobie’s most significant contributions
to the recognition and study of southwestern literature was his initiation and
teaching of a celebrated course at the University of Texas at Austin: ‘The
Life and Literature of the Southwest’.... From this course emerged Dobie’s...Guide
to Life and Literature of the Southwest”—WLA, Literary History
of the American West, p. 505). Basic Texas Books B73: “A
delightful, intensely subjective guide to Dobie’s favorite books.” Dykes, Fifty
Great Western Illustrators (Borein 51), (Bugbee 65), (Dunton 40), (Hurd 67),
(Lea 140), (Leigh 91), (Santee 40), (Thomason 21). Guns 603. Herd 692.
McVicker A10a(1).
Powell, Southwest Classics, p. 348: “[Dobie]
met departmental skepticism of a course he proposed on the Life and Literature
of the Southwest. When his colleagues questioned that there was any literature,
Dobie countered that there was plenty of life and he’d teach it. He did
both. The course proved legendary. He kept expanding its syllabus until its final
publication as Guide to the Life and Literature of the Southwest, then
and now the best of all books of its kind.” Saunders 273b. Yost & Renner, Russell, p.
248 (“Appearances”).
Dobie includes sections on “Cowboys and Range Life,” “Cowboy
Songs and Other Ballads,” “Horses: Mustangs and Cow Ponies,” “Buffaloes
and Buffalo Hunters,” “Women Pioneers,” etc. The copyright
notice on the title verso may be our favorite of all time, and it is very much
in the generous spirit of J. Frank Dobie: “NOT COPYRIGHTED. Anybody is
welcome to help himself to any of it in any way.” $100.00
Item 1569
1570. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the
Southwest.... Austin: University of Texas Press, 1943. Another copy.
Very fine, in original mailing envelope.
First edition. Guns 603. Herd 692. McVicker
A10a(1). $50.00
1571. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the
Southwest.... Dallas: University Press in Dallas, Southern Methodist
University, 1943. 111 pp., frontispiece, text illustrations (some full-page)
by Russell, Borein, Bugbee, et al. 8vo, original yellow pictorial cloth.
Fine. No d.j. (as issued), signed by author.
First SMU edition, cloth issue (printed from the original
plates with a new title page). McVicker A10a(3). $75.00
1572. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest.... Dallas: University Press in Dallas, Southern Methodist University, 1943. Another copy. Fine. $50.00
1573. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest.... Dallas: University Press in Dallas, Southern Methodist University, 1943. Another copy, variant binding. 8vo, original blue pictorial wrappers. Wrappers slightly browned, otherwise fine. $35.00
1574. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the
Southwest, Revised and Enlarged in Both Knowledge and Wisdom. Dallas:
Southern Methodist University Press, 1952. vii [1] 222 pp., text illustrations
(some full-page) by Russell, Lea, Cisneros, et al. 8vo, original tan cloth.
Fine in rubbed, lightly chipped d.j. Dudley R. Dobie’s copy with several
sheets of notes relating to his teaching and research laid in.
Second edition, revised and enlarged, illustrations vary (some
illustrations from first edition retained, but new ones by Cisneros and others
added). Basic Texas Books B73. Dykes, Fifty Great Western
Illustrators (Bugbee 66), (Cisneros 63), (Lea 141), (Leigh 52), (Thomason
23); Kid 329; Western High Spots, p. 2 (“Introduction—My
Sport”): “Number one on my list for reading”; p. 32 (“High
Spots in Western Fiction: 1902-1952”). Guns 604. Herd 693.
McVicker A10b. Yost & Renner, Russell, p. 249 (“Appearances”).
JFD comments in his new preface: “I have made more additions
to the ‘Range Life’ chapter than any other. I am a collector of such
books. A collector is a person who gathers unto himself the worthless as well
as the worthy. Since I did not make a nickel out of the original printing of
the Guide and hardly expect to make enough to buy a California ‘ranch’ out
of the present printing, I have added several items, with accompanying remarks,
more for my own pleasure than for benefit to society.” $65.00
1575. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest.... Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1952. Another copy. 8vo, original tan cloth. Very fine in rubbed and lightly soiled d.j. $45.00
1576. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest.... Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1952. Another copy, variant binding. 8vo, original goldenrod pictorial wrappers. Exceptionally fine. $25.00
1577. DOBIE, J. Frank. Guide to Life and Literature of the
Southwest.... Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, [1957]. vii
[1] 222 pp., text illustrations (some full-page) by Russell, Lea, Cisneros,
et al. 8vo, original orange printed wrappers. Moderate shelf wear, upper
fore-edge slightly foxed, otherwise fine.
Seventh printing. $10.00
1578. DOBIE, J. Frank. Life and Literature of the Southwest:
An Incomplete Guide to Books on Texas and the Southwest. Austin:
University of Texas, 1936. 28 leaves, mimeographed and stapled. Fine.
McVicker D14b. First compiled and issued in 1933, this is
the second version of the mimeographed precursor to Dobie’s Guide to
Life and Literature of the Southwest. “[Dobie] developed his ‘Life
and Literature of the Southwest’ course at the University of Texas; the
class, one of the most popular offered at the University...demonstrated Dobie’s
knowledge of the land, people, and literature of the Southwest, as well as his
great vitality as a teacher. A brief mimeographed reading list prepared as the
course was organized...evolved in the renowned Guide to Life and Literature
of the Southwest.... As late as 1979, James K. Folsom, writing in The
Western: A Collection of Critical Essays, adjudged the Guide ‘the
most useful single bibliography of Western Americana’” (WLA, Literary
History of the American West, p. 537). $65.00
1579. DOBIE, J. Frank. Hunting Cousin Sally [wrapper title].
Austin: Privately published, 1963. 14 pp. (printed in double column). Large
8vo, original blue pictorial wrappers (portrait of Ike Pryor in his hand-me-down
Union uniform, by William Wittliff). A few foxmarks to fore-edges, else fine.
First separate issue, offprint from Southwest Review (Summer
1963), the Dobies’ Christmas greeting for 1963. McVicker D84. Whaley, Wittliff 3.
JFD’s biographical notes on cattleman Ike Pryor are followed by Pryor’s
firsthand recollections, including how the eighteen-year-old orphan became involved
with the cattle business when he was working as a farmhand near Austin: “I
could watch the herds of Longhorns trailing by, see the cowboys, and smell the
trail dust. I wasn’t a bit satisfied with keeping my eyes on a pair of
mule ears and walking up one row and down another between a pair of plow handles.
Moreover, I had learned that cowboys were getting thirty dollars a month, while
here I was getting just fifteen. I took the cow fever.” One of Pryor’s
witticisms is: “Any cowman of open range days who claimed never to have
put his brand on somebody else’s animal was either a liar or a poor roper.” $45.00
1580. DOBIE, J. Frank. I’ll Tell You a Tale: Selected
and Arranged by the Author and Isabel Gaddis. Boston: Little, Brown,
[1960]. xvii [1] 362 pp., text illustrations by Ben Carlton Mead. 8vo, original
tan cloth. Top edge slightly foxed, else fine in lightly worn d.j. Signed
by artist Ben Carlton Mead.
First edition, second printing. Dykes, Fifty Great
Western Illustrators (Mead 27). McVicker A17a. WLA, Literary History of
the American West, p. 542): “The tales were chosen by Isabel Gaddis,
herself from the range country and a former student of Dobie’s. The stories
are gathered under such headings as ‘The Longhorn Breed’...and they
represent Dobie at his best in doing what he did with artistry—telling
a tale.” $35.00
1581. DOBIE, J. Frank. An Informal Hour with J. Frank Dobie:
Stories of the Southwest. New York: Spoken Arts 722, 1957. Phonograph
record (33-1/3 r.p.m.; 12 inches, read by JFD). Some foxing to sleeve, else
fine, in original mailing package.
McVicker D58. Among selections read by J. Frank Dobie are: “The
Mezcla Man,” “Bigfoot Wallace and the Hickory Nuts,” and “Bears
Are Intelligent People.” $45.00
1582. DOBIE, J. Frank. J. Frank Dobie Tells “The Ghost
Bull of the Mavericks” and Other Tales. [Austin]: Domino Records,
[1960]. Phonograph record (33-1/3 r.p.m.; 12 inches, read by JFD). Very fine
in original pictorial album cover with portrait of Dobie, record in original
glassine sleeve.
McVicker D75. Selections include “The Dream That Saved
Wilbarger”; “Diamond Bill, Confederate Ally”; and “Too
Much Pepper” (all from Tales of Old-Time Texas); and “Drouthed
Out” (from I’ll Tell You a Tale). $35.00
1583. DOBIE, J. Frank. John C. Duval, First Texas Man
of Letters: His Life and Some of His Unpublished Writings. Dallas: Southwest
Review, 1939. 105 [1] pp., tinted frontispiece and text illustrations by
Tom Lea. 8vo, original brown cloth over beige cloth. Fine in fine d.j. Signed
by author.
First edition. Campbell, p. 45: “Not merely a
critical and biographical study, but includes a series of Duval’s unpublished
writings.” Cook 28. Dobie, p. 55. Dykes, Fifty Great Western Illustrators (Lea
131); Western High Spots, p. 116 (“Ranger Reading”). McVicker
A8a(1). One Hundred Head Cut Out of the Jeff Dykes Herd 14: “Dykes
says: ‘Tom Lea illustrated the book with some of his best drawings and
naturally the Lea collectors compete when an occasional copy appears for sale.’....
Scarce.”
The chapter entitled “An Old Time Texas Ranch” deals
with the theme of hold-up hospitality on early Texas ranches and gives some pointers
on detecting greenhorns (strapping one’s gun to the saddle, carrying an
umbrella while on horseback, etc.). Duval (1816-1897), came to Texas in 1835,
and, unlike his brother Burr H. Duval, escaped the Goliad Massacre. John was
surveying land in Texas in 1840, served as a Texas Ranger with Bigfoot Wallace
in Jack Hays’ company beginning in 1845, rose to rank of captain in the
Confederate Army, and wrote two early classics on Texas. “His writings
justify his being called the first Texas man of letters.... Of all personal adventures
of old-time Texans, [Early Times in Texas] is perhaps the best written
and the most interesting.... Duval’s most artistic and most important book
is The Adventures of Bigfoot Wallace” (Handbook of Texas Online: John
Crittenden Duval). One of the good features of this book is Dobie’s detailed
bibliography on the various confusing editions and issues of Duval’s published
works. $250.00
1584. DOBIE, J. Frank. John C. Duval, First Texas Man of Letters.... Dallas: Southwest Review, 1939. Another copy, unsigned. Very fine in fine d.j. $125.00
1585. DOBIE, J. Frank. John C. Duval, First Texas Man
of Letters.... Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, [1964 or
1965]. 105 pp., frontispiece and illustrations by Tom Lea. 8vo, original
brown cloth. Very fine in fine d.j.
Second edition. $20.00
“One of the True Classics of Range Cattle Literature” (Reese, Six Score)
1586. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Longhorns. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1941. xxiii [1] 388 pp., title with color illustration (extending across
two pages) and text illustrations by Tom Lea (some full-page), photographic
illustrations. 8vo, original full calf with blindstamp of brand. Minor shelf
wear and spine very slightly rubbed, usual mild marginal browning on endsheets
due to contact of calf binding with endpapers, pp. 2-3 browned where an item
was formerly laid in, overall a fine copy, in publisher’s white cloth
slipcase with color illustration by Lea (case slightly stained, confined mainly
to lower edge). Association copy with typed letter, signed by Carl Hertzog,
to “Bibliophiles and Book Dealers and Friends of Tom Lea and J. Frank
Dobie” about the sale and purchase of this copy of the book: “To
stop some critical gossip I traded $200 worth of books to get a copy of The
Longhorns with the letter from Dobie to E. A. Brinissttool (sic) concerning
the ‘bat-wing’ chaps in the illustration by Tom Lea.... I didn’t
like the idea of circulating conversation putting Dobie and Tom Lea in the
negative, so I bought the book. Later I mentioned this to Tom and he was not
perturbed in the least. He said they don’t understand design and should
know that this painting was not made for the book but for a mural in the Odessa
post office. I made the chaps this way as an element of design. If they want
to criticize, did you ever see a cowboy with a shirt this white?” Affixed
to front free endpaper is book dealer Charles P. Everitt’s typed, signed
note about the book with manuscript note below. Laid in is the 16-page promotional
with Lea illustrations and photographic plates (specially printed for Dudley
R. Dobie). Carl Hertzog’s copy, with his bookplates.
First edition, limited “Rawhide” edition (#258
of 265 copies signed by Dobie and Lea, with special limitation leaf with illustration
by Lea showing Dobie and Lea in cowboy gear; in the special full calf binding
and slipcase illustrated by Lea). Loring Campbell, My Favorite 101 Books about
the Cattle Industry 30. Cook 34. Dobie, p. 102: “History of the Longhorn
breed, psychology of stampedes; days of maverickers and mavericks; stories of
individual lead steers and outlaws of the range; stories about rawhide and many
other related subjects.” Dobie & Dykes, 44 & 44 #18. Dykes, Collecting
Range Life Literature, p. 5; Fifty Great Western Illustrators (Lea
135); Kid 295; Western High Spots, p. 15 (“Western Movement:
Its Literature”); (“High Spots of Western Illustrating” #62);
pp. 82, 86 (“A Range Man’s Library”): “Based on a terrific
amount of research and written as only ‘Mr. Southwest’ could write
it—a major contribution to the history of the West”; p. 103 (“The
Texas Ranch Today”).
Graff 1099. Herd 694. Hinshaw & Lovelace, Lea 42B.
Howes D375. McVicker A9a(1). Malone, Wyomingiana, p. 21: “Though
chiefly about Texas and Texas cattle, a general history of the early cattle industry,
its techniques, and anecdotes about cowboys.” Merrill, Aristocrats of
the Cow Country, p. 18. One Hundred Head Cut Out of the Jeff Dykes Herd 5.
Reese, Six Score 32: “This is the most desirable edition.... One
of the true classics of range cattle literature. The limited edition is increasingly
hard to procure.” Saunders 4032. Streeter Sale 2399. $3,500.00
Item 1586
1587. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Longhorns. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1941. xxiii [1] 388 pp., title with color illustration (extending across
two pages) and text illustrations by Tom Lea (some full-page), photographic
illustrations. 8vo, original white pictorial cloth (color illustration by Tom
Lea). Exceptionally fine in very fine d.j. illustrated by Lea. Original prospectus
laid in. Difficult to find in fine condition like this copy, and with the prospectus.
First trade edition. Hinshaw & Lovelace, Lea 42C.
McVicker A9a(2). “The Longhorns...represents Dobie at the peak of
his powers. The author begins the book with a statement that the longhorns belong
to history, ‘a past so remote and irrevocable that sometimes it seems as
if it might never have been’.... The work is a rewarding mixture of fact,
lore, and history.... Dobie closes the book with praise for the longhorns for
their great strength, vitality, endurance, and nobility” (WLA, Literary
History of the American West, p. 539). $250.00
Item 1587
Item 1587
1588. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Longhorns. Boston: Little, Brown, 1941. Another copy, without prospectus. Very fine in very good d.j. (price-clipped, light wear, one chip on back panel). $200.00
1589. DOBIE, J. Frank. The Longhorns. Boston: Little,
Brown, [April 1945]. xxiii [1] 388 pp., title with color illustration (extending
across two pages) and text illustrations by Tom Lea (some full-page), photographic
illustrations. 8vo, original tan cloth. Fore-edges foxed, else very fine in
fine d.j. Signed by author.
First edition, sixth printing, war issue (first printing
of this issue). Printed on thinner paper stock, with d.j. setting out the changes
necessary for the war issue and JFD’s appeal to buy war bonds. $25.00
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