Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins 1875-1932

Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2013. First edition. Hardcover. New. 687 pp. Octavo [23.7 cm]. Beige cloth with mint green wrap around panels and gilt strips over boards. Out-of sequence copy, with no stamped number at colophon. Silver satin-ribbon pagemarker attached at head. "... his diaries chronicle his business and religious observations including meetings with the Quorum of the Twelve and others. He records meetings of the apostles where decisions were made to remove church leaders from office who had entered into polygamy after 1904, and details the church’s dealings with the Mexican government to safeguard the Mormon colonists. There are also discussions where doctrinal principles were clarified. For example, in 1912 Ivins reported that President Joseph F. Smith addressed Brigham Young’s Adam–God teachings and affirmed that it was “not a doctrine of the Church.” Ivins clearly loved the ruggedness of outdoor life, as evidenced in his passion for hunting, but was also intrigued with the curiosities at the Utah State Fair, the entertaining showmanship of Buffalo Bill, and the refinement of the theater. Tragedy became commonplace as he recorded vigilante-like justice against Indians and Mexicans who were killed for stealing food, and witnessing the execution of John D. Lee, a once favored son of Mormonism. Appendices of Cowboy Apostle include Ivins’s Record Book of Marriage and an essay by Ivins’s son, H. Grant Ivins titled “Polygamy in Mexico as Practiced by the Mormon Church, 1895–1905." -From the publisher.