Boots and Saddles by Elizabeth B. Custer, First Edition, 1885

Custer, Elizabeth B. Boots and Saddles, Or Life in Dakota with General Custer. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885. First edition. Octavo. Embossed brown cloth front boards with gilt and black titles to spine, reback in brown cloth to match. With a new matching archival slipcase.

Presented is a first edition printing of Boots and Saddles, Or Life in Dakota with General Custer by Elizabeth B. Custer. This book was published by Harper & Brothers, out of New York, in 1885. It is presented here with in its original pictorial gilt-stamped brown cloth front board and spine. It has been rebacked in matching brown cloth, with new endpapers, and a new archival slipcase. 

After President Ulysses S. Grant publicly blamed General Armstrong Custer for the disaster at Little Bighorn, Elizabeth Custer, the general’s wife, took on the role of his public defender. Beginning with Boots and Saddles, in 1885, she would go on to publish a trilogy of autobiographical works about the life of her martyred husband, to include Tenting on the Plains (1887), Following the Guidon (1890), and The Boy General (1901).  As she writes in the Preface, “One of the motives that have actuated me in recalling these simple annals of our daily life, has been to give a glimpse to civilians of garrison and camp life–about which they seem to have such a very imperfect knowledge…” Largely as a result of her books and decades of campaigning on his behalf, General Custer's legacy transformed into that of the brave fallen hero and the Battle of the Little Bighorn became the most important symbol of the American-Indian wars. 

Boots and Saddles covers the period just before the battle of the Little Bighorn. Her other books describe the Custers' marriage and their experiences during the Civil War and subsequent campaigns against Native Americans. This book is decorated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of General Custer, as well as numerous illustrations and a map. 

CONDITION:

Very good condition. Octavo. Original brown cloth embossed boards, with a design of black and gold mountain range and a shining sun at bottom and a bugle and musical notation at top. Gilt and black lettering to the spine, which also features a continuation of the mountain range. Newly rebacked in matching brown cloth. Repairs to the sewn text block. Some rubbing to extremities and to the top of the spine. Interior pages with light foxing and toning. Illustrated with a tissue-guarded frontispiece engraved portrait of Custer, midtext engravings, and map.  312 pp. Presented in a new custom matching cloth slipcase with a portrait of the Custers on the front.

Book Dimensions: 7 3/4" H x 5 1/" W x 1 1/4" D.

Slipcase Dimensions: 8 1/4" H x 5 3/4" W x 1 3/4" D.