THE RAVEN: A BIOGRAPHY OF SAM HOUSTON.

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co, 1929. 489pp. Index. Notes. Sources. Red cloth, gilt title, and author’s name on spine. Laid-in is the business card of a sales(?) representative of Bobbs-Merrill. While not a first edition (it lacks the first printing notification on the copyright page) it is a very early reprint. The book was first printed in 1929 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1930. Upon winning the Pulitzer, the publisher issued a new brightly colored dust jacket trumpeting the winning of the prize at the bottom of the front panel. A bright, fine copy. The tan printed dust jacket shows general wear most noticeably on the edges, overall, good+. New York Times: “One of the best biographies of recent times, thorough, scholarly, fair and alive in every page with the sense of character in action upon a great stage.” Dexter Perkins, University of Virginia: “Mr. James is conscious, as not all historians can be said to be, of the obligation to write something that is readable, something that has literary quality as well as historical solidity.” Jenkins, BTB 103: “One of the great biographies in American historical literature, this remains one of the most readable Texas books….it has stood the test of time.” Greene, Fifty Best Books on Texas p.81: “It’s Sam with the dirty rawhide on, but not a juiced-up revisionist’s debunking. It’s excellent history.” One of a handful of the really good biographies on Houston, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1930.