Vaqueros and Buckeroos

Hardcover. Very Good/Good. Privatley published by the author, 1979, first edition, and printed in Bakersfield; 8vo, 145 x 218mm; pp xvi, 312; bright yellow cloth gilt, the covers stamped with a pseudo leather pattern; pictorial dust wrapper with a photograph on the back of Rojas's displayng his skill in floating a horse's teeth; profusely illustrated throughout with photographs; signed by Rojas on the front fly and with two further dedications on the blank pages following - one reads "Best wishes to Pete Birkett from Ernest Morris" and illustrated with a neat drawing of a horse balking at the edge of a cliff, signed E. Morris 8-79; the other is from the actual giver and reads "Pete from June Christmas 1979"; in a chapter beginning "I met Ernie Morris, the artist ... ", this being the person of the second dedication mentioned above, an owner (Pete?) has written deprecatingly in the margin "Pompous & not a good artist. His horses and cows look posed & stiff but he thinks he's the modern Russell."; there are no other comments but three or four pages have light lines run down the margins drawing attention to particular comment in the book; dust wrapper slightly torn and creased at the foot of the spine and with a few small tears at the head but with the book itself in very good, bright condition. ... ... ... ... "[The] aim is to present to the reader a simple account of the vaquero's method of working and way of life, and the dangers and hardships he met in following a calling, which in spite of millions of words written in 'Western' books, the public knows nothing about." - in short a truthful and fascinating account of California's early cattle industry and the men amd horses who made it work. This is a good copy of the scarce first edition, here with the author's signature and an attractive dedication and an interesting tendentious comment about a character mentioned.