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An Act to Incorporate the City of Deadwood.

Deadwood: Evening Press Publishing Company, 1881. 8vo, original glossy blue paper wrappers. 27 pp.

First and only edition of this Black Hills rarity, a document which signaled the taming of one of the wildest towns in the West.

Herein the new city government is empowered to curtail just about every activity that made the town famous. Included are provisions to prevent horse-racing as well as “fast driving,” and to provide for the punishment of “vagrants, common street beggars, common prostitutes, habitual disturbers of the peace, known and notorious pickpockets, gamblers, burglars, thieves, ball game players, watch stuffers,” etc. OCLC records only four copies, and we find only four copies recorded in the trade, none later than 1968. “One of the rarest and most important Black Hills imprints” (Eberstadt).

REFERENCES: Allen 211; Eberstadt 128:209; Streeter IV:2073; Graff 1031.

CONDITION: Very good, minor creasing, lightly rubbed at spine; a surprisingly fresh copy, especially given the fragile nature of the wrappers.

Item #2796

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