HOLMAN, David. Letters of Hard Times in Texas: 1840-1890.

Austin: Roger Beacham, 1974. Octavo (11.25" x 8"); 56pp. Limited Edition; one of 90 numbered copies bound in marbled paper over cloth, of 120 printed in large format, of 295 copies total printed on hand-powered letterpress. Covers show very light edgewear and faint bumping to corners, but are otherwise clean and square. Binding is solid and pages are unmarked.

Holman collects a number of letters here offering a glimpse into the often rough lives of settlers, farmers, passers-through, and others in Texas from the years just before its annexation to the United States up to the end of the century. From Joe B. Frantz's introduction, "For Texas was planted in poverty, nurtured in rock-hard soil, and has endured and matured on alternating diets of plenty and famine, spiced with most of the dirty tricks that a frequently hostile Nature knows how to play."

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