The first book published in Montana is Thomas J. Dimsdale’s 1866 first edition The Vigilantes of Montana, which was compiled from a series of newspaper articles he wrote for the Montana Post in 1865. Its subtitle reads: “Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains. Being a correct and impartial narrative of the chase, trial, capture, and execution of Henry Plummer’s road agent band, together with accounts of the lives and crimes of many of the robbers and desperados, the whole being interspersed with sketches of life in the mining camps of the ‘Far West’.”

Dimsdale, Thos. J. (Thomas Josiah), d. 1866
The Vigilantes of Montana
Virginia City, M.T.: D. W. Tilton & Co., 1866
Call number: Clark Library Reference F731 .D58

The cover of a 1921 paperback edition features a color illustration of a hanging party. The title page indicates one publisher, while the cover states another.

Dimsdale, Thos. J. (Thomas Josiah), d. 1866
The Vigilantes of Montana
Virginia City, Mont.: T. E. Castle and C. W. Bank, 1921
Call number: Clark Library Reference F731. D58 1921