8vo. Photographic portrait frontispiece of Spencer, photographed by Gayford and mounted as issued. (Some occasional spotting.) Original green cloth gilt (slight wear to extremities, some minor soiling). Provenance: Dudley Bell Priester (1923-2017), Mississippi River collector and bibliographer (bookplate, sold Bloomsbury, 20 November 2009, lot 121).

FIRST EDITION, published by Spencer's children for limited distribution and based on the presentation he gave for the Old Settler's meeting after his 70th birthday. Spencer left Vermont in 1820 to venture into Illinois and Iowa where he lived as a pioneer who had frequent interactions with the Black Hawk people. "Especially important for his view of the Black Hawk War -- he being sympathetic toward Black Hawk" (Graff). Buck 166; Graff 3929; Howes S-834 (noting that the portrait frontispiece is not present in all copies); Sabin 89361.