Black Mammy. A Song of the Sunny South, in Three Cantos; and "My Village Home" [A Presentation Copy]

Cheyenne, WY: By the author (Sun Steam Print), 1885. First Edition. Good. First edition; 8 1/4 x 5 1/4; pp. [9], 12-107, [3]; blue cloth over boards, titled and decorated in gilt and black; rubbed spots to tips of spine and corners; cloth faded and worn, especially to back board; loss of paper to last two leaves and rfep, affecting the last few lines of the last poem; illustrated with portrait frontis and full-page, engraved plates; good condition. Inscribed by the author: "To C. A. Miller Esq. / with the compliments of / Wm. L. Visscher / author."William Lightfoot Visscher (1842 (?)- 1924) was a colorful character - an author, journalist, soldier, actor, and self-proclaimed first chronicler of the Pony Express, although he was also known for not letting facts get in the way of his writings and for being a dubiously-reliable historian. The book, in his own words, contained poems he had written, while drifting and working various jobs across America, from Kentucky, through the western states, to Wyoming.