Rattling Yours Snake King Biography Signed
$125
Out of stock
Description
Rattling Yours … Snake King by W. A. King Jr. Springman King Lithograph Company: Brownsville, Texas. 1964. First edition.
Rattling Yours… is the remarkable true story of William Abraham Leiberman, a second generation Jewish American businessman in New York who saw unusual business opportunities along the Rio Grande. Moving to the then rural border town of Brownsville, Texas, Leiberman opened “Snakeville”, a roadside facility where he could breed, sell, and show off snakes for tourists and interested clientele around the world. Fully committed to the lifestyle he created, Leiberman went so far as to change his legal name to William Abraham Snake King, making the author of this book’s full name “William Abraham Snake King Junior”.
Noted among enthusiasts of Texas history for the assortment of ephemera connected to their operation, the younger King’s loving portrait of his father’s business does not shy from its darker details, including the gruesome description of a promotional fight between a bull and a lion, and the creation of Snakeville’s fake “Mexican Horned Rattlesnake” attraction. Interesting for scientific context, the Kings were among the first Americans to breed and milk snakes for their venom at scale ahead of the widespread development of the practice for business and research.
8vo, 223pp + 1ad, orange cloth boards. Corners bumped. Bookblock and pages tanned but clean. Inscribed by author to Ron Hand on title page. Includes 16pg excerpt pamphlet, near fine condition, inscribed on interior wrap to “Ron” and indicating bulk sales discount. Pictorial dustjacket with small losses at corner flap folds, a small tear to front wrap at spine and losses to lower spine edge. Very good in a very good.
If you liked this book you might also like this memoir of a career at New York’s Bellevue Hospital by its then-assistant director.
