Catalog 163, Z
261. ZWINGER, Ann. Archive of Correspondence with Glen Dawson. 1981-1992. Six typed letters signed and 9 typed postcards signed from Zwinger to Dawson, and one autograph letter signed from Zwinger to Dawson's wife, Mary Helen. Together with three of Zwinger's books: Wind in the Rock [NY: Harper & Row, 1978]; A Desert Country Near the Sea [NY: Harper & Row, 1983]; and The Mysterious Lands [NY: Dutton, 1989]. The latter is signed by the author; the first two are inscribed by Zwinger to Dawson: the first reads, "For Glen Dawson - I suspect this book is the prologue to working in Baja California; in many ways they are the same but Baja is thornier, spinier, and much tougher to walk through. Still, one has to begin somewhere - Ann Zwinger/ January, 1980." A Desert Country Near the Sea is inscribed to both Mary Helen and Glen, in 1983: "whose help made so much of this book possible, both in production and ushering it on its way, and who also find Baja a place of enchantment. With my affectionate regard and thanks. Ann Zwinger." The correspondence begins in 1981 with Zwinger typing a long thank you letter (two sides of a greeting card), apparently in response to Dawson sending one of the books he published by Miguel del Barco on Baja, California. Zwinger updates Dawson on her progress on A Desert Country Near the Sea, which has been delayed due to her work on A Conscious Stillness, following the death of co-author Edwin Teale. The next letter is a self-described "fan letter" to Dawson, commending him on the "scholarship and presentation" of his Baja books. Next follow a postcard thanking Dawson for a check and a touristy postcard from Greece. In 1983, Zwinger pens an effusive thank you letter to Mary Helen for a day spent with the couple. There follows a series of postcards: Zwinger thanking Dawson for the loan of a WONDERFUL book by Dr. Henderson (likely Men & Whales at Scammon's Lagoon); saying that the book Men of El Tejon is out of her price range; thanking Dawson for an unspecified update and reporting on weather and travel; reporting from France; thanking him for an "absolutely beautiful turritella gonostoma" (look it up); and, in 1987, two cards, one thanking Dawson for sending along reviews and letters about Zwinger's book Xantus, which Dawson published, and another card saying she is thrilled with the quality of the book (presumably Xantus). From 1988 to 1992, Zwinger resumes sending Dawson letters rather than postcards. In August, 1988, she thanks Dawson for yet another book and tells him she is waiting for the copy-edited manuscript of her "desert book" [The Mysterious Lands] and that she is working on a proposal for an "aspen book" with an "excellent photographer" and that it "has gotten both of us out a lot, rather a more-than-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-aspen-and-weren't-going-to-ask book [Aspen: Blazon of the High Country with Barbara Sparks]." In January 1989, Zwinger writes to thank Dawson for a copy of Ward Ritchie's Of Bookmen & Printers and goes on to thank him for all his work and for his friendship. In January 1991, she writes both Glen and Mary Helen with wishes for a happy 50th anniversary and continues on to describe a Christmas hike she and her daughter took in the Grand Canyon, "beset by weather and the huge cold front that sank down to put frost on the saguaros in Phoenix and Tucson and ice on the roads. Coming up we had a windchill factor of minus something or other...It was one of those things you would never in your right mind do but when you have done it you look back with a sense of privilege..." In 1992, Zwinger writes to thank Dawson for his "General Index" [Baja California Travels Series General Index]: "...what a spectacular list of books you've presided over...an accomplishment that you and Edwin Carpenter have achieved that is unique and exceedingly worthwhile...But most of all, my thanks for including me..." She reports on finishing up a "very difficult" book on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and on becoming a grandmother: "I need to find a way to be a less Nana Ann in absentia, to show her a river and say someday..." In addition to the books and letters, there is an announcement for a reception for A Desert Country Near the Sea; a letter to Dawson from a Research Associate at University of California, Berkeley referencing Zwinger; and an invitation to see Zwinger at a 1985 Book and Author Luncheon presented by the University of Arizona Library. A substantive correspondence between the award-winning naturalist and writer Zwinger and the publisher, mountain climber, antiquarian bookseller and environmentalist Dawson. Five mailing envelopes included. All items near fine or better.