Item 20 is a Wanted Poster dated May 21, 1934, from the Justice Department's Division of Investigation (now FBI) for Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, better known as just Bonnie and Clyde. The poster lists crimes, aliases, relatives and records of the duo, along with their photographs. It was issued by J. Edgar Hoover, later the very weird Director of the FBI. The poster had a short shelf life. Two days after it was issued, Bonnie and Clyde lay dead in a hail of gunfire. $1,000.
What is the connection between Lafayette and Oklahoma? None of which the French hero of the American Revolution was aware. Here is the surprising connection. Long after the Revolution, and decades after Lafayette had departed America, he returned for one final visit. It was a triumphant tour of his second home. However, while he traveled many miles through many states, touring for over a year, he never came anywhere near Oklahoma. St. Louis would have been the closest he came. However, Francis Allyn, who captained the ship on which Lafayette arrived, came into the possession of some of his letters. These showed up years later in an Oklahoma farmhouse of a relative. These letters, and others of Lafayette family members, were published in 1925 in Lafayette Letters, edited by Edward Everett Dale. Item 74. $95.
For those who would like a book no other collector owns, item 120 is an undated (though 1989) edition of Cimarron, by Edna Ferber. This was a very popular piece of historical fiction, twice made into a film, centered around the Oklahoma Land Rush. This edition, by a small printer named Aeonian, was meant to celebrate Oklahoma's centennial in 1989. Using plates from a previous Grosset and Dunlap edition, it was to be a deluxe edition, with gilt stamping on the front. Somehow, it didn't come out quite as anticipated, and Baade reports that the publisher told him this was the only copy ever made. This unique book comes with the original metal stamp. $250.
Item 164 is S.W. Harman's Hell on the Border. He Hanged Eighty-Eight Men, published in 1898. It is the story of legendary "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker, who had died two years earlier. Parker was the District Judge for Western Arkansas, which then included the Indian Territory, today's Oklahoma, from 1875-1896. The Judge would make his mark early on, making a statement in his first year on the bench by hanging six men on the same day. Parker thought himself misunderstood, but his reputation was sealed. In his later years, the Supreme Court substantially reduced the territory covered by his Fort Smith courtroom and overturned many of his convictions. $2,500.
Gene Baade Books on the West may be found online at www.booksonthewest.com or at 425-271-6481.
Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2007 Issue
"Oklahoma!" from Gene Baade Books on the West
“Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker and his chief hangman, “Prince of Hangmen” George Maledon.
