Brief Mention of Reprints

84 Western American Literature Brief Mention of Reprints The Cowboy Encyclopedia. By Bruce Grant. (New York: Rand McNally 8c Company, 1969. 162 pages, illus., map, biblio., $3.95.) Mr. Grant’s 1951 book took for its scope the old and the new West from the open range to the dude ranch; but it is much more comprehensive than this statement suggests. It includes brief sketches of men like Buffalo Bill and Charlie Russell; certain Indian tribes such as the Comanches; wild animals; outlaw practices. The map and the 200 illustrations (several full page) sig­ nificantly enhance the practical value of this encyclopedia for western writers and readers alike. Western Words, A Dictionary of the American West. By Ramon F. Adams. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. xviii + 355 pages, $7.95.) In 1944 Western Words was restricted to the language of the range, cow camp, and trail. This new edition, is revised and enlarged to deal with a number of other western vocations including the sheepman, the freighter and packer, the trapper, the buffalo hunter, the stagecoach driver, the westemriver boatman, the logger, the sawmill worker, the miner, the western gambler, and the Indian. Few western scholars have approached Ramon F. Adams in his mastery of authentic western experience and the language in which it was recorded. This is a first-rate contribution to the writing and understanding of western literature. A New Dictionary of Americanisms. By Sylva Chapin. (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1968. xiii + 581 pages, $19.50.) This 1902 study has a special concern with the growth of the English language in America and is particularly aware of regional usages. Students of western literature will find the book very useful for reference. It has thousands of entries relating to the West, from “abergoins” (a corruption of “aborigines” said to be common in the West among the illiterate and used Reviews 85 jocularly for Indians) to “zopilote” (in Texas a name applied to a species of turkey buzzard). I am sure many readers of WESTERN AMERICAN LIT­ ERATURE will be glad to enrich their vocabularies with this entry, which I found "especially intriguing: “Catawamptiously. A Western expletive derived from catamount, meaning with avidity, with fierce eagerness, and founded on the ferocity of the feline animals in attacking their prey. To be catawamptiously chawed up, an idiom signifying complete annihilation". A Dictionary of American Authors, by Oscar Fay Adams. (Detroit: Gale Re­ search Company, 1969. x + 587 pages, $14.50.) The primary value of this reprint of the 1904 fifth edition is that it makes available an immense amount of bio-bibliographical information on 6000 writers active between puritan times and 1904. It is fascinating to compare evaluations then and now on which writers and what books are major and minor. For example one can learn the following about Mark Twain in this book: “. . . The Innocents Abroad, a volume of extravagantly humorous travels, which still remains his most popular book. Only a very small portion of his writing has any place as literature. . . . The Prince and the Pauper and Joan of Arc are works in a serious vein, the first being his most finished pro­ duction.” ...