Winona

[Herkimer County, N.Y., 1900. Very good plus.. [10]pp. Original, hand-painted brown wrappers, leather string-tied. A few small nicks to extremities. Light toning internally. A vanishingly scarce volume by an obscure writer from Herkimer Co., New York. Winona is a tale of star-crossed lovers -- A Mohawk woman and a "pale face" man -- that ends in a literal lover's leap. Winona's father, the tribal chief, is deeply against this romance, and arranges for her marriage to a fellow tribesman named Deer Foot. She will have none of it, and runs off to live with the "pale face" in the woods. Her vengeful father and his tribesmen find them, and corner them at the edge of a cliff, at which point the lovers jump off the ledge into the rushing water below. The story's atmosphere (wigwams, peace pipes, tomahawks, etc.) is steeped in erroneous and stereotypical views of Native Americans held by white people during this era, and it is certainly derivative of other folk tales of the period, but it is nevertheless written with some tenderness for its main characters.

A short biographical note from the Little Falls Historical Society, notes three other separately published stories that Haun wrote, and OCLC records two other titles, none of which are "Winona." Thus, we can say that Haun wrote at least six published stories, all of which are distinctly scarce. The quality of the printing here is notable for its amateurish and rough-and-ready quality. The printer wasted little time letting the ink dry so there is some transfer throughout. The hand-painted cover also suggests a labor of love, produced by an amateur in very small numbers. Overall, an important survivor that adds to the record of literature produced by American women at the end of the 19th century, and to the bibliography of Native Americans as subjects.