PBA Galleries

The first book printed in Wyoming, one of only about fifty copies produced, of which only five can be located. "Lakotah" is the title on the front wrapper, and the caption title on p.[2] reads "Dictionary of the Sioux Language." "Lahcotah" is Teton or Western Sioux dialect for "Dacotah" in Santee Sioux dialect. This "crudely-printed little pamphlet ... was compiled by two lieutenants of the United States Army / with the aid of Charles Guerreu, an Indian interpreter. It is dated at 'Fort Laramie, Dakota, December, 1866.' In the opinion of the late Dr. Wilberforce Eames, in which I concur without hesitation, the crudity of the typography indicates that the Dictionary was printed on a little army press at that post on the North Platte River, in what is now Wyoming. Only about fifty copies of it were printed, and extremely few of them have survived" (McMurtrie, Early Printing in Wyoming and the Black Hills, pp.44-6). Other references: Ayer Indian Linguistics Dakota 85; Stopka 1866.1; Wyoming Imprints 1.