REMINISCENCES OF FIFTY YEARS IN TEXAS

New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co., 1883.. 369pp. plus three plates (of four) and errata slip. Lacks frontispiece portrait of the author. Original publisher's blindstamped brown cloth, spine gilt. Cloth faded, boards rubbed, soiled, and stained, corners bumped and worn, spine ends worn, hinges loosening. Tanned. Marginal annotations in pencil, manuscript notes in ink and pencil to endpapers, bookplate on front pastedown. Good only, lacking the portrait of the author. Personal recollections of the Texas Revolution from one of its leaders. John J. Linn was an Irish-born merchant in Victoria and founded the town of Linnville. He was also variously mayor of Victoria, a member of the Consultation and the General Council, a quartermaster during the San Jacinto campaign, and a congressman for the Texas Republic. As Jenkins notes, Reminiscences "was actually ghost-written for the 85-year-old Linn by his old friend Victor M. Rose" and includes accounts of Linn's business activities, his time in New Orleans, the activities of the Consultation and General Council, the Alamo, the San Jacinto campaign, and various interactions with Native Americans. As Linn himself writes, "these reminiscences do not purport to be a history of Texas, but rather a narrative of the events connected therewith that passed under the immediate observation of the author." Of note are Linn's observations and anecdotes on some of the most prominent figures in early Texas history. According to Jenkins, "Linn's appraisal of Sam Houston...hits closer to the truth than most other contemporaries....One of the basic sources on the revolutionary period." "A valuable contribution to our history since Austin's first settlement" - Rader.

This copy lacks one plate, the frontispiece portrait of the author (as was the case in another copy we handled), but includes the plate with the erroneous caption of "The Alamo," corrected to read "Goliad," as in the copy examined by Howes. HOWES L363, "aa." BASIC TEXAS BOOKS 127. DOBIE, p.57. CLARK III:63. GRAFF 2503. RADER 2239. RAINES, p.139. Bradford 3019.