The Texas Stock Directory or Book of Marks and Brands

The Texas Stock Directory or Book of Marks and Brands, by W. H. Jackson and S. A. Long, is an exceedingly rare brand book, and only the second brand book ever published in the United States.

A brand book is a printed register of brands used by individuals and companies to identify livestock. Generally intended to be carried by working cowboys on the range, it was designed to be portable and utilitarian. As a result, most early examples were worn to pieces, making them quite rare today.

The first brand book was printed in Utah in 1850 and remained the only brand book in the United States until this book was published in San Antonio in 1865. By 1881, the range cattle industry had exploded in Texas and throughout the West, greatly increasing the need for printed guides to identify brands. A corresponding surge of brand books were published between 1881 and 1910.