Nature Writing, J-L
243. -. Another copy. Fine in a very good dust jacket with an internal tape mend.
244. (KINCAID, Jamaica). My Favorite Plant. NY: FSG (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of a collection devoted to gardening, plants, and the attachments and associations created by small plots of nature. Edited and with an introduction by Kincaid. Includes Ian Frazier, Philip Levine, Maxine Kumin, and others. Small quarto; fine in wrappers.
245. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Bean Trees. NY: Harper & Row (1988). The uncorrected proof copy of the author's first novel. Kingsolver has become a bestselling novelist on the strength of fiction that is firmly rooted in the land and cultures of the American Southwest. Her work is leavened with humor and strengthened with a sense of political and social responsibility. Some scuffing to rear cover and slight wrinkling on front; light stain to foredge of pages. Very good in wrappers. The first trade edition of this novel is quite scarce; the proof considerably more so. This copy is signed by the author.
246. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. Animal Dreams. NY: Harper & Row (1990). The advance reading copy of her second novel, which, like her first, is set in the Southwest and combines elements of Native American culture and legends, political action and environmental issues in a human drama of love and life's largest commitments. Fine in wrappers.
247. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. High Tide in Tucson. NY: HarperCollins (1995). The uncorrected proof copy of her third book of nonfiction and first collection of essays, which deal with themes of the natural world, community and family. Near fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof.
248. KITTREDGE, William. Owning It All. (St. Paul): Graywolf Press, 1987. The uncorrected proof copy of Kittredge's second book, which was only published in softcover. The author has since come to be considered one of the leading authors on the American West. Fine in wrappers, and reproducing several holograph corrections to the text. With a letter of transmittal, dated almost three months prior to publication.
249. KITTREDGE, William. Hole in the Sky. NY: Knopf, 1992. The uncorrected proof copy of his highly praised memoir, which traces his family's history as wealthy landowners in Montana, a mixed blessing for the author, as he describes it. Kittredge's memoir is in part an elegy for the Great Basin and the large ranch that was his family legacy and, as such, it reflects on the myths of the Old West and was a key work in defining the literature of the "New West" -- with a view of the passing of an old way of life and, perhaps, the possibility of establishing a more socially and environmentally responsible new way. Fine in wrappers.
250. KRAKAUER, Jon. Into the Wild. (NY): Villard Books (1996). The advance reading copy of the second book by the author of Into Thin Air. Like his more famous title, this one also recounts a tragedy in the wilderness, albeit not one he was part of or witness to. This account of a young man venturing into the Alaska wilderness armed mostly with hope and a desire for a closeness with nature provided a cautionary antidote to the tendency in our Western, urbanized society to romanticize nature and ignore the struggles and hardships of a life lived in close proximity to the forces of the natural world. Fine in wrappers.
251. KRAKAUER, Jon. Into Thin Air. (NY): Villard Books (1997). His third solely authored book and an unlikely bestseller, selected as one of The New York Times' eleven best books of the year. Krakauer was sent to Everest by Outside magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain and was party to the May 10, 1996 summit bid that cost five climbers their lives, in a season that claimed twelve. An example of the "Man vs. Nature" category of nature writing, if one assigns responsibility for the tragedy to the elements and elevation. This copy is signed by Krakauer in the year of publication. Also signed by Thomas Hornbein, author of Everest: The West Ridge; Hornbein's words provide the epigraph for chapter two. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
252. -. Another copy. Not signed by Krakauer but bearing a personal gift inscription from another nature writer. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
253. KRUTCH, Joseph Wood. The Desert Year. NY: William Sloane (1952). A book on the desert Southwest by this prolific literary naturalist who, among his many others books, also wrote a biography of Thoreau. This title won the John Burroughs Medal, for the best work of natural history published that year. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with several short edge tears and a mildly edge-rumpled front flap. Signed by the author. A nice copy of an important book, one of the author's most well-known and lasting works.
254. KRUTCH, Joseph Wood. Grand Canyon. Today and All Its Yesterdays. NY: William Sloane, 1958. A natural history of the canyon, and a social history of its exploration. Inscribed by the author on the half-title. Although Krutch was from New England, he developed an affinity for the southwestern desert country, and several of his most well-known books focus on that part of the country. Fine in a very good dust jacket with modest rubbing and edgewear.
255. LEAKEY, Mary. Typescript of "Rock Paintings of Tanzania." 1985. Six-page ribbon-copy typescript, describing the rock paintings of Tanzania and hypothesizing on their cultural context and age, with some suggestions on how to prevent that which survived tens of thousands of years from being destroyed in the next fifty. Leakey was one of the foremost anthropologists of the 20th century and her discoveries, sometimes in conjunction with her husband, Richard, of the fossilized remains of human ancestors rewrote the study of paleoanthropology and pushed human prehistory back from a few hundred thousand years to nearly 3 million years. By consensus a better scientist than her more famous husband, she was also a controversial figure, and her own interpretations of her findings did not always accord with those assigned to them by other researchers. Nonetheless, the story of human evolution in prehistoric times would be very different, and much poorer, without her finds. Leakey began studying Tanzanian rock art in 1935, seeing in the 1500 year-old work evidence of a tradition dating back 30,000 years. Her work here thus incorporates more than 50 years' experience in the field, making her easily the foremost expert on the subject in the world. Together with an autograph note signed transmitting the document, a signed contract and mailing envelope, and an autograph note signed (with envelope) transmitting a holograph page of additional text. Also together with four autograph notes signed and one typed note signed from before and after the submission of the manuscript, first making arrangements and then wrapping up the publication process. These five notes are on air mail stationery and are opened unevenly along the edges; near fine. The article and supporting documents are fine with the exception of a few tiny spots in the bottom margin of the title page. A unique archive by one of the preeminent scientists of the 20th century, whose work changed humanity's view of itself.
256. LEOPOLD, Aldo. Game Survey of the North Central States. Madison: Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, 1931. The author's first book, the highly detailed results of two years of study in eight states and an attempt to ascertain opportunities for game management and restoration so as to assure the health and continuation of the gun industry. Leopold had conducted the surveys in 1928-30, and in 1930, as Chairman of the Game Policy Institute of the American Game Conference, took the lead in formulating an American Game Policy, which was adopted in December. He was given a chair in game management at the University of Wisconsin in 1933. In 1935, he was a co-founder of the Wilderness Society, one of the leading environmental organizations ever since, and in 1939 he became chairman of a new department created at the University of Wisconsin, devoted to wildlife management. Front hinge cracked and text block loose. Boards bowed, worn and stained. A good copy only, without dust jacket, presumably as issued.
257. LEOPOLD, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. NY: Oxford University Press, 1949. An enormously influential book of natural history, which helped instigate and define the modern environmental movement. A modern classic that was published posthumously, it has been in print constantly since its first publication but is exceedingly scarce in the first printing. Leopold, who had studied wildlife management for years and co-founded the Wilderness Society, began plans for a book of ecological essays in 1941. He submitted the manuscript to the Oxford University Press in 1947, to be entitled "Great Possessions," and was notified of its acceptance by the press in April, 1948. A week after the book was accepted by Oxford, Leopold died of a heart attack while fighting a grass fire on a neighbor's property. His widow finished the editing of the book, which was published in 1949 with the current title. A Sand County Almanac, which is a volume of environmental sketches and philosophical reflections, is credited with articulating an ecological perspective toward people and the land, which has helped to shape the discussion of environmental issues ever since. With a solid grounding in science, Leopold also wrote with a poet's grace and a passion for the land, effectively underpinning his love of nature and respect for its creatures with a clear-headed understanding of humans' place in the environment -- for better or for worse. Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Muir and John Burroughs all influenced Leopold, as did the Russian mystic Pyotr Ouspensky, in helping him formulate a vision of the world that was biocentric, rather than anthropocentric, and in which the intuition of a mystical supreme power guiding the universe, most clearly revealed in the laws of nature, could be trusted as much as the revelations of the scientific method. Leopold argued against viewing the land as a commodity and in favor of viewing it as a community, of which humans are but a part. His ethic toward the land and all of its creatures was summed up in a famous quote in which he declared that "a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." This copy has heavy offsetting on the front flyleaf from where a review is laid in; there is also a small Christmas gift sticker under the front flap. Otherwise a fine copy in a very good dust jacket with several small chips and edge tears. A very nice copy of one of the keys works of the modern environmental movement.
258. -. Another copy. Previous owner gift inscription front flyleaf and heavy offsetting there from where a review was laid in. Dampstaining to lower boards; still about a very good copy in a very good dust jacket that is also dampstained at the lower edges.
259. -. Another copy. Name on flyleaf, notations on title page; spine cloth dulled; near fine, lacking jacket.
260. -. Same title, the enlarged edition. NY: Oxford University Press, 1966. This edition also includes eight essays from Round River. Faint dampstaining to lower cloth; otherwise near fine in a very good, rubbed and sunned dust jacket with internal tape-strengthening to the spine ends.
261. LEOPOLD, Aldo. Round River. NY: Oxford University Press, 1953. Posthumously published selections from Leopold's journals, edited by his son, Luna. Small damp stain to one corner of the cloth; near fine in a very good, spine-darkened jacket with a couple of tiny chips, including one on the front spine fold.
262. LOPEZ, Barry Holstun. Desert Notes. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews McMeel (1976). His first book, a collection of "narrative contemplations" of the desert, told in a poetic, lucid prose, the clarity and simplicity of which is uncommonly suited to the subtleties of perception and expression it contains. A thin book, published by a small midwestern publisher more noted for its religious titles than its books for the general trade, this book has become quite scarce in recent years. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with light wear at the crown and rubbing to the spine.
263. LOPEZ, Barry Holstun. Of Wolves and Men. NY: Scribner (1978). His award-winning third book, winner of the John Burroughs Medal as the best work of natural history published that year, and a nominee for the National Book Award. A remarkable and unlikely bestseller: the book was reprinted numerous times, brought into a new edition by the publisher (in a smaller format), picked up by the Book of the Month Club, and became a significant commercial success in a trade paperback edition as well. It attempts to explore the wolf both in the objective world and in the subjective ways that humans have seen and imagined it throughout history. This is a very near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket mildly sunned at the spine and edges. A very attractive copy; quite uncommon in the first printing.
264. LOPEZ, Barry. "The American Indian Mind." (NY): (Quest) (1978). Offprint of an essay that appeared in the relatively short-lived Quest magazine, one of the more interesting publications to emerge in the late 1970s and focused on issues that tended to combine ecology, spirituality and, at times, politics. A little-known Barry Lopez "A" item -- 8 1/2" x 11" stapled sheets, 15 pages -- with no indication of how many copies were done. Slight rust near the staples, otherwise fine.
265. LOPEZ, Barry Holstun. River Notes. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel (1979). The author's fourth book and the companion volume to his first, Desert Notes, and to his later collection, Field Notes. A collection of short stories that have the feel of prose poems as well as reflective, personal essays. A difficult-to-classify book by a writer who has made a practice of writing hard-to-categorize volumes, the most consistent thread of them being an effort to recognize the sacred in the seemingly ordinary. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
266. -. Another copy, this being a review copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review photo and three pages of publisher's promotional material laid in. Scarce prepublication issue.
267. LOPEZ, Barry Holstun. Winter Count. NY: Scribner's (1981). A collection of stories that take on the aspect of personal essays or philosophical reflection, tinged with a reverence for life that is as much the subject of the writing as any particular character or tale. Fine in a near fine, slightly spine-faded dust jacket, and signed by the author.
268. -. Another copy, this being a review copy. Staining to rear blanks, otherwise near fine in a near fine, slightly spine-faded dust jacket.
269. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
270. LOPEZ, Barry. Arctic Dreams. NY: Scribner (1986). A review copy of this massive study on the Arctic, combining history, natural history, mythology, ecology and anthropology in a narrative that is at once scientifically rigorous and spiritually exalting. Winner of the National Book Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket with publisher's promotional material laid in.
271. LOPEZ, Barry. Crossing Open Ground. NY: Scribner (1988). A review copy of this collection of essays on "the bond between mankind and the land and man's heartbreaking betrayal of [it]." Signed by the author. Small smudge to edge; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket, with review slip, author photo and publicity material laid in.
272. -. Another copy, not a review copy. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
273. -. Same title, the first British edition (London: Macmillan, 1988). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
274. LOPEZ, Barry. Coyote Love. Portland: Coyote Love Press (1989). A beautiful hand-printed limited edition of three Coyote tales from North American Indian traditions. One of only 99 copies, bound in Mexican Bark covers, illustrated by Gary Buch and hand-illuminated by Allen Q. Wong. Signed by the author and illustrator. An extraordinarily handsome volume, each copy an individual work of great artistry, with beaded string ties hung from the binding evoking the Indian culture of the book's subject. A fine copy of one of the nicest limited editions we have seen.
275. LOPEZ, Barry. Occupancy. Edinburgh: Morning Star, 1993. Morning Star Folio 3/4. A single sheet, approximately 20" x 17", folded in sixths. On one side is a personal essay on the subject of the author's occupancy of the land on which he and his partner resided for 94 seasons, along with photographs, a species list, etc.; the other side reproduces a hand-drawn schematic map of the land, with sites of notable occurrences and features identified. A sensitive rendering of the author's respect for and appreciation of the land at hand: "The volume of space this land contains seems infinite. For a while we are its human companions." Published in an edition of 300 numbered copies. Fine, in original envelope. A scarce item; we have seen very few offered for sale.
276. LOPEZ, Barry. Apologia. Eugene: Lone Goose Press, 1997. A limited edition of a story that first appeared in Witness magazine and then in Harper's and which was, after this edition, issued in a trade edition by the University of Georgia Press. With twenty-three 11 3/4" x 11" woodblock images by Robin Eschner, hinged in a continuous presentation almost 22 feet long, encompassing the text. An elaborate production, involving a number of individuals prominent in the book arts, in addition to Lopez and Eschner: Charles Hobson, the designer, whose work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum and the National Gallery of Art, among others; Sandy Tilcock, the publisher and boxmaker; Susan Acker, the letterpress printer; Nora Pauwells, the relief edition printer; and John DeMerritt, the binder, who is President of the Hand Bookbinders of California. Of a total edition of 66 copies, this is one of 50 numbered copies signed by the author and including a unique tire-tread print from Lopez's Toyota 4-Runner, the vehicle used in the journey from Oregon to Indiana that is described in the story. Fine, in a clamshell box.
277. LOPEZ, Barry. Lessons from the Wolverine. Athens: U. of Georgia Press (1997). A short story, attractively illustrated by Tom Pohrt, who also illustrated Lopez's Crow and Weasel. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
278. LOPEZ, Barry. About This Life. Journeys on the Threshold of Memory. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of perhaps his most personal book. Essays on place and perspective, with the author's sense of engagement with the world reflected in the reasons he gives for forgoing photography for writing: "I don't want to stop and focus on a fixed image, which I'm inclined to do as a photographer. I want, instead, to see a sentence fragment scrawled in my notebook, smeared by rain." Fine in wrappers.
279. LOPEZ, Barry. "The Language of Animals." (Bainbridge Island): (The Arbor Fund) (1998). Text of the Virginia Merrill Blodel Lecture given at the Blodel Reserve in September, 1998. One of 500 copies in stapled wrappers. Eight pages, with a short biography and bibliography. Fine.
280. (LOPEZ, Barry). "The American Geographies" in Openings. Seattle: U. of Washington Press (1990). A collection of essays by contemporary Soviet and American writers on Soviet and American nature and culture, published to coincide with the Goodwill Games in Seattle in 1990. The essays are grouped by subject (History, Geography, Literature, Sports, etc.), and each subject has one essay by an American writer and one by a Soviet writer. The Soviet companion piece in the Geography category is "Live Forever, Vivi River" by Viktor Astafyev. Some of the text in the Lopez piece appeared again in About This Life. Quarto; fine in wrappers.