Apr 15, 2021 - Sale 2564

Sale 2564 - Lot 209

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
THE NOTEBOOKS WHICH TOOK CUSTER DOWN . . . AGAIN (GEORGE A. CUSTER.) Frederic F. Van de Water. Pair of original notebooks for "Glory-Hunter," along with an inscribed copy of the book. 3 volumes, various sizes and conditions. Vp, circa 1930-34
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"Glory-Hunter: A Life of General Custer" was a landmark in Custer scholarship, the book that dismantled the general's reputation as a hero. Offered here are two of Van de Water's original notebooks for the project.

Untitled notebook. [128] typescript leaves, 11 x 8 1/2 inches, with some manuscript notes, and some notes on verso, in period ring binder; intermittent toning and minor wear. Consists entirely of research notes on Custer from both printed and manuscript sources. Some of the manuscripts transcribed here appear to be unpublished, including letters written by Bighorn survivors to W.A. Falconer and E.A. Brininstool in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Notebook titled "Custer Record" with 200 pages, 9 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches, most blank, 30 of them having manuscript notes; original cloth binding, worn and dampstained; only minor staining to contents. An alphabetically arranged series of notes on Custer research (and occasional personal memoranda through 1948), including a Custer bibliography and notes for a foreword. Under Little Bighorn he writes "Have to admit existence of a gigantic and foul plot with otherwise righteous men as conspirators, or Custer's blameworthiness."

"Glory-Hunter: A Life of General Custer." 15 plates. 394 pages. 8vo, publisher's gilt cloth, moderate wear; moderate foxing; worn dust jacket, inscribed on front free endpaper "To Ma, from me, with love, Frederic F. Van de Water." First edition. Indianapolis, IN, [1934].