Historical and Biographical Record of the Cattle Industry and the Cattlemen of Texas and Adjacent Territory.

COX, James.

Item Number: 102643

Saint Louis: Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company, 1895.

First edition of this work, one of the big four cattle books. Quarto, illustrated with color lithographic frontispiece, 16 plates, numerous full-page black and white and half-tone photo illustrations as well as illustrations in text, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In near fine condition.

"One of the 'big four' cattle books", Cox's Cattle Industry and the Cattlemen of Texas provides a detailed survey of the history and magnitude of the cattle industry in post-Civil War America. "Rarely found with the frontispiece...it is said that the scarcity of this book is due to the fact that nearly all the edition were lost in a warehouse fire" (Adams, The Rampaging Herd, 593). The Cox volume was sent primarily to biographees...In addition, the spine of the book was unequal to the task of holding together 743 folio pages and many copies literally fell apart. Furthermore, the publisher's remaining stock was destroyed, either by accidental fire or by simply being dumped on the trash heap. . . Thus are rarities created in the world of books" (Jenkins Basic Texas Books).