Book Board Chat

Small-town Bookstore Making Rare History

Booksellers everywhere are trying to gain traction in this slippery economy. The big guys are struggling and those little brick-and-mortar stores in small towns are vanishing as fast as the morning fog. But the owners of Pratt's Books in Graham, Texas, have found their footing catering not to the changing appetites of readers, but to those who long for a library all their own. Owners David Pratt, a Graham native and his wife, Gayle, 41, have taken that a step further. They have published a limited-edition book about one of Texas' biggest ranches and they are betting collectors will see these books as gems that will become more valuable with time.

History of the Waggoner Ranch, by Knox Kinard will roll out Saturday at a big party at Pratt's Books. Illustrated with 16 tintype photographs of modern-day cowboys from the Waggoner Ranch. This little book measures just 61/2 inches by 9 inches and each volume is a work of art, a showcase for a number of Texas talents:. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry wrote the forward. Award-winning Four-O Press of Abilene produced the book, and Jace Graf of Austin's celebrated Cloverleaf Studios designed it. Well-known tintype photographer Robb Kendrick added the 16 tintypes that illustrate the text.

Most of the books will go for $125. Each has a "quarter bound cloth" cover featuring the Waggoner's famous backward Triple D brand in silver ink. But 16 deluxe editions are valued at $3,500 each. These have a "quarter bound leather" cover with foil-stamped gold lettering and green silk cloth. Each is numbered and presented in a "rare books box." An original tintype is included. Tintype photography dates from roughly 1855 to 1900 and uses a metal plate to reproduce the image. There is no negative. Daguerreotypes were from a little earlier and use a glass plate.

The author's credentials are local. Born in 1896, he spent his working life as an educator in Texas schools. He had written about the fabled Waggoner Ranch for his master's thesis in and later he used that material to write a long article for The Panhandle-Plains Historical Review. With all the proper permissions, that article has become the text of this book.

"The ranches are so important to Texas history, and there's very little available about them," explains Gayle Pratt. Her dark eyes shine and her hands busily punctuate her words. "There's so little out there about the Waggoner Ranch or any of the big ranches.... We thought it was important to preserve this and make it available." In fact, the Waggoner Ranch is the stuff of Texas legend. Sprawling over more than half a million acres and any number of counties, it is second only to the King Ranch in size.

Dan Waggoner began accumulating this land in the 1850s when the few plains settlers were forever in conflict with the Comanche and Kiowa that roamed the vast prairie south of Vernon. Dan soon took his son, W.T., as a partner and together they built an empire. They were friendly with Comanche war chief Quanah Parker and went hunting with U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt. They lived big lives and produced an interesting and flamboyant family. But readers won't find anything about the more recent history of the ranch or the bitter squabbles among the Waggoner heirs. This book predates the lawsuits and rulings of the past few years and focuses on the ranch that was the dream of two men tough enough to hold on through the hard times.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/02/3494765/rare-history-small-town-bookstore.html