Wild Sports in the Far West – Frederick Gerstaecker – 1854 | Fine Binding

Wild Sports in the Far West by Frederick Gerstaecker, translated into English by Harrison Weir and published by Geo. Routledge & Co. in 1854, recounts the author’s time in North America during the mid-19th century. Based on Gerstaecker’s observations while traveling across the United States, the narrative includes accounts of shipwrecks, animal encounters, and rural customs. The book explores funeral traditions on Staten Island, social conditions in New York, encounters with enslaved individuals, lead mining near Missouri, and hunting techniques among Native American groups. Attention is given to the daily routines of German settlers, along with scenes of bee hunting, buffalo tracking, and bear encounters. Originally published in German as Streif- und Jagdzüge durch die Vereinigten Staaten Nordamerikas, this translation brings the material to English-language readers for the first time. Though compact in format, the book presents numerous settings and scenarios, each described from Gerstaecker’s personal viewpoint during his time in the American frontier.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Wild Sports in the Far West
• Author(s): Frederick Gerstaecker
• Contributor(s): Harrison Weir (Translator)
• Publisher: London, Geo. Routledge & Co.
• Edition: First English edition, 1854
• Format: Duodecimo (12mo), single volume
• Binding: Decorative half green leather with gilt embellishment; textured red cloth boards
• Size:  7.5 in x 5 in (18.5 cm x 12.5 cm)
• Collation: xi, [1], 396 pp
• Illustrations: 8 tinted engravings
• Contents Include:
  • Sharks and shipwrecks, Staten Island funeral customs, urban scenes in New York, Irish immigrants, slavery in Missouri, Indian hunting tools, wolf traps, bee harvesting, homesteader life, buffalo and bear hunts, settlements by German migrants
• Provenance: Handwritten signature of M. B. Mitchell on title page

Condition:

Near Fine. Decorative green half leather with gilt design remains bright. Red cloth boards and edges show minimal rubbing to extremities. Corners lightly worn. Binding tight and secure with no separation. Pages are clean, aside from ownership inscription, with uniform age toning and occasional, scattered foxing throughout; marbled endpapers show the worst of the browning.

Why Collect This?

• First English translation of a German traveler’s mid-19th-century account
• Records firsthand notes on Missouri slavery and Indian hunting culture
• Covers topics rarely documented by non-American observers

• Valuable to readers of frontier life, emigration, and European-American relations

Item Number: # 28855