Signed Buffalo Bill biographies to go under hammer

Wild West showman Buffalo Bill (fourth from left) toured Europe eight times

Signed biographies of the Wild West showman Buffalo Bill are being sold at auction by the descendants of a woman who performed with him.

The books are being auctioned by Hanson Ross in Royston, Hertfordshire.

Each was dedicated to Lillian White, who toured with Bill, real name William Cody, in the late 19th Century.

The books have remained within the White family who settled in Runnymead, Surrey, after Mrs White finished touring the world with both Barnum and Bailey’s circus - and later Buffalo Bill.

Her grandson Duncan White, 87, said he wanted to sell the books to "someone who will appreciate them".

One book was signed in Cardiff in 1903

His grandmother had performed an equestrian act with her sister Flory in the late 1800s under the name Humel Sisters.

They had starred with Barnum and Bailey's Circus which crossed paths with Buffalo Bill's show when they both toured the UK in 1898.

Mr White said: "She and Bill travelled the world together and she always said that he was very nice and a good friend.

"He gifted the first book to her in Cardiff in July 1903, and the second one, which is in French, is dedicated to my dad, dated September 29th 1905."

Lilian White and her sister Flory performed under the name Humel Sisters

William Cody got his nickname as he would hunt buffalo to feed the Kansas Pacific Railroad workers following the American Civil War.

He started his Wild West-themed show in 1883 which featured native Americans, cowboys from the prairies and skilled riders from some 40 nations.

It travelled around the United States and completed eight tours of Europe.

'Someone who will appreciate them”

The lot is estimated to fetch between £1,000 and £2,000 when it goes under the hammer on 12 July.

Mrs White died aged 88 in 1964, however she had already given the signed books to her grandson by then.

He said: "Living so close to the Thames was nearly the end of these books, their bungalow suffered a terrible flood in the late 1940s and that’s when she gave them to me.

"I was the only grandson and she wanted them to stay with the White family name.

"I’m not sorry to see them go, I’m 87. It’s time they went to someone who will appreciate them."