LET THE TAIL GO WITH THE HIDE.

El Paso: Mangan Books, 1984. 287pp. Index. Photographs. Facsimiles. Endpaper maps show the southeast corner of Arizona, Sonora, Chihuahua, and southwest New Mexico as well as the Palomas Ranch in Chihuahua. Introduction by Tom Lea. Full leather binding with gilt lettering on front cover and spine. Housed in a linen publisher’s slipcase with a hundred-peso silver coin inset into the front.  First edition, limited edition of 200 copies. Very fine copy in a fine slipcase. Ben Franklin Williams was born in a remote Sonoran Village in 1901.  He grew up on a ranch in Northern Mexico and was eight years old before he learned to speak English. He relates, through his daughter, his experiences growing up on the border. Williams became a noted land developer, a prospector, mining operator,  livestock broker, inventor, mayor of Douglas, Arizona, and, above all, a cattleman. He was also one of the partners in the historic purchase of the Palomas Ranch in Chichuahua, Mexico at 2,270,000 acres, the largest ranch in North American. Because of his extensive business dealings in Mexico, Williams provides many insights into doing business there and the politics involved. There is also material on John Slaughter, the tumultuous period in Arizona and along the border between 1890 and 1912, and an interesting account of what happened to Pancho Villa’s head. Done in a small edition, it was almost instantly out of print. Note: Image shown is the limited edition.[ebc023]        $200.0056A----- As above. First trade edition, review copy. Fine copy (no dust jacket issued). Laid in is the publication announcement, review request, and a “Let the Tail Go with the Hide” bookmark. [ebc024]   $85.00