From the end of the French and Indian war through the 19th century, the pioneers of the American book trade moved West, motivated, to varying degrees, by bibliophilia, enterprise and a spirit of adventure. Richard Clement offers a history of book publishing and trade on the American frontier in Lexington, Louisville and St Louis, where Joseph Charless opened various bookstores and print shops. In addition to the publishers and traders, this is also a story of the readers: the men and women of the Great Plains who yearned for the escape of a novel as eagerly as they demanded readable guidebooks; and the missionaries who used books to teach English and learn native American languages. Finally, it demonstrates how books took the stories of the frontier back East.