Greenleaf, Lawrence N. King Sham, and Other Atrocities in Verse; including a Humorous History of the Pike's Peak Excitement. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1868. (First Edition). [12383]
Green cloth with blind borders, bright gilt titles to spine & illustration to front, small dig near the top of the front joint, 7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches, binding is clean. Waxed cream-colored end papers. 139, [1] pages, light foxing. Good. Hardcover.
"Riverside, Cambridge: Stereotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company" on the copyright page.
Lawrence Nichols Greenleaf (1838-1922), b. Boston, Massachusetts; d. Denver, Colorado. A merchant, newspaperman, poet and publisher, Greenleaf was an early Colorado pioneer.
During the Pike's Peak gold rush of 1859, Greenleaf and a business partner went to the then Kansas Territory, and opened a mercantile business in Leadville, Colorado. They used their profits to open a store in Denver, the Greenleaf & Brewer Company.
A Freemason, Greenleaf was instrumental in the growth of that fraternity in the early days of Denver. A public-minded man, Greenleaf served in several political capacities, elected to offices as a Democrat.
His writings were mainly poems and humorous pieces, many first published in the Rocky Mountain News under the name Peter Punever. These were collected in his "King Sham," the one and only book of his collected writings to be published.
The first part of the book contains humorous pieces; the latter part treats with more serious topics. All reflect the burgeoning American West and her miners, treasure-seekers, loafers, prospectors, gamblers, missionaries, &c.
