COLLECTING A TEXAS LEGEND

   Tucked neatly away on Lone Star book shelves, is the meticulous western literature collection of Jerry Hunt. A long time collector, Mr. Hunt began, unknowingly at the time, collecting the works of western author and native Texan,  Elmer Kelton, during the long and drawn out recovery of a past illness. As he and a friend, who happened to be a great reader and big western fan, shared rides back and forth to therapy, the two also shared trade paperbacks.

   A former regional librarian, Mr. Hunt had always considered westerns a little less than real literature. Nonetheless, he weakened his stand long enough to read a copy of The Good Ol' Boys by Elmer Kelton. Mr. Kelton had written The Good Ol' Boys during a very difficult and trying time in his life when his father lie dying in a hospital room.Jerry Hunt directly related to the character in the book due to a similiar circumstance in his life with his own fathers illness. The hook was set. Jerry read many more trade paperback westerns and before long, he found himself keeping Mr. Kelton's books instead of trading them.He also began purchasing his new works in hardcover, insisting on first editions. There eventually came a time when he realized there were very few Elmer Kelton novels that he did not own.

In hot pursuit, he began to search for those and anything else ever written by Elmer Kelton. To date, other than a few of the most recent paperback reprints, which are getting increasingly more difficult to keep up with, the only copy missing from his collection is the 1956 first hardcover edition of Kelton's first book, Hot Iron. This book was originally sold to the Navy and was not available for sale to the general public. The only copy Mr. Hunt has recently found available totes a price tag of 275.00 and is an ex-library copy with no dustjacket :(  which, unless he can find a jacket, simply will not do. The prices of other books in his collection range from reasonably less than 20.00 up to 2,300. In addition to collecting Elmer Kelton's works, Mr. Hunt authored his own book in 1993, titled Elmer Kelton One Collectors Bibliography, which sold out almost immediately. I was lucky enough to obtain a copy on loan for a few days, directly from Mr. Hunt, by forfeiting to him the title to my property until its safe return. Hunt claims his favorite Kelton novel as "the one he is currently reading". Among the several other authors collected by Hunt are the the works of Louis Lamour. When asked if he thought Kelton's novels as good as Lamour's the reply came quick, I think they are better. They are more realistic." Several Universities are currently in the running for Mr. Hunt's Kelton collection. Among them are Southwest Texas State, University University of San Marcus, Texas Tech and University of Texas at Arlington.

       ABOUT ELMER KELTON

Elmer Kelton was born April 29th, 1926 on the Five Wells Ranch east of Andrews, Texas. His father, R.W. also known as Buck, was a ranch foreman.Elmer graduated from high school in 1942. At that time, his father told him it was time that he stated thinking about life. When Elmer made known the fact that he wanted to be a writer, the elder Mr. Kelton didn't quite view that as real work and Elmer found himself on the recieving end of a stare. Despite "the look", Elmer enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin to study journalism at age 16. Paul Patterson, one of Kelton's former school teachers has told and retold the story among Texas folklorists of how he once saw Elmer at work on the McElroy Ranch surrounded by nearly two hundred saddle horses. With the West all around him, what a sight Elmer was sitting atop his steed with one leg loped over his saddlehorn, nose buried deep in a tale of western fiction.

From 1948-1963, Elmer worked for the San Angelo Standard Times as a farm and ranch writer. After a few years, he became agricultural editor. From the Top of the Windmill was his regular column. He edited Sheep and Goat Magazine from 1963-1968 and from 1968-1990 he was the associate editor of The West Texas Livestock Weekly. Until 1990, Elmer wrote his novels on nights and weekends. Since retiring in 1990, in his spare time, Kelton has written numerous novels and short stories. He has won many awards for his work including the Spur, Wrangler and Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman. He has twice won the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Kelton has also written under the pen  names of  Tom Early, Alex Hawk and Lee McElroy. Many of Kelton's novels have been translated into Italian, Spanish, German and Swedish. His most recent novel was dedicated to his friend, Jerry Hunt. Asked once about the book Jerry had written about him, Kelton replied dryly, "Well, now I know how that little frog felt in biology class."

   Judy Alter had once described Kelton as being " a genuine, unaffected, kind and gentle man, the sort who, in person makes you want to hunker down and listen to his stories, his voice, his wisdom." After having the privelege of listening to Mr. Kelton speak several times myself, I have to agree. In his presence, you can't help but become aware of being in the midst of humility and greatness combined. I have since come to the conclusion that Elmer Kelton IS one of "the good ol' boys" and Jerry well... he just might be, too.