MERRICK, George Byron. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: The Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863.
Item #0925
323 p.; 8vo; blue cloth, without d.j.; photos. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1909. First Edition. Howes M539. Merrick chronicles the entire panorama of steamboat life he experienced in the mid-1800s, where he started as a cabin boy and worked up to cub pilot on the mighty Mississippi. His narrative matches lively stories about gamblers, shipwrecks, and steamboat races with rich descriptions of river life and steamboat operations. "Merrick had a mind insatiable of detail and an almost singular appreciation of the dramatics of commerce. He was not only a notable historian himself but the cause of much history writing by others. . . . To him I am indebted." (Charles Edward Russell). Very good. |
