Click to watch a video about the books on this site

East Texas' Early History - Everything has a beginning and most are very small.  Texas began in its far eastern region, now called East Texas and  like a tiny acorn it has grown symbolically into the great oak tree called Texas.  It began nowhere else but there.  Spain claimed it and at first, called it their "terra incognito" or unknown land.  After exploring it, they soon named it their "new Philippines." Today, it is called Spain's far northeastern borderland.  They knew almost nothing about it until the Frenchman La Salle planted a tiny fort and colony near the Gulf Coast below present Victoria.  This act set Spain in motion.  Several military expeditions, on land and sea over several years, went looking for these Frenchmen. They were located in 1689, but the fort was already destroyed by sickness, murder and by the Karankawa Indians.

The first attempt to settle East Texas was made in 1690, when a tiny eight-man mission was built and manned by five soldiers and three priests - they called it Mission Tejas.  They soon built a second one that they called Maria.  At this time, many head of livestock were driven up from Mexico and turned loose for the use of these first two missions.  They were located west of the Neches River in East Texas.  Both soon failed.  But, a much bolder thrust was carried out twenty-three years later (1716 - 1717) when six missions with civilians, soldiers and priests, were strung from the east side of the Neches River, not far from the original Tejas mission, to the Rio Hondo a few miles west of Natchitoches, Louisiana -- this was part of Spanish Texas then.  Families and many more soldiers came with this second entrada.  Soon the area called "Los Adaes" with its furthest mission and fort would also become the first capital of Texas -- not Washington-on-the-Brazos or even Houston.  On two more occasions, more thousands of head of livestock were driven overland from Mexico, distributed among these six missions and turned loose in the great virgin forest of East Texas, to multiply until they were counted in the millions -- they were everywhere.

These missions, civilians and soldiers, plus the thousands of head of livestock were the true beginning of Texas.  It began nowhere but in East Texas and our great livestock industry including ranches, cowboys and trail drives began nowhere else but in East Texas -- not in South or Southeast Texas.  It can truly be said, this was the tiny acorn from which Texas has grown -- it all started in East Texas.

For this reason, Texas Historical Press specializes in the history of East Texas -- the beginning of Texas. Thousands of the descendants of these original Spanish families still live in the area of Nacogdoches, East Texas and around Spanish Lake, Zowlle, Robeline and Natchitoches, western Louisiana -- formally Spanish East Texas. Books, maps, and diaries that focus on eastern Texas are offered to truth seekers.

You are invited to browse the information found in these unique web pages and learn the authentic history of how Texas began.

Purchase the outstanding and rare books written by outstanding Texas historians and story tellers. Get an overview.

Obtain copies of the original diaries and live vicariously with the brave men who wrote them -- both soldiers, and missionary padres who braved dangerous wild animals and unhappy Indians as they brought European civilization to East Texas -- and eventually to all of Texas.

Buy the old maps, reproduced for you so that you can follow the progress of the diarist and see exactly where they traveled on the ancient trails that went from Indian village to village. Many of these are in color and beautifully drawn, suitable to hang.

Even some correspondence between these early pioneers is available to you. Letters that helped shape Texas.

Thus the mission of Texas Historical Press is to make the vibrant and exciting history of Old, Old East Texas available in all its formats, under one web site. These include books that deal with early Texas history, One-Of-A-Kind Rare Books, cook books of Old East Texas and the south, diaries of the early explorers - Spanish missionaries, Mexican, French and Anglo pioneers, maps showing early East Texas that portray the original trails and roads, some of which are our highways today, locations of the Indians, Spanish land grants showing the first ranches in Texas and much more. Peruse the following to see the many things that are available.

Unique And Rare Books - Most of our books are one-of-a-kind and can be purchased nowhere else but from this website. Many books are large, printed on eight and one-half by eleven size paper and are double sided, profusely illustrated and footnoted for laymen and scholars alike -- this makes a 200-page book 400 pages of common size. Select a category below, then click on each for details or to purchase.

If you are a purchasing librarian or the manager of a bookstore, interested in single copies or bulk purchases, please click here to contact us about your needs.

View a Complete List of Free Articles
Written by H. Gordon Pettey, Ph.D.

Contact Us with any questions.