A Tour On The Prairies

WASHINGTON IRVING

Publication: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956, Norman

Western Frontier Library Edition. First Thus. 214pp. Editor's Preface and Introductory Essay by John Francis McDermott."Washington Irving and his nephew John Treat Irving accompanied Indian Commissioner Henry L. Ellsworth and his party on a tour of the southern Great Plains in the fall of 1832....The tour was an unusually well-recorded journey."----Wagner-Camp-Becker 56:2. Irving's "tour" among the Osage and Pawnee tribes. In 1832 Irving joined the party of Indian Commissioner Henry L. Ellsworth on his expedition to the land of the Osages and Pawnees. "Everything relating to aboriginal life or manners, had an attraction for Washington Irving which he could not resist. The hardy fur-trapper, with his trusty rifle, and his dusky bride, scorning with the fierce pride of independence the sweets of civilization; the wild warrior of the plains, in his swift foray on the herds of the civilized intruders on his domains, or in the bloody invasion of a neighboring tribe, all had for the author a warm coloring which he loved to paint. It is of such scenes, blended with the softer traditions of Indian lore, and the dreams of the better land, this book is composed. Irving eagerly seized the opportunity offered by a government mission to the Pawnees, of observing for himself the peculiarities of a savage race; and of what he saw he has made the most charming picture ever painted of its life.” Near fine copy in dust jacket with lightly-sunned spine and some occasional slight edge wear.