My Own Story
Chicago: Belford-Clarke Co., Publishers, 1890. 253pp. Duodecimo [19 cm] Tan beveled boards with the title and author gilt stamped on the front board and backstrip. About very good. Corners of boards gently bumped and rubbed. Library bookplate on the front pastedown. Lacks the rear free endsheet. Blind ownership embossment on the title page. Item #8110
This work was originally released as 'Life Among the Modocs' [1873]. 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) traveled to the California gold fields in 1854 at the age of 17. During his time in California he tried his hand at a variety of professions (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.
Price: $150.00