Life Amongst the Modocs: Unwritten History
London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1873. First U.K. Edition. 400pp. Octavo [21.5 cm] 3/4 red sheep over marbled boards with the title and bands gilt stamped on the backstrip. Extremities rubbed with some splitting to the hinges. Endsheets foxed. Item #8040
This U.K. printing preceded the American first by a year. This work is based on Miller’s years among the mining towns and Indian camps of northernmost California during the tumultuous 1850s. Miller attempted to form an Indian republic among the Pit River Indians, the Klamaths, Shastas, and Modocs.
'Joaquin' [Cincinnatus Heine] Miller (1837-1913) travelled to the California goldfields in 1854 at the age of 17 he went to the California gold fields. During his time in California he tried his hand at a variety of profession (mining camp cook, a lawyer and a judge, a newspaper writer, a conservationist, and a Pony Express rider.) His true love was writing and he proclaimed himself 'The Poet of the Sierras' and 'The Byron of the Rockies.' At the urging of Ina D. Coolbrith, he changed his name to Joaquin Miller sometime around 1870. Howes M608. Cowan p.154. Zamorano Eighty: 55.
Price: $400.00