THE SWAMPS. A RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS IN THE MIDDLE WEST by Roush, Sigel - 1929

Strasburg, Va.: Printed [for the author] by Shenandoah Publishing House, 1929. 321 pages. Original orange cloth lettered in black. 20 x 13.5 cm. Very good. Spine a little sunned, light wear to the base of the spine, faint soiling and a few tiny spots to the cloth. Slightly over-opened between the front flyleaf and the title, but sound. FIRST EDITION of the author's first and only book. Stories of hunting, trapping, and rural life in Highland County, Ohio, based on pioneer tales handed down to the author by his family and on his recollections of his boyhood. "These sketches are founded on fact and fiction. Mostly fact. All are potentially true. The characters are all real, though they are presented under assumed or altered names" (foreword). Sigel Roush (1862-1954) left Ohio after college and became a prominent dentist in Troy, New York. "He was a writer, lecturer, world traveler, pilot, medical doctor, and school principal. Dr. Roush was married to Cordelia Virginia Mohun, and together they were enthusiastic aviators traveling to almost every country in the world as well as out-of-the-way islands. He was a member of a polar expedition, traveled around the world twice, and crossed the Atlantic 25 times. As a lecturer, he was in every state in the nation and was the first man to broadcast a travelogue over the radio. He wrote for 35 newspapers scattered around the world, was a staff correspondent for the `Washington Times,' and was an award-winner in several story contests" ("HCHS Hall of Fame," Highland Historical Society online). �