First Edition

"The Evolution of a State or Recollections of Old Texas Days",

This is the first edition of Noah Smithwick's account of early life in Texas, compiled by his daughter Nanna Smithwick Donaldson. Smithwick was born in North Carolina and moved to Texas in 1827 at the youthful age of 19. He spent the next 34 years in Texas, witnessing first-hand some of the key events in the evolution of the state and becoming acquainted with a number of influential figures. His memoir is organized chronologically and includes chapters on settling in Dewitt's Colony, trips to the interior, a smuggling trip to Old Mexico, camping with Comanches, annexation, and much more. The book is filled with highly entertaining anecdotes about daily life, where "Men talked hopefully of the future; children reveled in the novelty of the present; but the women - ah, there was where the situation bore heaviest. As one old lady remarked. Texas was 'a heaven for men and dogs, but a hell for women and oxen'." 354 pages with two portraits of Smithwick. First edition, published by Gammel Book Company. Hardbound in beige cloth. Features the inscription of "William Cooper Sr. April 9, 1908" on the front endpaper.

References: Howes #S-726.

Condition: B

Contents are mostly clean with occasional faint dampstains in the bottom margin and some light toning from pages 145-192. Covers are very loose and close to separating with dampstaining on both boards.