The Hodag: And Other Tales of the Logging Camps
Wasau [& Madison], WI: R.W. Hickey, 1928.
First edition. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper in pencil, "To The Boy from - Pittsbug [sic] Cade - Mille - Falthia [?] Tommie Newell - [signed] Luke S. Kearney." 158 pp. Original dark green cloth stamped in gilt. A Very Good copy, lacking the dust jacket, cloth a little rubbed, binding a bit shaken. Uncommon signed.
Contemporary artist Jill Kuczmarski writes of the "The Hodag Legend is most notable as lumberjack lore from the near turn of the century in Northern Wisconsin. The Hodag was made 'famous' by a lumber scout in the late 1800s named Gene Shepard who was first 'attacked by one' and then successfully 'caught one'." Eventually it was revealed as a hoax but the creature lives on in Wisconsin lore. Kearney's book is the first about the subject and one of the best examples of the American folklore of "fearsome critters"-- strange beasts from tall tales, usually told with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Nevertheless some of these stories have interested cryptozoologists hunting for accounts of potential cryptids.
Price: $400.00