San Francisco, Henry Payot, 1868. Posthumous collection of poems by Ridge ("Yellow Bird"), an important Cherokee author who wrote the first novel by an American Indian writer, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta (San Francisco, 1854, two copies known). Ridge's father was assassinated in 1839 for having signed the Cherokee removal treaty, and Ridge himself remained at the center of the controversy over that treaty, which divided the Cherokee nation. In 1849, after killing another Cherokee, Ridge fled to Missouri and then to California, where he lived until he died in 1867, a year before this book was published. During that time, he wrote for newspapers and magazines and wrote these poems, collected after his death. This is a fine copy in original cloth, stamped in gilt, with a photographic frontispiece with tissue guard, a portrait of the author, and quite an early example of photography in a published volume, as well as being an early California imprint. Small owner's gift inscription in pencil dated 1868 on the front endpaper; foxing on the page with the tipped in photographic frontispiece; the photo itself is slightly faded. Still, this is by a considerable margin the nicest copy we have seen of this important title.   [#026351] $1,500

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