John Doyle Lee: Zealot - Pioneer Builder - Scapegoat

JUANITA BROOKS

Publication: The Arthur H Clark Company, 1961, Glendale

First edition. 8vo. First limited edition of 209 copies. This copy was released one year prior to the red cloth trade edition. The correct first edition issued in only a miniscule printing of 209 copies, of which none were offered for sale. Copies were given to descendants of John D. Lee as well as to friends of the publisher and author. Blue cloth, blue foil stamping on spine and rules, top edge stained blue, 404 pp., frontis. [portrait of John Doyle Lee], introduction, illustrated, plates, portraits, bibliographical note, index. AHC 35 says, "This biography received an award of merit from the Association for State and Local History upon publication. Lee was the only man convicted of perpetrating the Mountain Meadows Massacre. His detailed diaries of his life in southern Utah, before and after the massacre, were edited by Brooks and published by the Huntington Library. The diary for the period of the massacre has never been released by the L.D.S. archives." Brooks was a niece of LeRoy Hafen, and an extremely competent scholar, friend of Dale Morgan, and indefatigable searcher of the truth. She faced considerable criticism within the Mormon Church, of which she remained a devout member, as a result of her scholarly writings. Juanita Brooks grew up in southern Utah and learned of the infamous massacre of 1857 through vague rumors and whispered stories. She was determined to learn the truth about the Mountain Meadows Massacre and eventually published her masterpiece, THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE in 1950. This led to a lifelong interest in John D. Lee, and her two subsequent major publications: the massive two volume DIARIES OF JOHN D. LEE, published in 1955 by the Huntington Library, and this full length biography of Lee, first published in 1961. Former owner's bookplate on front free fly leaf, and inked name and address on front pastedown sheet, lightly rubbed along edges and corners, else near fine copy in a custom made cloth slipcase with leather label on spine. Very scarce edition of this important work.

Inventory Number: 24726