[WOMEN IN THE WEST]. Covered Wagon Women. COMPLETE SET of 11 vols., DELUXE ISSUE (vols. 1-9 and 11) limited to 33 copies in gold-tooled leather, and trade edition (vol. 10) in cloth

COMPLETE SET of 11 vols. Large 8vo., vols. 1-9 and 11 bound in leather, vol. 10 in cloth. Very light blemishing to pastedowns, endpapers, edges of textblock, and in some instances on the covers of the Keepsakes. Binding on vol. 4 very slightly bowed. The leather binding on Vol. 11 (which is unnumbered) is more red than the others in this set. As commonly, this set lacks the rare, almost unfindable keepsake for vol. III entitled "To Remember The Trail," a limited edition print after a original drawing by Jose Cisneros, commissioned by the Clark Company for this work. Overall in excellent condition. DELUXE ISSUE, LIMITED TO JUST 33 SETS, OF WHICH ONLY 30 (truncated) WERE EVER OFFERED FOR SALE.

TREASURED DOCUMENTS, AT TIMES ALMOST UNBEARABLY POIGNANT, BEING HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED DIARIES AND LETTERS WRITTEN BY PIONEER WOMEN AND GIRLS, PRINTED VERBATIM, WITH NO CHANGES IN SPELLING OR PUNCTUATION.

The justly famous 11-volume "Covered Wagon Women" series is the best first-person overland trail accounts penned by females who traveled west between 1840 and 1903. Penned by girls, teenagers, married and unmarried women, women with multiple children, women who lost one or more children, widows, and elderly alike, these brave pioneers bore dumbfounding burdens and responsibilities on trails so gruelling that they now seem incomprehensible. They write of friendship and family, trail hardships, weather, days blending into nights, explorations, and much more. Here are the voices of Tamsen Donner and young Virginia Reed, members of the ill-fated Donner party; Patty Sessions, the Mormon midwife who delivered five babies on the trail between Omaha and Salt Lake City; Rachel Fisher, who buried both her husband and her little girl before reaching Oregon. Still others make themselves heard, starting out from different places and recording details along the way, from the mundane to the soul-shattering and spirit-lifting.

From the publisher: "This set was initiated by Dr. Holmes after years of working and collecting in the field. His interest was in presenting the material to the public in a readily available form for reference and reading. He viewed the series as a continuation of 'First White Women Over the Rockies' edited by Drury. [Each volume] is introduced by the editor with historical background and identification of characters wherever possible. Minor footnoting to clarify the text is included."

"While each diarist and letter-writer had her personal joys and sorrows, collectively these invaluable accounts demonstrate the passion and courage of these nineteenth-century pioneering women who led and followed their families into the West, pursuing dreams of better economic or social situations. One can only marvel at their ability to persevere under conditions that sent many scurrying back home to the East." [...] "The stories seem simple -- they left, they traveled, they settled -- yet the restless westering impulse of Americans created one of the most enduring figures in our frontier pantheon: the hardy pioneer persevering against all odds. Undeterred by storms, ruthless bandits, towering mountains, and raging epidemics, the women in these volumes suggest why the pioneer represented the highest ideals and aspirations of a young nation."

CONTENTS OF COLLECTION (NB: all volumes were published in Spokane by Arthur H. Clark Co.)

Volume I, 1840-1849. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake.
Volume II, 1850. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake.
Volume III, 1851. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. Lacking the Keepsake, as is almost always the case.
Volume IV, 1852: The California trail. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake.
Volume V, 1852: The Oregon Trail. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editors. With the Keepsake.
Volume VI, 1853-1854. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake.
Volume VII, 1854-1860. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake.
Volume VIII, 1862-1865. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake (a self-contained volume, original gold-printed wrappers: "Mrs. Mary Ringo").
Volume IX, 1864-1868. Leather. No. 29 of 33, signed by the editor. With the Keepsake.
Volume X, 1875-1883. CLOTH. Trade edition (and obviously without a Keepsake). Fine.
Volume XI, 1879-1903. Leather. One of 33 copies (this copy unnumbered). With the Keepsake.

Clark & Brunet 144. (Inventory #: 4395)