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First edition. Quarto, full limp cowhide. One of the finest and rarest of Texas imprints, and one that has been referred to as the 'black tulip' of western fine printing. Of legendary rarity and highlighted in Al Lowman's The Printing Arts in Texas, this copy is accompanied by a letter from the author to Dudley Dobie concerning the book's origins and the great expense required to print it. The book and letter were owned by W. Thomas Taylor, author of Texfake, a book which exposed the theft and forgery of early Texas documents in the 1970s, the publisher of Bookways, a quarterly devoted to book arts, and the designer/printer of over fifty books. Printed recto only, the book was written, designed and the type set by Ed W. Bateman, a one time newspaper reporter (hence the title) and a wildcatter of great success and failure. This book was created during one of his periods of great success. The text and illustrations are printed in two colors and the subject matter ranges from a father's implacable revenge for his son's death to a Mexican marijuana party visited in the company of a Texas Ranger. A fine copy in the publisher's slipcase (with moderate wear to slipcase). The letter to Dudley Dobie is extraordinary and has become rather famous in itself; on B Bar Cattle Company letterhead, dated April 13, 1941: 'I produced this book during the Bateman Age of Extravagance, when money (for which, apparently, I have a native-born contempt) was indeed plentiful. I spent so much on it, the very sum per copy would horrify an intelligent man --- not even a Morgan or a Rockefeller could or would pay what I paid.' The letter is trifolded; uniformly browned, with mild chipping at edges. One of the ultimate prizes of Texas fine printing. One of the essays in J. Frank Dobie's book, "Out of the Old Rock" (Little Brown, 1972) is about Bateman: "A wildcatter is a person who drills for oil in a place oil is not known to exist. Bankers consider his business about as safe as buying lottery tickets. In 1930, Ed Bateman, a Texas wildcatter, brought in the biggest discovery well in the history of the oil industry." Dobie refers to "The Instinct Never Dies" as follows: "Ed Bateman is a philosopher. There are many things in his philosophy that many oil men have never dreamed of. Sometimes the old urge to write seizes him. I have a rare little book that he not only wrote but designed and set with his own hands. One sketch in it is about a hermit philosopher-geologist who claimed to know the secret of finding 'enough petroleum to endow this planet for ages.'" (Note: this is a duplicate listing, for the same book as my inventory #313, in order to show more photos beyond the ABE limit of 5.) (3214001). Seller Inventory # 1800
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