13 



Vol. VIII] IN MEMORIAM: THEODORE HENRY HITTELL 



captured when cubs and had been tamed by the owner. Mr. 

 Hittell noticed that the fur was worn off the backs of the 

 tame bears and was amazed to learn that they had been used 

 in the mountains as pack animals and that the owner rode 

 them when necessary. It did not take Mr. Hittell long to 

 become very well acquainted with the owner, whose name 

 was James Capen Adams, a hunter who had spent years in 

 the Sierra Nevada mountains. Adams had passed through 

 such curious and fascinating experiences that Mr. Hittell de- 

 termined to write a book about such an unusual bear hunter. 

 In consequence, for a year and a half, by tacit arrangement, 

 the author visited the animal show each afternoon after the 

 newspaper went to press, and listened to the hunters tale. 

 These conversations he embodied in one of the best bear 

 books ever written. It was published in San Francisco and 

 also in Boston in 1860. but due to the Civil War it was not 

 widely distributed. The book contained 370 pages, was illus- 

 trated by a number of wood cuts by Charles Nahl and had a 

 brown cloth cover. 



And now comes an odd and interesting sequel. Halt a 

 century later, in 1909, Charles Scribner's Sons Published a 

 notable book called The Grizzly Bear, by William H. Wright. 

 Its author was born in New Hampshire. In his preface he 

 makes the following remarkable statement : 



'T have often seen in the newspapers and magazines 

 replies of various persons of note to the question, 'What 

 book has exerted the greatest influence on your life?_ 

 Most of these answers I notice are rather hazy, but if I 

 had ever been asked to reply to this question, I should 

 have been able to answer without any hesitation. And 

 my answer would have been, 'The Adventures of James 

 Capen Adams, Grizzly Bear Hunter of California.' " 



As a result of Wright's book, Scribner's got into communi- 

 cation with Mr. Hittell, and in 1911, they issued a second 

 edition of the James Capen Adams book, exactly in the original 

 form, as to type, illustrations and old brown cloth cover, with 

 an introduction and postscript added by the author. 



In 1872 he published a criticism of Goethe's Faust. It con- 

 tained forty-six pages and was bound in paper covers. It was 



