The West of William H. Ashley: The international struggle for the fur trade of the Missouri, the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia, with Explorations beyond the Continental Divide, recorded in the diaries and letters of William H. Ashley and his contemporaries, 1822-1838

Denver: Old West Publishing Company, 1964. First Edition. 341pp. Large quarto [35 cm] Gray cloth with the title gilt stamped on the backstrip and an illustration by Catlin of Eagle's Ribs in red on the front board. Near fine. Morgan considered this volume, the fruit of two decades of research, his most important single historical work. It is primarily an edited compilation of primary sources relating to Ashley's Missouri Fur Company and his activities in the beaver trade after selling out to Jedediah Smith, David E. Jackson, and William L. Sublette, and before his death in 1838. Scores of letters, accounts, diaries, and newspaper transcripts are salted (truncated) liberally with Morgan's able commentary and historical notes. It was to be considered for the Pulitzer Prize but was submitted past the entry deadline. A companion volume on Robert Campbell was planned for 1965 but never published. Saunders 49. (Inventory #: 10214)