Native American Literature, R-S
426. (Red Jacket). Obsequies of Red Jacket at Buffalo. Buffalo: Buffalo Historical Society, 1885. A volume issued to commemorate the reinterment of Seneca chief Red Jacket and a number of other Indian chiefs who had lain in neglected graves for many years. The volume includes a number of speeches and letters by prominent individuals, including Gen. Ely Parker, an Iroquois sachem, an original poem contributed by Walt Whitman, and a poem by E. Pauline Johnson, who was part of the Canadian Indian delegation to the ceremony. Johnson's poem represents a very early appearance in print for her, preceding her first published book by 10 years. Wrapper torn at lower spine; else near fine.
427. RIEL, Louis "David." Poesies. Religieuses et Politiques. Montreal: L'Etendard, 1886. A posthumously published collection of two pieces by Riel, a Métis (half-French, half-Indian) Canadian who had led his people in the Red River Rebellion in 1969-70, gone into exile in Montana, and later returned to Canada to lead them in the North West Rebellion in 1884-85. He was captured and hanged for treason in 1885, and this volume, of pieces selected by his brothers from his writings, was published the following year. Because of some uncertainty about the authenticity of the pieces, which were reportedly written while he was in Montana, his family was persuaded to append a certificate to the end of this volume, attesting to their authorship. Small quarto; sunned, with modest edge wear; a near fine copy in stapled wrappers and a fragile volume.
428. RIGGS, Lynn. Big Lake. NY: Samuel French, 1927. The first book by this playwright of part-Cherokee descent who was born in the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Riggs is probably most famous for having written Green Grow the Lilacs, which was adapted into the musical Oklahoma! This play is also set in the Indian Territory, in 1906. This copy contains the small, attractive bookplate of noted bookman and printer Ward Ritchie on the front pastedown. Small, closed gouge to rear cover; near fine, without dust jacket. An attractive copy.
429. ROSE, Wendy. Hopi Roadrunner Dancing. NY: Greenfield Review Press, 1973. The first book by this Hopi/Miwok writer, a collection of poems published by Joseph Bruchac's press and only issued in wrappers. With illustrations by the author. Fine.
430. ROSE, Wendy. Academic Squaw. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1977. A collection of poems, excerpted from a work then in progress, Lost Copper. With illustrations by the author. Issued as Blue Cloud Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 4. Labeled for mailing; fine in stapled wrappers.
431. ROSE, Wendy. Builder Kachina: A Home-Going Cycle. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1980. Another excerpt from Lost Copper, illustrated by the author. Near fine in stapled wrappers.
432. ROSE, Wendy. Now Poof She is Gone. Ithaca: Firebrand Books (1994). The issue in wrappers of this collection of poetry, written over the years 1967-1992 and previously kept "hidden" by the author because of their personal nature. Fine in wrappers.
433. RUFFO, Armand Garnet. Grey Owl. (Regina): Cotteau Books (1996). A fictionalized -- i.e., re-imagined -- biography in verse of Grey Owl, written by a poet of Ojibway heritage, whose family had close personal ties with Grey Owl (Archie Belaney, an Englishman who re-invented himself as the Indian Grey Owl to dramatize his concern for the natural world and its desecration). Fine in wrappers.
434. RUPPERT, Jim. Natural Formations. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1981. Poetry and prose poems by a white writer who taught at Navajo Community College and did his dissertation on "Literary Translators of Native American Literature." Issued as Vol. 27, No. 3 of The Blue Cloud Quarterly. Labeled for mailing; faint corner bump, else fine in stapled wrappers.
435. SALISBURY, Ralph. Spirit Beast Chant. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1982. The second book, and second collection of poems, by this writer of Yunwiya Cherokee heritage who has since gone on to write highly praised fiction and science fiction. One corner bumped; small label on rear cover; stamped for mailing. A near fine copy.
436. SARRIS, Greg. Grand Avenue. NY: Hyperion (1994). The author's first book of fiction, a collection of interconnected stories. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with blurbs by Peter Matthiessen, Sherman Alexie, and Joy Harjo, among others. Sarris is the chairman of the Federated Coast Miwok Tribe, as well as the author of three books of nonfiction on American Indian subjects.
437. SARRIS, Greg. Watermelon Nights. NY: Hyperion (1998). The advance reading copy of his second novel. Fine in wrappers.
438. SA SU WEH. Blood of Our Earth. (n.p.): (Self-published) (1978). A handmade limited edition of poetry by a Ponca writer; one of 500 numbered copies. Signed by the author. Amateur production values; near fine in a very good dust jacket with internal tape-repairs at the folds.
439. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author. Near fine in a very good dust jacket.
440. SAVAGEAU, Cheryl. Home Country. Cambridge: Alice James Books (1992). A book of poetry by a French/Abenaki writer. Near fine in wrappers.
441. SCHOLDER, Fritz. The New Work, 1980-1985. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum at ARCO Plaza, 1985. Exhibition catalog. Quarto; 16 pages. With the artist's statement and an introduction by Patrick Houlihan, the museum's director. Signed by the artist. Fine in stapled wrappers.
442. SCOFIELD, Gregory. The Gathering: Stones for the Medicine Wheel. (Vancouver): Polestar (1993). The first book by this Métis writer, a collection of poetry that won Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
443. SCOFIELD, Gregory. Native Canadiana: Songs From the Urban Rez. (Vancouver): Polestar (1996). His second collection of poetry. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
444. SCOFIELD, Gregory. Love Medicine and One Song. (Vancouver): Polestar (1997). His third collection of poetry. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. Joy Harjo and Greg Sarris blurbs, among others.
445. SEALE, Doris. Blood Salt. Little Rock: American Native Press Archives (1989). The author's first solo publication, and the first prize winner in the American Native Archives Poetry contest. One of 500 copies. Fine in stapled wrappers and signed by the author in 1998.
446. -. Another copy. Also signed by the author in 1998 and with a few corrections to the text (and many titles or stanzas marked in the margins with small x's).
447. SEALS, David. Sweet Medicine. NY: Orion (1992). The uncorrected proof copy of the second novel by the author of The Powwow Highway, which was made into a much-praised low-budget film. This book continues the story of the characters from the first novel. The author is a former AIM member. Fine in wrappers.
448. (SEAWEED, Willie). Innovations for a Changing Time: Willie Seaweed, a Master Kwakiutl Artist. (Seattle): (Pacific Science Center) (1983). Oblong quarto, a monograph on a traditional Kwakiutl artist, with numerous color illustrations of his work and black & white historical photographs; near fine in stapled wrappers.
449. (Seneca). Speeches Delivered by Several Indian Chiefs. NY/Ipswich: Samuel Wood/J. Bush, 1812. Second edition of this collection of speeches by a number of Indian chiefs, notably Red Jacket, the famed Seneca chief who was renowned as an orator. Originally published in 1810. An extremely early printed collection of Native American oratory, the earliest we have handled. 24 pages bound in soft marbled boards, with the front board detached. 4 1/8" x 6 3/4". Only good.
450. SENUNGETUK, Joseph E. Give or Take a Century. An Eskimo Chronicle. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press (1982). The second edition of this history of the Eskimo and Indian cultures of Alaska, by a Native writer. First published in 1971. Like other books published by this press, this is an attempt by a Native historian to retell the history of his tribe from within, rather than from the perspective of the Europeans whose coming altered that history in fundamental ways, and who were never privy to the culture unaffected by their own intrusion. Illustrated with drawings and paintings by the author. Slightly dusty; a near fine copy in illustrated boards, without dust jacket (probably as issued: the jacketed hardcover books in this series having unillustrated, cloth covers).
451. SHEARER, Tony. The Praying Flute. (Happy Camp): (Naturegraph) (1987). The second book by this writer of Sioux descent, whose first -- Lord of the Dawn, a story of Quetzalcoatl and Mexican Indian myth and prophecy -- became a cult classic, which led to the famed "Harmonic Convergence" in 1987 based on the author's readings of the Mayan calendar. Fine in wrappers.
452. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Laguna Woman. Greenfield Center: Greenfield Review (1974). Her elusive first book, a collection of poems published by Native American author and publisher Joseph Bruchac's press. Silko's first exposure to wide readership came in The Man to Send Rain Clouds, an anthology of fiction edited by poet Kenneth Rosen in 1974. She had several stories in the collection, one of which was selected for Martha Foley's Bicentennial anthology, 200 Years of American Short Stories, a remarkable honor for a writer who had not even had a book of fiction published at that point. Silko's early work combines elements of traditional Native American storytelling techniques with the standard Western form of the novel or short story. As an individual of mixed descent -- part Laguna Pueblo, part Mexican, part white -- Silko wrote from a perspective that acknowledged and used elements of each culture, while she herself was apart from all of them -- an outsider, and as such, her perception was remarkably individuated, free from the clichés of standard Indian stories. It was in this way -- in her ability to create characters who were alienated from both mainstream society and their own cultures -- that she not only created compelling stories and characters but came to be regarded as a voice for the disenfranchised. Now her writings appear widely in anthologies and as introductions, although now they are more overtly "political," and more explicitly identified as "Indian." For a writer whose total literary output over 25 years is relatively small, Silko has had enormous influence -- on publishing, on college campuses in Native American literature and multiculturalism courses, and in helping to define the parameters of a Native American literature that avails itself of Western forms and the written word at the same time that it draws upon tribal oral traditions of storytelling and other ceremonial purposes. This copy is warmly inscribed by Silko in 1992 to a former boyfriend. Fine in stapled wrappers.
453. SILKO, Leslie Marmon and WRIGHT, James. The Delicacy and Strength of Lace. St. Paul: Graywolf (1986). Correspondence between Silko and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Wright, from 1978 until Wright's death in 1980. The two had only a first meeting (in 1975) and a last (in Wright's hospital room in 1980), and their friendship exists in these letters. Only issued in wrappers. This is the first issue, with the price "$8.00." Back cover has a small edge bump; else fine. Signed by Silko.
454. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Almanac of the Dead. NY: Simon & Schuster (1991). Her second novel, an ambitious attempt to retell 500 years of history from a Native American perspective, by viewing the damaged lives of a group of contemporary Indian drug dealers and misfits, and the anger and fervor of a group of Mexican and Central American Indian revolutionaries. The central image of an "almanac of the dead" -- a pre-Columbian book of divination -- provides the historical link that unites her contemporary characters with their more glorious forebears. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
455. -. Another copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
456. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit. NY: Simon & Schuster (1996). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of essays. Fine in wrappers.
457. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. How to Hunt Buffalo. 1998. A handmade broadside, produced in an edition of 50 numbered copies signed by the author. Three sheets glued together; the outer two carrying the text, with the middle panel being a color photocopy of a drawing of buffalo by Silko. 25" x 11". Rolled; fine.
458. -. Same title. One sheet with the full text, and illustrated with a black & white rendition of the above-mentioned buffalo across the bottom of the sheet. Signed by the author. 11" x 17". Rolled. Fine.
459. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Gardens in the Dunes. (NY): Simon & Schuster (1999). Her most recent novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a small nick at the crown.
460. (SILKO, Leslie Marmon). Dancing with the Wind. (Tucson): ArtsReach (1993). A collection of work by students in the ArtsReach writing program. Edited and with an introduction by Silko. Fine in stapled wrappers and signed by Silko.
461. (SILKO, Leslie Marmon). Native American Literature. (Hadley): (Lopez) (1994). Silko provides the introduction for this catalog of Native American literature, our first, which provides, with its listing, a useful overview of the field. Fine in wrappers.
462. (SILKO, Leslie Marmon). "Roosters and the Power of Love" in The Stories That Shape Us. NY: Norton (1995). A collection of contemporary women writing about the West, with pieces by Janet Campbell Hale, Mary Crow Dog, Terry Tempest Williams, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many others. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
463. (Sioux). Photographs and Poems by Sioux Children. (Rapid City): (Tipi Shop) (1971). A catalog of an exhibition of photographs and poems by children at the Porcupine Day School on Pine Ridge Reservation, released through the Sioux Indian Museum and Crafts Center. Quarto; fine in wrappers.
464. -. Another copy. Faint dampstaining around the lower spine; near fine.
465. (Six Nations). A Basic Call to Consciousness. (Mohawk Nation): (Akwesasne Notes) (1978). The text of three papers delivered to the Non-governmental Organizations of the United Nations in Geneva in 1977, covering the economics and politics of oppression, with a call for eco-spiritualism. Illustrations by Mohawk artist Kahones. Pencil markings in text; near fine in wrappers.
466. SMITH, F. Percy. Songs of the Saguenay. (Saguenay Valley): (Self-Published) (n.d.)[c. 1926]. Created in an edition of 100 autographed copies, this being copy #16, but unsigned. The cover is made of moose hide, hunted and cured by the Indians of Lake St. John, who also hunted and cured the caribou for the binding lacing and gathered 10,000 sheets of birch bark for the pages (of which only 1200 were suitable). Cover decorations by the Indian Women of Pointe Bleu. A couple light spots to the moose; else fine. The fragility of the birch bark sheets combined with the fact that, although indicated as an autographed edition, this copy is not signed, suggests the edition may not have been completed or received full distribution. We have never seen another copy. (A similarly titled book, Songs of the Saguenay and Other Poems, was published by Canadian poet/ethnologist Alfred Bailey the following year.)
467. SMITH, Martin. The Indians Won. NY: Belmont (1970). A paperback original by this author of part Native American descent, an alternate reality fantasy in which the Indians won the wars of the last half of the 19th century and the United States is divided into two nations. His first book under his own name. A bit of foxing to the top edge of the front cover, else fine. Scarce.
468. -. Same title. NY: Leisure Books/(Nordan Publications) (1981). A later edition, with a new introduction by the author. Slight creasing and rubbing to the folds; near fine in wrappers.
469. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Gypsy in Amber. NY: Putnam (1971). His elusive first mystery, and first hardcover book. A novel of sorcery, folklore, and black magic in the Gypsy community. Trace wear to the boards at the spine extremities; still a fine copy in a very good, rubbed dust jacket. Scarce.
470. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Nightwing. NY: Norton (1977). A novel about an Indian shaman who brings a plague of bats against white men despoiling the earth in their quest for energy sources. Nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel of the year. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
471. SMITH, Martin Cruz. "LOGAN, Jake." Ride for Revenge. (Chicago): Playboy Press (1977). Pseudonymous paperback original. The "Jake Logan" series of Westerns is a long-running, bestselling line of paperbacks, written by various authors over the years, this title having been written by Smith. Fine in wrappers. A very nice copy.
472. -. Another copy. Some slanting and creasing; very good in wrappers.
473. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Gorky Park. NY: Random House (1981). A bestselling thriller that was made into a well-received film; his breakthrough book. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket nicked at the lower spine.
474. -. Same title. The extremely scarce uncorrected proof copy. Signed by the author. This title had a widely distributed advance reading copy, which went into two separate printings totaling 2500 copies. As a result, the proof is quite uncommon. Spine faded with tiny edge tears at the corners; still near fine in wrappers.
475. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Stallion Gate. NY: Random House (1986). A novel set in New Mexico at the time of the development of the first atomic bomb. Inscribed by the author. Trace edge-sunning to boards; still fine in a fine dust jacket.
476. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Polar Star. NY: Random House (1989). The first trade edition of the sequel to his bestselling Gorky Park. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
477. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Red Square. NY: Random House (1992). His third novel in the Gorky Park series, this one set in mafia-run Moscow in post-Communist Russia. Inscribed by the author. The red spine cloth has bled onto the gray boards; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
478. SMITH, Martin Cruz. Rose. NY: Random House (1996). Inscribed by the author. A production flaw has the page stating typeface and the rear free endpaper adhered to the rear pastedown; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
479. SOLENSTEN, John. Good Thunder. Albany: State University of New York (1983). The uncorrected proof copy of this award-winning first novel, written by a white author but focused on a group of contemporary Native Americans in South Dakota (the author is from Minnesota). Spine-sunned; very good in wrappers.
480. SPINDEN, Herbert Joseph. Songs of the Tewa. (NY): (Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts) (1933). Translations of and an essay about the Indian song-poems, published by a group advocating the viewing of American Indian art as fine art. Spinden, one of the foremost scholars of his time in the field of pre-Columbian art, contributes a short note on the ethics of traditional Native American civilizations -- in particular, their careful stewardship of natural resources, high standards of craftsmanship in the arts, important accomplishments in agriculture and husbandry, and finally, "wise use of leisure saved from the pursuit of food and mere necessities [on which] rest those intellectual, artistic and religious commonwealths which are the crown and glory of mankind." An appendix contains the original Tewa texts of the poems, and notes. Signed by Spinden. Attractively printed and bound quarto. Previous owner pencil gift inscription on front pastedown; near fine in the original glassine dust jacket (chipped).
481. STANDING BEAR, Chief Luther. My People the Sioux. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1928. A memoir by this hereditary chief of the Oglala Sioux, including reminiscences of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and the Wounded Knee massacre, which at the time was only a little more distant a memory than the 1960s are for us today. Front hinge starting; else near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
482. STANDING BEAR, Chief. Land of the Spotted Eagle. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1933. Bookplate front pastedown and library donation label front flyleaf; otherwise a near fine copy in a fair dust jacket with several edge chips and a detached front flap that is internally tape-repaired.
483. STARR, Jean. Tales from the Cherokee Hills. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair (1988). Poems derived from traditional Cherokee stories, by a Cherokee writer. Short introduction by Wilma Mankiller, then the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Cover art by a Cherokee artist. Fine in wrappers.
484. STOCKEL, H. Henrietta. Survival of the Spirit. Reno: University of Nevada Press (1993). The advance reading copy of this history of the Chiricahua Apaches in captivity, by a white writer. Fine in wrappers.
485. STOCKING, Amer Mills. The Saukie Indians and Their Great Chiefs Black Hawk and Keokuk. Rock Island: Vaile Company, 1926. A history in verse, or "metrical epic" of the Sauk and Fox Indians and of Black Hawk and Keokuk. The author is identified as "a descendant of the Wampanoags." Very near fine, without dust jacket. Illustrated with black & white photographs.
486. STORM, Hyemeyohsts. Lightning Bolt. NY: Ballantine (1994). A "spiritual autobiography" by the author of Seven Arrows, which begins where that book ends. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
487. STRETE, Craig Kee. Paint Your Face on a Drowning in the River. NY: Greenwillow (1978). The author's second book published in this country, a story for young adults about a group of young Native Americans, one of whom is drafted to Vietnam. This book was adapted as a play and performed by a touring Native American theater troupe. This is the issue in the publisher's "library binding." Faint top edge foxing; ink price front flyleaf; else fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
488. STRETE, Craig Kee. Big Thunder Magic. NY: Greenwillow (1998). A children's book. Oblong quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket. This is the issue in the publisher's "library binding."
489. STRONG, Albertine. Deluge. NY: Harmony Books (1997). The advance reading copy of this first novel by a writer of Ojibwe descent. Fine in wrappers.
490. "SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS." The Story of Colors. (El Paso): (Cinco Puntas Press) (1999). The first American edition of this folktale from Chiapas, retold by "Subcomandante Marcos," the leader of the Zapatista guerrillas in Chiapas. A bilingual edition. Signed on the copyright page by the publisher. Quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is a erratum slip noting the withdrawal of support from the National Endowment for the Arts, which had originally pledged support for the book (and is credited on the colophon) but withdrew it when it was discovered that the author was the guerrilla leader.
491. SUN CHIEF. Sun Chief. The Autobiography of a Hopi Indian. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1942. Edited by Leo Simmons. The autobiography of Don C. Talayesva (a chief of the Hopi Sun Clan) as told to Simmons. A very good copy, lacking the dust jacket.
492. SWIFT EAGLE. The Pueblo Indians. NY: Book-Records, Inc. (1955). A 33 1/3 rpm record with "stories, songs and dances" by Swift Eagle, bound into a book with text by Charles Gallenkamp, illustrations by Yeffe Kimball, a foreword by Carl Carmer, and a blurb by Will Rogers, Jr. Quarto; ringbound pictorial boards; rubbed, otherwise near fine, without dust jacket, as issued.