Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Clay, John. My Life On the Range (SIGNED). Privately Printed, Chicago, 1924.
Price: US$245.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: This original, large octavo, 1924 first edition in dark green cloth with bright gilt titles is in "good" condition. Pages in second half of book show dampstaining / tidemarks to the margins closest to spine -- spine was evidently damp, at some point. Corners toed in slightly; Top Edge Gilding is moderately worn but still at about 75 percent; we can find no foxing. Gilt titling to spine and front board remain strong. Inscribed to top of half-title page "To Clay Boddie" (though it could be "Goddie") "from John Clay / 24th April 1926 / 75 yrs old today." We thus have the recipient's 1851 birth date, but have been unable to trace him. All the glossy B&W photographic plates here -- including Teddy Roosevelt & Co. on horseback -- are firmly attached where they ought to be. "One of the best books on ranching." -- Everett Graff. "This well-written book about the authors' ranch experience has become scarce in the first edition, and is one of the much-sought-after cattle books. He was one of the better-known ranch owners of the Northwest and a well-educated Scotchman. His picture of ranch life is authentic. He relates many incidents of the Johnson County War and tells about Tom Horn." -- Ramon Adams. "A Scot, he traveled widely in the American West and Canada, observing closely and accurately. He played an important part in financing several large companies, and was instrumental in the reorganization of the failed Swan Land and Cattle Co. The book is best on the Wyoming ranges, where British investment was heaviest. There is much on the Wyoming Stock Growers Association," reports Bill Reese. Adams Herd 475, Adams Six-Guns 434, Howes 470, Graff 748, Dobie pp. 98-99. Totals 366 pp., now reduced from $780.
Seller: Cat's Curiosities, Pahrump, NV, U.S.A.
Price: US$407.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: This original, large octavo, 1924 first edition in dark green cloth with bright gilt titles is in "very good" condition. Top corners toed in slightly; Top Edge Gilt slightly worn but still at about 90 percent; we can find no foxing. Inscribed to blank FFE "To Capt. Tippinge from his friend John Clay." Attached to blank recto of the frontispiece author portrait is a further letterhead label from John Clay & Co., Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Ill. addressed by typewriter to "Capt. Tippinge, Duns, Scotland." A Capt. V. Gartside Tippinge, of Berrywell, Duns, Berwickshire, in the Scottish borderlands, appears to have served in the Royal Scots during the Great War. More than that we know not, save that (per the Coldtsream Local History Society) a Lt. Frank Gartside-Tippinge, 19 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, son of Vernon and Annie Gartside Tippinge of Berrywell, Duns, Berwickshire, was killed in action on 6th November 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Arras, France. It is believed he crashed near Passchendaele, Ypres and was the 21st and final victim of the German ace Lt. Hans Ritter von Adam, as von Adam was himself killed in action on 15th November. (19 Squadron flew the Spad V11 before replacing them with Sopwith Dolphins in late November, 1917.) All the glossy B&W photographic plates here -- including Teddy Roosevelt & Co. on horseback -- are firmly attached where they ought to be. "One of the best books on ranching." -- Everett Graff. "This well-written book about the authors' ranch experience has become scarce in the first edition, and is one of the much-sought-after cattle books. He was one of the better-known ranch owners of the Northwest and a well-educated Scotchman. His picture of ranch life is authentic. He relates many incidents of the Johnson County War and tells about Tom Horn." -- Ramon Adams. "A Scot, he traveled widely in the American West and Canada, observing closely and accurately. He played an important part in financing several large companies, and was instrumental in the reorganization of the failed Swan Land and Cattle Co. The book is best on the Wyoming ranges, where British investment was heaviest. There is much on the Wyoming Stock Growers Association," reports Bill Reese. Adams Herd 475, Adams Six-Guns 434, Howes 470, Graff 748, Dobie pp. 98-99. Totals 366 pp. Here reduced from $1,000.
Seller: Cat's Curiosities, Pahrump, NV, U.S.A.
Clay, John. My Life on the Range. Privately Printed, Chicago, 1924.
Price: US$700.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Dark green boards with gilt lettering on cover and spine. Light soiling to back board. Slight creasing to head and tail of spine. Tight binding and clean interior. Text block has gilt top stain and deckle fore and bottom edges. Some pages are uncut. All black and white photographic plates are present as called for. Personally inscribed by the author on the first free end paper. Howes C470. The Rampaging Herd 475. Scotsman John Clay penned this personal account of the cattle industry in Wyoming and Montana around the turn of the century. According to bibliographer Ramon Adams, "This well-written book about the authors' ranch experience has become scarce in the first edition, and is one of the much-sought-after cattle books. He was one of the better-known ranch owners of the Northwest and a well-educated Scotchman. His picture of ranch life is authentic." Famed folklorist J. Frank Dobie wrote that Clay's book "is packed with facts on cattle, cattlemen, and ranches" and that he referenced it "for its for its pictures of life and its sense of the beautiful."
Seller: Back of Beyond Books WH, Moab, UT, U.S.A.