CODY, William F.

£2,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Life and Adventures of "Buffalo Bill". A memorial edition, first printing, with a signed card mounted on the front free endpaper: "W. F. Cody 'Buffalo Bill' 1902". This revised edition of Cody's autobiography, edited by William Lightfoot Visscher and including a final chapter collating memorials in Cody's honour, was released shortly after his death. A second "memorial edition", Buffalo Bill's own Story of his Life and Deeds, was released using the same text in the same year. William Frederick Cody (1846-1917), better known as "Buffalo Bill", was a master mythologizer. "Although an authentic frontier hero, Cody through most of his career was a showman who helped perpetuate the mythic image of the West. His internationally popular Wild West shows entertained millions, and some 550 dime novels relating to fictional exploits attributed to him added to the legend that persists" (ANB). With the help of ghostwriters and press agents, he also created a heroic narrative of his life in semi-fictionalized books. First published in 1879 as The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, his autobiography was expanded in 1888 as Story of the Wild West and republished in popular editions under multiple titles from 1917 onwards.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.