El Toro. A Motor Car Story Of Interior Cuba

E. RALPH ESTEP

Publication: Packard Motor Car Company, 1909, Detroit

First edition. 8vo. Two-tone brown cloth spine with pictorial illustrated boards, tan pictorial front and rear endpapers, [10], 11 - 107 pp., preface, frontispiece, 13 photograph plates (all with tissue guards), each tissue guard has red-printed lettering, chapter heading drawings. Interestingly the front cover illustration has been done in the shape of a Packard grille. A well-illustrated travelogue from the Packard Motor Car Company's publicity department touting the advantages of the Model 30 as it set the pace travelling across Cuba. The memoir recounts driving through waist-deep oxen cart ruts, trying to cut through massive palm trees with machetes, and fording rivers by foot in advance of the Packard to determine the depth. Estep (died 1918) was hired to launch "The Packard" the in-house company magazine June 10, 1910. Originally he had launched his career with the elaborate 1908 Model 30 catalogue with a deluxe version featuring hand-lettered Old English trimmed in gold leaf, with grooved white vellum covers bearing the Packard radiator. Estep left the company in 1912, and would die at Sedan, Nov. 7, 1918, while serving with the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, just four days before the Armistice. While this book was done to promote the features of the Packard Model 30, the photographs of Cuba are exceptional as is the adventure of traveling in the interior of Cuba. Minor wear to the corners and spine ends and with light wear to the extremities. Very good.

Inventory Number: 52190