"History Of The British Turf: Volume II" 1840 WHYTE, James Christie
$950
From The Earliest Period To The Present Day
WHYTE, James Christie
[646] pp.
Henry Colburn, Publisher
1840
8 3/4" x 5 3/4"
Signed: N.W. Kittson
Norman Wolfred Kittson (March 6, 1814 – May 10, 1888) was one of early Minnesota's most prominent citizens. He was a fur trader, then a steamboat-line operator and finally a railway entrepreneur and owner of thoroughbred racehorses. He was part of the original syndicate that created the Canadian Pacific Railway. Kittson County, Minnesota is named for him. Norman County, Minnesota also was named for him.
Norman Kittson was possessed of "a sartorial elegance and a love of race horses," and it was this latter interest on which he concentrated after retiring from business. His stables at Midway Park, St. Paul and at Erdenheim Farm near Philadelphia, kept some of the finest thoroughbreds and made him one of the most prominent race horse owners in the country. His filly, Glidelia, won the 1880 Alabama Stakes. In 1882, with his brother, James, they had purchased Aristides Welch's renowned stud farm at Erdenheim, Pennsylvania, and the bulk of its bloodstock at Chestnut Hill for $100,000. In 1884, the Kittson's colt, Rataplan, won the prestigious Travers Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course. Kittson's sons, Louis and James, were both well-known horsemen and managed Erdenheim after their father's death. They sold the studs at auction in 1896.