Captivity of the Oatman Girls: Being an interesting narrative of life among the Apache and Mohave Indians: containing also an interesting account of the massacre of the Oatman family, by the Apache Indians in 1851 .. by STRATTON, R. B - 1857

San Francisco: Whitton, Towne & Co.'s Excelsior Steam Power Press, 1857. 12mo. (7 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches). 231pp. Wood-engraved map, portrait of Olive Oatman, and numerous wood-engraved illustrations. Publisher's blue cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt. Housed in a later brown chemise and slipcase. The earliest obtainable edition of the most famous California Indian captivity: lovely example in publisher's cloth. The Oatman family belonged to a sect of Mormons called the Brewsterites, after their leader James C. Brewster. The group followed Brewster to California, which he believed was the proper location for Zion. Along the way the party split into two groups; the Oatman family took a southern route which led them through what is now present day Arizona. They were attacked by members of either the Tolkepayas or Western Yavapais about midway between Pima Village and Yuma. Most of the family was killed except for brother Lorenzo, who was left for dead, and sisters Mary Ann and Olive, who were taken captive. The sisters were soon traded to the Mohaves and brought to what is now Needles, California. Mary Ann died there of starvation and Olive was finally released after three years captivity. "[Olive's] adventures were vividly recounted by Royal Stratton and became a best-seller of the time" (Wagner-Camp). The very rare first edition was published in San Francisco in 1857, under the title Life Among the Indians. Only the Siebert copy of that great rarity has appeared on the market in the last quarter century. The present second edition quickly followed later in the same year and is the earliest obtainable edition. Later, more commonly found editions were published in Chicago and New York. Ayer, Supplement I:121; Graff 4006 (first edition); Howes S1068; Wagner-Camp 294:2; Sabin 92742.