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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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The American West, Fiction, Art and More from Back of Beyond Books - By Michael Stillman A railroad train rambles up Ruby Canyon on the cover of Catalogue 6. Back of Beyond Books recently published their Rare Book Catalogue 6. The Moab, Utah, based bookseller opens their catalogue by noting, "we're experiencing one of the wettest and muggiest summers that we can remember." Really? I read this in Texas, barely a day's drive away over I-40 and up the old Devil's Highway (before fearful bureaucrats changed its number from Route 666 to something bland and inoffensive). We are experiencing a draught of historic proportions. What's going on here? Is the Devil toying with us? Anyway, Back of Beyond features books about its corner of the world, particularly eastern Utah and western Colorado, along with the Four Corners region. It is an area of spectacular beauty and one of the last parts of continental America to be explored. However, Back of Beyond expands beyond its own borders, also offering books pertaining to the broader reaches of the American West, to Native Americans, the Mormons who settled most of Utah, railroads, Western fiction, general fiction, and art. These are a few selections from this latest catalogue. Robert LeRoy Parker was a Utah native who knew many of the back reaches of Back of Beyond's territory, stretching from Montana to Arizona. He knew the good hiding places because Parker made a career of robbing banks and trains throughout the West. You may not recognize his name, but probably will know his alias - Butch Cassidy. Cassidy, his cohort, the Sundance Kid, and the rest of the Wild Bunch wreaked havoc across the West, and when the heat became too great, they hightailed it to South America. After several robberies there, they were surrounded and killed in a shootout in 1907. That's what most people believe, although there were always those who questioned the identification of the bodies. For years, Cassidy sightings were reported. Supposedly, Cassidy returned to America, may have worked under the name William Phillips in Spokane, and supposedly participated in a family reunion around 1925. These stories were resurrected in just the past few weeks when an old manuscript by Phillips was discovered bolstering these claims. Phillips writes as a friend of Cassidy, but some believe his knowledge of details of earlier events in Cassidy's life could only have come from Cassidy himself. One who believed Butch had survived South America and returned was Lulu Parker, Cassidy's sister. She claimed he lived until 1937, but was not Phillips. Ms. Parker wrote a book about him, Butch Cassidy, My Brother, and she has signed and inscribed this copy of her 1975 book (Lulu was Cassidy's younger sister and she lived to be 96). Item 4. Priced at $50. Item 78 is a Guide to the Route Map of the Mormon Pioneers from Nauvoo to Great Salt Lake, 1846, 1847. It was designed to provide textual explanation of the route map (not included). The author of this 1899 publication was Orson Pratt. Pratt was one of the earliest converts to Mormonism, joining the Church and becoming associated with its founder, Joseph Smith, in 1830, the Church's first year. Pratt would serve numerous missions, mainly in England, and would publish several newspapers and books defending the faith. He would also have a falling out with Joseph Smith after the latter announced his position on polygamy, but Pratt would rejoin the fold and serve until his death in 1881. Pratt was one of the leaders of the advance party for the Mormons' great migration from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley, reportedly the first to enter. He kept detailed notes of the trek, so when this map was published 18 years after his death, his notes of the journey were used for the accompanying guide's text. $100.
The American West, Fiction, Art and More from Back of Beyond Books - By Michael Stillman Print of Ruby Canyon along the Colorado River. Traveling to Utah in covered wagons was tough, and many Mormons actually made their journey pulling handcarts, tougher still. Obviously, a better means of making it west, particularly for those who wanted to proceed all the way to the Pacific, was needed. Visionary thinkers proposed building a railroad, a daunting prospect considering the distances, terrain, and state of technology at the time. Nonetheless, the government undertook a major survey to find a route to build such a railway. Item 86 is the 13-volume set of the Reports of Exploration and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The survey was conducted from 1853-54, the volumes released a few years later. This report is filled with information, including many maps and lithographs of the American West in the days when settlements were few and far between. Fifteen years later, the dream would be realized with the hammering of the golden spike, which completed the Pacific railway, opening the West to a level of settlement never before imaginable. $12,000. The image you see on this page (and a blow up from it is seen on the catalogue's cover) is called Ruby Castles Canon of the Grand. This is a 1900 print by William Henry Jackson of a Denver & Rio Grande railway train making its way through Ruby Canyon. The rail line runs through the canyon, along the banks of what was then known as the Grand River (today known as the Colorado). The railroad parallels the Colorado River along the Colorado-Utah border, from Mack, Colorado, to Westwater, Utah, and the only practical way to view the canyon, other than rafting, is by train. The red cliffs are present along the river just across the Utah side of the border. Item 107. $3,000. Next, Back of Beyond offers an opportunity to hear Navajo Creation Chants from 1929. Yes, we really do mean hear. While item 52 contains a booklet describing the chants, it also includes five 78-rpm records, which were pressed in 1950. You will need to pull out your old record player to play a 78, and good luck finding a 78 needle for it, but history awaits your search. Item 52. $400. Back of Beyond Books may be reached at 435-259-5154 or andy@backofbeyondbooks.com. Their website is found at www.backofbeyondbooks.com.

The American West, Fiction, Art and More from Back of Beyond Books

- By Michael Stillman

A railroad train rambles up Ruby Canyon on the cover of Catalogue 6.

Back of Beyond Books recently published their Rare Book Catalogue 6. The Moab, Utah, based bookseller opens their catalogue by noting, "we're experiencing one of the wettest and muggiest summers that we can remember." Really? I read this in Texas, barely a day's drive away over I-40 and up the old Devil's Highway (before fearful bureaucrats changed its number from Route 666 to something bland and inoffensive). We are experiencing a draught of historic proportions. What's going on here? Is the Devil toying with us?

Anyway, Back of Beyond features books about its corner of the world, particularly eastern Utah and western Colorado, along with the Four Corners region. It is an area of spectacular beauty and one of the last parts of continental America to be explored. However, Back of Beyond expands beyond its own borders, also offering books pertaining to the broader reaches of the American West, to Native Americans, the Mormons who settled most of Utah, railroads, Western fiction, general fiction, and art. These are a few selections from this latest catalogue.

Robert LeRoy Parker was a Utah native who knew many of the back reaches of Back of Beyond's territory, stretching from Montana to Arizona. He knew the good hiding places because Parker made a career of robbing banks and trains throughout the West. You may not recognize his name, but probably will know his alias - Butch Cassidy. Cassidy, his cohort, the Sundance Kid, and the rest of the Wild Bunch wreaked havoc across the West, and when the heat became too great, they hightailed it to South America. After several robberies there, they were surrounded and killed in a shootout in 1907. That's what most people believe, although there were always those who questioned the identification of the bodies. For years, Cassidy sightings were reported. Supposedly, Cassidy returned to America, may have worked under the name William Phillips in Spokane, and supposedly participated in a family reunion around 1925. These stories were resurrected in just the past few weeks when an old manuscript by Phillips was discovered bolstering these claims. Phillips writes as a friend of Cassidy, but some believe his knowledge of details of earlier events in Cassidy's life could only have come from Cassidy himself. One who believed Butch had survived South America and returned was Lulu Parker, Cassidy's sister. She claimed he lived until 1937, but was not Phillips. Ms. Parker wrote a book about him, Butch Cassidy, My Brother, and she has signed and inscribed this copy of her 1975 book (Lulu was Cassidy's younger sister and she lived to be 96). Item 4. Priced at $50.

Item 78 is a Guide to the Route Map of the Mormon Pioneers from Nauvoo to Great Salt Lake, 1846, 1847. It was designed to provide textual explanation of the route map (not included). The author of this 1899 publication was Orson Pratt. Pratt was one of the earliest converts to Mormonism, joining the Church and becoming associated with its founder, Joseph Smith, in 1830, the Church's first year. Pratt would serve numerous missions, mainly in England, and would publish several newspapers and books defending the faith. He would also have a falling out with Joseph Smith after the latter announced his position on polygamy, but Pratt would rejoin the fold and serve until his death in 1881. Pratt was one of the leaders of the advance party for the Mormons' great migration from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley, reportedly the first to enter. He kept detailed notes of the trek, so when this map was published 18 years after his death, his notes of the journey were used for the accompanying guide's text. $100.

The American West, Fiction, Art and More from Back of Beyond Books

- By Michael Stillman

Print of Ruby Canyon along the Colorado River.

Traveling to Utah in covered wagons was tough, and many Mormons actually made their journey pulling handcarts, tougher still. Obviously, a better means of making it west, particularly for those who wanted to proceed all the way to the Pacific, was needed. Visionary thinkers proposed building a railroad, a daunting prospect considering the distances, terrain, and state of technology at the time. Nonetheless, the government undertook a major survey to find a route to build such a railway. Item 86 is the 13-volume set of the Reports of Exploration and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The survey was conducted from 1853-54, the volumes released a few years later. This report is filled with information, including many maps and lithographs of the American West in the days when settlements were few and far between. Fifteen years later, the dream would be realized with the hammering of the golden spike, which completed the Pacific railway, opening the West to a level of settlement never before imaginable. $12,000.

The image you see on this page (and a blow up from it is seen on the catalogue's cover) is called Ruby Castles Canon of the Grand. This is a 1900 print by William Henry Jackson of a Denver & Rio Grande railway train making its way through Ruby Canyon. The rail line runs through the canyon, along the banks of what was then known as the Grand River (today known as the Colorado). The railroad parallels the Colorado River along the Colorado-Utah border, from Mack, Colorado, to Westwater, Utah, and the only practical way to view the canyon, other than rafting, is by train. The red cliffs are present along the river just across the Utah side of the border. Item 107. $3,000.

Next, Back of Beyond offers an opportunity to hear Navajo Creation Chants from 1929. Yes, we really do mean hear. While item 52 contains a booklet describing the chants, it also includes five 78-rpm records, which were pressed in 1950. You will need to pull out your old record player to play a 78, and good luck finding a 78 needle for it, but history awaits your search. Item 52. $400.

Back of Beyond Books may be reached at 435-259-5154 or andy@backofbeyondbooks.com. Their website is found at www.backofbeyondbooks.com.