![STARRING, William Sylvanus (1840-1889) and J.K. HYER (d. 1882). Lahcotah [wrapper title]. Dictionary of the Sioux Language. Fort Laramie, Dakota [present day Wyoming], December 1866.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/NYR/2018_NYR_16082_0145_001(starring_william_sylvanus_and_jk_hyer_lahcotah_wrapper_title_dictionar031531).jpg?w=1)
![STARRING, William Sylvanus (1840-1889) and J.K. HYER (d. 1882). Lahcotah [wrapper title]. Dictionary of the Sioux Language. Fort Laramie, Dakota [present day Wyoming], December 1866.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/NYR/2018_NYR_16082_0145_000(starring_william_sylvanus_and_jk_hyer_lahcotah_wrapper_title_dictionar031519).jpg?w=1)
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STARRING, William Sylvanus (1840-1889) and J.K. HYER (d. 1882). Lahcotah [wrapper title]. Dictionary of the Sioux Language. Fort Laramie, Dakota [present day Wyoming], December 1866.
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STARRING, William Sylvanus (1840-1889) and J.K. HYER (d. 1882). Lahcotah [wrapper title]. Dictionary of the Sioux Language. Fort Laramie, Dakota [present day Wyoming], December 1866.
The first book printed in Wyoming: a very rare early Siouan dictionary. This copy is one of three retained by Starring and his family for almost 150 years, from an edition of only about 50. Snowed in along the Smoky Hill River, during one of the worst winters on record, Starring and Hyer, with the aid of interpreter Charles Guerreu, compiled this extensive vocabulary. The copy at the Wisconsin Historical Society bears a note from James D. Butler, who was given a copy by Starring: "Shut up all winter in a Rocky Mountain fort with many Indian scouts, Lieut. Hyer and I undertook to master their language. Accordingly eight of the most intelligent natives were brought into our quarters early every day. We had Webster unabridged on the table before us and made inquiry about every word in its order. Whenever we found any corresponding aboriginal expression we wrote it down, and before the close of our confinement had reached the end of our Webster" (quoted in Stopka, p. vii). It was a crucial time for such a text to be issued on the Plains. Hostilities along the Bozeman Trail, over which prospective miners were swarming to Montana, were raging between the Sioux and Cheyenne and the European-Americans traversing their territories. While Starring and Hyer were compiling their dictionary, many of the Plains Indians perished due to extreme cold and the denial of annuity rations of blankets and food which their aggressions had precipitated. In January 1866, Sioux leaders, led by chiefs Spotted Tail of the Brulé and Red Cloud of the Oglala, learned that after a year they again were welcomed at Fort Laramie and were able to negotiate a peace. This peace was fragile, however, and when Col. Henry B. Carrington began the immense offensive against the Sioux in the fall and early winter of 1866, this chapter in the Plains Indian wars reached its peak. In the context of these events, the availability of Hyer and Starring's dictionary, no matter how small the edition, would prove invaluable.
J.C. Pilling, who did not locate a copy in time to include it in his Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians (1885), pasted a note to his copy now in the Ayer Collection: "Present from Gen. Starring... Big find. 50 copies only Starring thinks." The census in Stopka records one copy that is in fact a later facsimile. In total there are 13 located copies: Huntington (imperfect), Yale (2), Newberry Library (2), Northwestern University, Harvard, Dartmouth, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Siebert copy (sold 1999), and the three copies discovered in the Starring family archives (of which this is one). Not in Streeter. AII (Wyoming) 1; Ayer, Indian Linguistics, Dakota 85; Coe p. 88; Graff 2037; McMurtrie, Wyoming, pp. 44-6; Stopka 1866.1; Wyoming Imprints 1.
Octavo (197 x 138mm). 16 leaves. Italic type. (Vertical crease where folded into envelope [see below], some pale dampstain.) Original printed wrappers, bound with two contemporary broad brass staples; housed in cloth folder also preserving the linen-lined envelope in which the dictionary had been stored. The envelope is inscribed in an early hand, “Capt Starring’s Dictionary pronouncing the Lah-Cotah, Dacota, Sioux, languages. The first known dictionary of the Indian languages named above.” Provenance: inscribed on front wrapper “Fort Laramie Dakota / Dec 1866” — William Sylvanus Starring, the author —by descent (sold Christie’s New York, 15 December 2005, lot 295).
The first book printed in Wyoming: a very rare early Siouan dictionary. This copy is one of three retained by Starring and his family for almost 150 years, from an edition of only about 50. Snowed in along the Smoky Hill River, during one of the worst winters on record, Starring and Hyer, with the aid of interpreter Charles Guerreu, compiled this extensive vocabulary. The copy at the Wisconsin Historical Society bears a note from James D. Butler, who was given a copy by Starring: "Shut up all winter in a Rocky Mountain fort with many Indian scouts, Lieut. Hyer and I undertook to master their language. Accordingly eight of the most intelligent natives were brought into our quarters early every day. We had Webster unabridged on the table before us and made inquiry about every word in its order. Whenever we found any corresponding aboriginal expression we wrote it down, and before the close of our confinement had reached the end of our Webster" (quoted in Stopka, p. vii). It was a crucial time for such a text to be issued on the Plains. Hostilities along the Bozeman Trail, over which prospective miners were swarming to Montana, were raging between the Sioux and Cheyenne and the European-Americans traversing their territories. While Starring and Hyer were compiling their dictionary, many of the Plains Indians perished due to extreme cold and the denial of annuity rations of blankets and food which their aggressions had precipitated. In January 1866, Sioux leaders, led by chiefs Spotted Tail of the Brulé and Red Cloud of the Oglala, learned that after a year they again were welcomed at Fort Laramie and were able to negotiate a peace. This peace was fragile, however, and when Col. Henry B. Carrington began the immense offensive against the Sioux in the fall and early winter of 1866, this chapter in the Plains Indian wars reached its peak. In the context of these events, the availability of Hyer and Starring's dictionary, no matter how small the edition, would prove invaluable.
J.C. Pilling, who did not locate a copy in time to include it in his Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians (1885), pasted a note to his copy now in the Ayer Collection: "Present from Gen. Starring... Big find. 50 copies only Starring thinks." The census in Stopka records one copy that is in fact a later facsimile. In total there are 13 located copies: Huntington (imperfect), Yale (2), Newberry Library (2), Northwestern University, Harvard, Dartmouth, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Siebert copy (sold 1999), and the three copies discovered in the Starring family archives (of which this is one). Not in Streeter. AII (Wyoming) 1; Ayer, Indian Linguistics, Dakota 85; Coe p. 88; Graff 2037; McMurtrie, Wyoming, pp. 44-6; Stopka 1866.1; Wyoming Imprints 1.
Octavo (197 x 138mm). 16 leaves. Italic type. (Vertical crease where folded into envelope [see below], some pale dampstain.) Original printed wrappers, bound with two contemporary broad brass staples; housed in cloth folder also preserving the linen-lined envelope in which the dictionary had been stored. The envelope is inscribed in an early hand, “Capt Starring’s Dictionary pronouncing the Lah-Cotah, Dacota, Sioux, languages. The first known dictionary of the Indian languages named above.” Provenance: inscribed on front wrapper “Fort Laramie Dakota / Dec 1866” — William Sylvanus Starring, the author —by descent (sold Christie’s New York, 15 December 2005, lot 295).