Jenson Written Compiled (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First edition. Foreword by Anthony L. Powell. Oblong folio. Approximately 17" x 8". 88pp. Illustrated, plates (we've had this once before with a folding panoramic image of the fort, this copy lacks the panorama but shows no obvious evidence of having had it to begin with). Original cloth with printed title label. Faint dampstains on front cover, hinges are a bit tender, with a thin crack located in the gutter following the copyright page, and very light pencil markings pages 73-74, else very good or better. A very good copy of a fragile and rare book. History of an African-American cavalry unit, including group photographs of the officers (mostly White), and non-commissioned officers and each troop in the regiment (overwhelmingly Black), with rosters (including the hometown of each soldier), a year-by-year history of the regiment from its formation in 1866 (including details of engagements first against Native Americans and later Spanish forces), and numerous candid photographs of the men at work and at recreation. A number of photographs show the soldiers in athletic and equestrian contests and drills. In 1886, Congress formed four Black regiments, the famous "Buffalo Soldiers." Three of these regiments, including the ninth, were stationed at Fort Russell, which became the largest cavalry post in the United States. The fort is still in operation today as the Frances E. Warren Air Force Base. In addition, the book contains a prefatory poem, "Soldiers," that is stated as having been "written expressly for this publication" by Damon Runyon. Although best known today for his humorous stories of Broadway that were collected in the book *Guys and Dolls*, Runyon spent years as a journalist and columnist and, in the early 1900s, wrote poetry in a Kiplingesque vein. Some of this light-hearted military verse was based on his (limited and vastly self-exaggerated) experiences in the Philippines at the end of the Spanish-American War. The poem written for this volume, "Soldiers," describes a crowd's peacetime enthusiasm and reverence for a large military parade, but makes specific allusions to African-American soldiers (". the faces brown") and its refrain ("Silence! The Colors! The Colors pass!") plays on the duality of the colors of the flag and the "Colored" soldiers. This volume precedes Runyon's first book (*The Tents of Trouble*, a 1911 collection of verse), and this poem was reprinted later in his second book (*Rhymes of the Firing Line*, a 1912 verse collection). This represents one of his first book appearances, issued as it was by a short-lived Colorado-based publishing house whose sole output was a handful of contemporary military reviews. Not in *Work* or the *Catalogue of the Blockson Collection*. *OCLC* locates two copies, at Yale and the Library of Congress.