THE OREGON TRAIL: Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life in 1848.

US,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.[Reprint from 1892 edn,illus by Frederic Remington.Excerpts from what was to become The Oregon Trail were originally published in the Knickerbocker Magazine in 1847.First complete edition of the book appeared in 1849,and was a critical and popular success.Early in 1892, Frederic Remington was commissioned to provide illustrations for a new edition.] VG+/VG+.No owner inscrptn, and no clip to dw/dj - no publisher price.Grey photographic illustrated upper wrap; with negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners.Top,upper edge lightly creased,with some light scoring to same vicinity,head of spine/ backstrip also lightly rubbed/chipped.Top+fore-edges lightly aged and minimally grubbed,but generally clean.Bright,clean,pale grey paper-covered boards with bright,crisp,stamped mauve ink letters to spine/backstrip,and clean,white endpapers,though top,centre edge of ffe is lightly grubbed/thumbed.US,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus,vi-xvpp+ 1-411pp [paginated] includes contents list/table, foreword,preface to original illustrated edition,preface to 4th edn, b/w illus frntis,27 chapters,9 other full-page b/w plates/illus and profuse b/w vignette illus throughout the text and the book,all by Frederic Remington; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,and list of illustrations. The Oregon Trail, a tale of trappers and traders,hunters,settlers, and Indians,reads like one of the great western novels of daring and adventure.In fact,it is one of the classic historical texts of its,or any, time.When the young historian Francis Parkman set out from Boston in 1846 to follow the famed Oregon Trail,he began a journey that was to enrich not only his life,but the life of the nation. Recounting events that occurred as he travelled from St Louis, Missouri,to the Oregon Territory and back,Parkman captures,conjures up a West in the midst of profound change.Jumbled together,in the great westward movement that was then taking place,are people of every kind. A multitude of nationalities - French,Germans,Mexicans, Canadians,English,Irish - struggle to survive and prosper in the new land.Trappers,fur traders, hunters,and guides are closely observed practising their trades.The harsh,at times pitiless,life of the emigrants and settlers is starkly presented.The Indian way of life is portrayed as equally doomed,at once tragic and extraordinarily stirring.As we witness American soldiers bound to conquer the Mexican Army and claim from them their golden lands, we recognize how soon the Indians would be forced to relinquish a country of their own.Parkman,who lived and travelled for a time among the Sioux Indians,writes vividly of a race and a culture that would suffer greatly from the taming of the West. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note, stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded, after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US customers please be aware: US Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to USA can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.