Description
Presentation copy of Boots and Saddles, inscribed by Elizabeth B. Custer.
Octavo, [4], 312pp, [2]. Brown cloth, title in gilt on spine, decorative illustrations stamped on front panel. Wear to cloth at tips of spine, front hinge with archival reinforcement. Small owner’s label on front pastedown. Faint spotting throughout. Brown endpapers, solid text block. The first edition, second state of Boots and Saddles, with a map of the Dakota Territories and frontispiece. (Howes C-980) (Luther, High Spot 4) From the William A. Strutz Library.
This copy is signed on the second free endpaper: “George H. Pollock / Compliments of L.B.C.”
After President Ulysses S. Grant publicly blamed General Custer for the disaster at Little Big Horn, Elizabeth Custer, the General’s wife, took on the role of his public defender. Beginning with her book, Boots and Saddles in 1885, she would go on to publish three books about the life of her martyred husband. This work is the first book of the trilogy written by Mrs. Custer.
