Prairie-Bird

MURRAY, Charles Augustus. The Prairie-Bird. 3 volumes. Contemporary full brown calf, t.e.g. London: Richard Bentley, 1844. First edition. Wolff 5022. Sadleir 1818. Wagner-Camp 112. Presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "H.A. Murray from his affec...ate Brother The Author Jan.y 10-1849. Cairo." A subsequent inscription beneath, signed by one George Hathorn, whose bookplate appears on the front end-paper of volume one, records the further provenance of this copy: "On the death of the Admiral, Charles Murray sent this copy to Mrs. Hathorn as a momento of her friend." The set was presumably bound for the author prior to its original presentation, since an identical binder's blank appears at the front and back of each volume, and the inscriptions have been written on the first of these. Hinges restored and still a bit weak; somewhat rubbed with light chipping to extremities of spines. Murray's romance is based upon his experiences among the Pawnees with whom he lived in 1835. According to the Preface, one of his "chief aims has been to afford [the reader] correct information respecting the habits, condition, and character of the North American Indians and those bordering on their territory.