Townshend, F. Trench Captain

Ten Thousand Miles of Travel, Sport, and Adventure

Hardcover, London: Hurst and Blackett, 1869. First Edition. Good+. Octavo, pp xiv, 275. Frontispiece portrait of a bison hunt, 16 pages of publisher's ads. Bound in publisher's tan cloth with blind cover decoration and gold spine titles. Rubbing and dampstaining to cover. Dampstaining to front endpapers and full title page. Binding cracked at front hinge and somewhat delicate, but intact with all pages present. Spine bumped at both ends, corners bumped and rubbed. Front endpapers rubbed.

Captain Frederick Trench Townsend (1838-1924) was a British Army officer in the 2nd Life Guards. He was hunter and traveler who came to North America to hunt for 10 months in the late 1860s. Townsend journeyed more than 10,000 miles across America, not counted his sea voyage from England.

He landed in New York, went to Rhode Island, and then hunted deer and wolf in the Adirondacks. He shot wild fowl on the Nebraska plains and re-armed for the west in Omaha. On the northern plains he shot buffalo, antelope, and black-tailed deer. In the Rocky Mountains Townshend hunted big-horn sheep and wolf. A complete list of the animals he hunted and fished is listed in the appendix.

In the late 1860s, Sherman and Sheridan had not yet defeated the Sioux and hunting in the northern plains was quite dangerous. Townshend obtained US Army permission for his hunting trip and did have military escort. Part of this book describes the Indians he encountered and observed as well as his impressions of western army forts and US troops. In addition to being a desirable hunting and sporting book, this title is also of interest to collectors of Americana due to Townshend's descriptions of several American cities in addition to the plains and Rockies. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 275 pages. [Item #77400]

Price: $200.00