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- POEMS [The First Book of Poetry by a Native American]
POEMS [The First Book of Poetry by a Native American]
POEMS [The First Book of Poetry by a Native American]
A posthumously published book of poetry written by John R. Ridge, a.k.a. Cheesquatalawny or Yellow Bird (1827-1867), a Native American born in the Cherokee Nation in 1827. Son of a tribal Chief keen to assimilate, he was sent to live among white missionaries in the late-1830’s amid territorial and tribal disputes which saw his father and grandfather both killed. He was later educated on the East Coast, in Cornwall, Connecticut and Great Barrington, Massachusetts, before moving west to California in 1850, drawn by the Gold Rush and fleeing charges related to his murdering a horse thief with reported ties to his father and grandfather’s murders in Arkansas. In 1854 he published the important THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JOAQUIN MURIETA, considered the first novel by a Native American and the first ever published in California.
This collection of poems represents his only other book and is thought to be the first conventionally-published work of poetry by a Native American. The present copy bears an ownership inscription from Mary Flannery, nee Tarpey (1863-1946) of Grass Valley, California (Ridge’s onetime home and place of death). A daughter of Irish immigrants who likewise arrived in state during the Gold Rush, she married an established footwear merchant (P.J. Flannery) and was active in civic affairs throughout Nevada County.
OCLC notes 8 copies in American libraries: Berkeley Public, Los Angeles County Public, USC, University of Tulsa, Clements Library (Michigan), University of Oklahoma, Library Company of Philadelphia, and San Mateo Public. A neatly preserved copy, in its original publisher’s cloth, of an uncommon title with a regional association to its author. We note two other copies currently in commerce (as of October 2026) with suggest solid value in our offering.
RIDGE, John R. POEMS. San Francisco, California: Heny Payot & Company, Publishers, 1868. First Edition. [1-3], 4-137pp. Approximately 7 1/4" x 5." Green cloth over beveled boards. Gilt stamped titles to front, spine. Previous ownership inscription to first blank endpage. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends, small area of discolor at edge of front board. Small half-moon of dampstaining to frontispiece (which holds a mounted albumen print portrait photograph of the author). Tissue guard between frontispiece and title page intact. Overall sound and clean ; about very good.
A posthumously published book of poetry written by John R. Ridge, a.k.a. Cheesquatalawny or Yellow Bird (1827-1867), a Native American born in the Cherokee Nation in 1827. Son of a tribal Chief keen to assimilate, he was sent to live among white missionaries in the late-1830’s amid territorial and tribal disputes which saw his father and grandfather both killed. He was later educated on the East Coast, in Cornwall, Connecticut and Great Barrington, Massachusetts, before moving west to California in 1850, drawn by the Gold Rush and fleeing charges related to his murdering a horse thief with reported ties to his father and grandfather’s murders in Arkansas. In 1854 he published the important THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JOAQUIN MURIETA, considered the first novel by a Native American and the first ever published in California.
This collection of poems represents his only other book and is thought to be the first conventionally-published work of poetry by a Native American. The present copy bears an ownership inscription from Mary Flannery, nee Tarpey (1863-1946) of Grass Valley, California (Ridge’s onetime home and place of death). A daughter of Irish immigrants who likewise arrived in state during the Gold Rush, she married an established footwear merchant (P.J. Flannery) and was active in civic affairs throughout Nevada County.
OCLC notes 8 copies in American libraries: Berkeley Public, Los Angeles County Public, USC, University of Tulsa, Clements Library (Michigan), University of Oklahoma, Library Company of Philadelphia, and San Mateo Public. A neatly preserved copy, in its original publisher’s cloth, of an uncommon title with a regional association to its author. We note two other copies currently in commerce (as of October 2026) with suggest solid value in our offering.
RIDGE, John R. POEMS. San Francisco, California: Heny Payot & Company, Publishers, 1868. First Edition. [1-3], 4-137pp. Approximately 7 1/4" x 5." Green cloth over beveled boards. Gilt stamped titles to front, spine. Previous ownership inscription to first blank endpage. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends, small area of discolor at edge of front board. Small half-moon of dampstaining to frontispiece (which holds a mounted albumen print portrait photograph of the author). Tissue guard between frontispiece and title page intact. Overall sound and clean ; about very good.