As a Western Americana dealer I have few occasions to refer to a classic story many of us read in high school, but this post includes a Bartleby the Scrivener reference. Of course it does.

Monroe Edwards (circa 1808-1847) was an early Texas slave smuggler and forger. He moved to the Galveston Bay area of Texas about 1825 as a clerk for the merchant James Morgan. Soon after his arrival, however, he found more lucrative, if less respectable, pursuits. He became involved in smuggling slaves to Brazil from Africa and soon made a profit of $50,000. Through his mistress’s husband, a Mexican official, he obtained a large land grant in Brazoria County. He called his property Chenango Plantation, and used it as a base for continued slave smuggling to Texas from Cuba. His only claim to favorable historical recognition was his arrest and brief imprisonment, with others, by the Mexican garrison at Anahuac in 1832. – Handbook of Texas.   Among his misdeeds, he once sold an entire plantation of slaves he did not own to an abolitionist who had intended to free them. He was finally convicted for an elaborate and lucrative cotton-broker forgery scam in 1842. Several sensational accounts of his offenses and trial were published after his death, and he was mentioned in Herman Melville’s 1853 short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener.”

We recently acquired a a land survey for “one third of a league of land for Monroe Edwards situated 10 miles below San Patricio on the west side of the Nueces River.” It includes a small inset manuscript map of the property. Texan politician Alexander Russell is mentioned as a neighbor. This is a certified 1839 copy of a January 1838 survey, drafted and signed by James M. Manning, the original surveyor. Below Manning’s signature is an additional attestation by a county surveyor dated 1840 which has been crossed out.

James M. Manning was one of the initial surveyors in the San Patricio, Nueces County, and South Texas areas. He was appointed Deputy Surveyor of San Patricio County on March 8, 1838, at a time when much of South Texas, including present day Nueces County, was a part of that jurisdiction. His appointment likewise occurred only two years after the establishment of the General Land Office of the Republic of Texas and one year after legislation created land districts with surveyors and deputy surveyors in each county. When the Texas boundary was permanently extended to the Rio Grande in 1846, Manning served as one of the first Anglo-American surveyors of this region. His work influenced other early South Texas surveyors such as Felix A. Blucher. His papers are held at TAMU-Corpus Christi.

[Republic of Texas.] Manning, James M. Survey and map of land on the Nueces River, done for the notorious crook Monroe Edwards. 2 manuscript pages, 10 x 7 3/4 inches, plus integral blank with docketing; folds and minor wear. San Patricio, Texas, 29 January 1839.

Bertram Rota was a London bookseller, specializing in modern literature. Together with his son Tony he developed the University of Texas as a client and became friends with a number of like-minded folks in Austin through his annual trips to visit the University. Among them were Austin book seller Franklin Gilliam, Warren Roberts, then the Associate Director of the Humanities Research Center, John Henry Faulk, Bill Ferguson and Frank Dobie.

In 1960 Rota spent a memorable evening at Dobie’s Paisano ranch with this august group of bookmen. He recorded the highlights in a pamphlet entitled “The Night of the Armadillos” that he sent out as a Christmas card.  Few copies crossed the Atlantic and Dobie’s friend and bookman Jeff Dykes listed it as one of the fifty rarest Dobie items. Dobie inscribed a copy “For my paisano and amigo Jeff Dykes who understands poetic license.”

Rota followed up the publication of his Christmas pamphlet with a letter to Dobie about the evening and adding to the tale told therein. Dobie gave a copy of the letter to Warren Roberts, with his note that it made a postscript to “The Night of the Armadillos.” It is reproduced here as a fitting coda to this legendary Dobie rarity.

January l4. 1961

Dear Sage,

          Your acceptance of my strictly factual report on the night of nights delighted me. But tell Edward Soph that “The Night of the Armadillos” is a much better title than “A Night Among the Armadillos.” The former makes the night unique, as it is in my memory.  The latter could be any old night. Before that evening was over I knew I must write the story and that “The Night of the Armadillos” was the inevitable title.

          Harry Graham’s “Elsie Gloy” has 22 eight-line verses. To quote them in full would have overweighed my little booklet, but you shall have the complete version. It was first printed in “Life and Letters” Vol 5, No. 27, for August 1930. Later it was included, I think, in a book of Harry Graham’s verse, which I will try to find for you. Meanwhile here is one more verse, to go on with:

          “An artist he, in velvet cape

             With palate, oils and brushes

          Who wished to paint an aquascape

             And, noticing a female shape

          Entangled in the rushes,

             He came to ask what he had found

          That was so large and smooth and round.”

          And another:

          That is the life she loves to lead

             As Queen of all Bohemia.

          Her courtiers may belong, indeed,

             To what is called the ‘Weldflow’r breed,

          And suffer from anemia,

             But still her heart with pleasure thrills

          When dancing with those daffodils.

          There is, however, one grave error of misquotation in my booklet. I wrote “With the poet I could sing” and then misquoted some lines of Kipling — even though I gave them just as I heard them long ago. They should read:

          “I’ve never seen a jaguar

            Nor yet an armadil –

          O delloing in his armor

            And I spose I never will.”

          Much better. There have been requests for extra copies, for inclusion in Dobie collections in university libraries, from Larry Powell and others; but I have a few spares and send you three more at once. I’m flattered.

          Did I tell you I’ve ordered “The Ghost Bull of the Mavericks,” so that I may refresh my memory of your treasured tones and share my delight with my friends? And that story of my night at Paisano has had a wonderful reception from all points of the compass. A friend writes from Wilmington, Delaware, to-day to tell me that there is a different formula for each species of cricket, when calculating the temperature from the frequency of the chirping!

          How earnestly I hope to come to Texas again next Fall, though Anthony and I won’t be able to be away from London together.

          Good luck, good health, good hunting!

                                      Your eternally grateful

                                                       Bertram

I am preparing a list of new acquisitions, if you would like a copy let me know.
info@wallisonbooks.com

It will feature a number of Texas promotional booklets, including ones for Austin, San Antonio and El Paso.

There are a number of items relating to the Mexican War and Zachary Taylor

Also two letters from General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna while President of Mexico in 1842. Both are stampless covers that were mailed, very unusual.

Much more of interest, including the Boundary between Texas and Mexico, Railroad maps, San Antonio photographs, more!

We recently got two new sculptures by Texas artist Trace Guthrie.

From the artist’s website:

Trace Guthrie has emerged as a sculptor of exceptional talent in his 40 year career. His lifesize and monumental works include a statue of Sam Houston at SHSU in Huntsville; Oliver Twist in Hermann Park, Houston; Prickly Pair of Boots surrounded by native Texas critters stands near the Galleria area in Houston; Migration, a bronze of 5 geese with a 10 feet wingspan, and a memorial bronze in the rose garden at M. D. Anderson Hospital in the Houston Medical Center.

In 2008, he received a commission to do a creation for LPL Financial of a bronze bull & bear, stock market theme. At present, this piece has an edition that will stretch across the United States. His creative range of forms span from wildlife western, bronze and clay children portraits, abstracts, outdoor garden works, all the way to humorous and whimsical fantasies.
http://www.traceguthrie.com/about

ARE YOU CALLIN ME A LIAR? Approximately 7.5 inches high mounted on wood base.

This item is no longer available from the artist.

PAYDAY 1992 Approximately 7.5 inches tall on wood base.

This item no longer available form the artist.