HISTORY OF THE DONNER PARTY: A Tragedy of the Sierra

San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Company, Printers, 1880. Second Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. The tragedy of the Donner Party is, without doubt, one of the most sensational events in the history of the American West, rivaling the fall of the Alamo and Custer's last stand. C. F. McGlashan, the editor of the Truckee Republican and earlier author of a series of articles on the emotion-charged Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah, wrote the first detailed narrative history of this horror in the snow which still must be regarded as the beginning point for any serious study pertaining to this most controversial of all overland episodes. McGlashan had the advantage of timing. He was distant enough from the event to have perspective and yet close enough in time to have access to the primary sources. In preparation for this book, he interviewed twenty-four out of the twenty-six living survivors, wrote and received over two thousand letters, read virtually every printed account, read manuscript diaries including the famous Patrick Breen diary, and thoroughly inspected the scene of the disaster while still in a relatively undisturbed state. His thoroughness in gathering documentation was nothing short of remarkable for a journalist of the 1870s not trained in historical method or archaeology. McGlashan succeeded in gaining the confidence of many of the families including Graves, Murphy, Reed, Breen, Donner, and Tucker, and from them pieced together this heart-rending history. Furthermore, McGlashan followed up his chronicle of tragedy with a review of the subsequent recriminations, rumor mongering, and demonizing of Lewis Keseberg, and how individuals and families were faring in the 1870s. By and large he was able to separate fact from mythology" (Gary Kurutz, The Zamorano 80 Collection of Daniel G. Volkmann Jr.). Octavo: 261 p. with a frontispiece and 12 illustrations. Original burgundy cloth binding, with gilt titles. Period previous owner's signature and a numeric notation to a prefatory blank leaf. The spine is sun faded, with some general wear to the corners and tips; else very good. The Zamorano Eighty 53.