Prose Sketches and Poems

Few copies of the original 1834 edition of this volume are known to exist today. It is more than just a rare book, though; it is also a unique item of Southwestern Americana that defies classification as reminiscence, fiction, or poetry, for it is all of these. In these literary forms Albert Pike became New Mexico's first Anglo-American short story writer and poet, and the narrative portion of his book is one of the earliest American travel accounts from the Mexican borderland. Pike's restless nature led him to follow the Santa Fe trail at a historic period only ten years after its opening, and he made his return through an uncharted area of the Comanche country of Texas. While not the first to explore the Taos-Santa Fe area of New Mexico, Pike gave the most detailed outsider's view of the area and its people at that time, recording his impressions in both short stories and reminiscences. This 1967 edition of Prose Sketches and Poems contains an illuminating introduction by David J. Weber, who gives a short biography of Pike's life and explanatory footnotes. The editor also has taken from contemporary newspapers and appended here eight more of Pike's short stories, which did not appear in the original book.