Catalogue: 1963-1990
ABBEY, Edward (1927-1989)
Fire on the Mountain
1962. First edition. Published by The Dial Press, New York
Yellow boards with red spine. Abbey's third book. NF in NF NPCDJ
Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness
1968. Stated first edition. Published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York. Signed
Signed on ffe. Brown cloth boards. Illustrated by Peter Parnall (see Hal Borland (1962 but catalogued 1963-89) for more on Parnall). Ffe is somewhat warped from full-page-sized bookplate (John Wendel Salmon, with Western/Native American motifs). Otherwise, VG+ to NF in a NF NPCDJ
On a personal note, this book had a huge impact on me - I bought and read it on my first trip to the American Southwest and it changed my world view on the realm of the possible.
Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains
1970. Stated first edition of coffee-table style book with photos by Eliot Porter. Published by E.P. Dutton, New York. Inscribed by Abbey.
Warmly inscribed by Abbey on ffe: "for Bess and Art from Ed, with love and gratitude/January 1971/Edward Abbey." Coffee-table style book on heavy coated paper. Prose entitled 'Natural and Human History' by Abbey, photos by Porter. Epilogue by Harry M. Caudill. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Caudill was an author, lawyer, U.S. Representative and environmentalist from Appalachian Kentucky who wrote and fought against the depredations of the coal industry in the area.
Slickrock: The Canyon Country of Southeast Utah
1971. First edition of coffee-table style book with photos by Philip Hyde. Published by Sierra Club Books, San Francisco.
Coffee-table style quarto on heavy coated paper. The first half of the book consists largely of Abbey's writings, with a few photos by Hyde. The second half consists primarily of full-page gorgeous photos by Hyde, with some commentary by him. One of a series of large-format photo books published by The Sierra Club to highlight various natural areas threatened by potential destroyers. NF in a VG+ NPCDJ
Philip Hyde (1921-2006) is considered one of the most influential landscape photographers of all time, one of the first to master both color and b+w photographs. He was a committed conservationist who pursued his art specifically with the goal of promoting conservation. He became The Sierra Club's principal conservation photographer, commissioned by David Brower to photograph a number of the Club's "battle books" such as this one. Hyde studied with Ansel Adams and, per his Wikipedia page, was one of the few students Adams asked to teach with him. According to the Sierra Club:
He dedicated his life to defending the western American wilderness, working with the Wilderness Society, National Audubon, and others. His color photographs changed landscape photography and helped establish color photography as a fine art. His photographs helped protect Dinosaur National Monument, the Grand Canyon, Redwoods National and State Parks, Point Reyes, King's Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, the North Cascades, Canyonlands, the Wind Rivers, Big Sur, and many other national parks and wilderness areas. [https://www.sierraclub.org/library/philip-hyde]
Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains
1970. Stated first edition of coffee-table style book with photos by Eliot Porter. Published by E.P. Dutton, New York. Inscribed by Abbey.
Warmly inscribed by Abbey on ffe: "for Bess and Art from Ed, with love and gratitude/January 1971/Edward Abbey." Coffee-table style book on heavy coated paper. Prose entitled 'Natural and Human History' by Abbey, photos by Porter. Epilogue by Harry M. Caudill. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Caudill was an author, lawyer, U.S. Representative and environmentalist from Appalachian Kentucky who wrote and fought against the depredations of the coal industry in the area.
Sunset Canyon [published as Black Sun in the U.S.]
1972. Advanced copy of the first UK edition - first published in US as Black Sun in 1971. Published by Talmy, Franklin, London. Abbey's own working copy, with his edits, presumably for a new US edition.
On ffe is a sticker in upper right corner "Not for Sale/Sample Complete Copy." At bottom of ffe is handwritten "Abbey" in his hand. "Abbey" is also penned on bottom of text block in red ink block letters. Handwritten edits, primarily to the copyright and preceding pages (title and "previously by") - and also to bio on dj rear flap. Appears based on the "previously by" list of books that these edits were made around 1979 or 1980 for a new US edition of Black Sun. Pale yellow cloth boards. VG in a VG NPCDJ.
Cactus Country
1973. First. Published by Time-Life Books. With DJ. Time-Life Books were sent to subscribers without DJs, only retail copies had DJs.
A Time-Life coffee-table style book on heavy coated paper with photos by Ernst Haas. Authorship is credited to Abbey and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Part of The American Wilderness series by Time-Life. 184 pages including index. Photographic cover. VG+ in VG PCDJ.
Ernst Haas (1921-86) was an Austrian-American photographer who is considered among the most influential in history. His book The Creation (not in Collection) of volcano photos is one of the best-selling photo books of all time. He transitioned between photojournalism, commercial photography and art photography.
The Monkey Wrench Gang
1975. Stated first edition. Published by J.B Lippincott Co., Philadelphia and NY. Signed
Signed on facing page of two-page map starting on fpd. The book inspired the formation of Earth First!, the eco-activism organization. [See Foreman and Wolkie]. Laid in is an R. Crumb illustrated sticker promoting a later edition of the book for which Crumb provided illustrations (see immediately below). Protagonist George Hayduke was reportedly based on Doug Peacock. Black boards with red cloth spine. VG+ in a VG NPCDJ.
The Monkey Wrench Gang
2008 printing of 1985 tenth anniversary edition, illustrated by R. Crumb. Published by Dream Garden Press, Salt Lake City. Inscribed by none other than Doug Peacock, the model for the book's protagonist, George Hayduke.
Inscribed: "Signed in his absence by ole Doug Peacock for Ed Abbey, AKA whatever earthy(?) [earthly?] remains of GW Hayduke." The first few words are written in black ink with a pen which ran dry, the rest is in blue ink. A neat association copy, as Doug Peacock (see below) was acknowledged by Abbey to be the model for Hayduke. Publisher Dream Garden Press is a small press founded by Ken Sanders, a rare book dealer and wonderful raconteur who was a long-time friend of Abbey's. I've spent a good amount of very enjoyable time listening to Ken (I would not say talking with, as I did not talk much) about Abbey and much more. F in a NF NPCDJ
The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West
1977. Stated first edition. Published by E.P. Dutton, New York
Rust cloth boards with black cloth spine. VG+ in a VG+ NPCDJ.
Abbey's Road
1979. Stated first edition. Published by E.P. Dutton, New York. Inscribed
Inscribed on ffe: "To Doug/on his 31st birthday/Ed Abbey." Green boards with white cloth spine. NF in a VG- NPCDJ.
Down the River
1982. Stated first edition. Published by E.P. Dutton, New York. Inscribed
Inscribed on ffe in red ink: "To Walter, all the best, Ed Abbey/SLC '85." Blue boards with white cloth spine. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
In Praise of Mountain Lions: Original Praises by Edward Abbey and John Nichols [Pamphlet/Chapbook]
1984. Paper covered pamphlet. Published by the Albuquerque Sierra Club. Signed by Abbey
A stapled paper-covered pamphlet signed by Abbey on the cover. Co-author John Nichols is an author who wrote the 'New Mexico Trilogy,' consisting of The Milagro Beanfield War, The Magic Journey and The Nirvana Blues (none of the Nichol's books listed are in the Collection). Per the preface, proceeds from sale of the pamphlet were applied to the mountain lion preservation efforts of the Wildlife Committee of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. With very cool line-drawing illustrations by Beth Watkins-Arterburn. Tiny coffee stain on front cover, otherwise F in paper covers.
The Fool's Progress [Abbey's own galley sheets, with his edits]
1986 - Abbey's own uncorrected galley sheets of his last novel published during his lifetime, ultimately published in 1988 as The Fool's Progress, with his extensive edits and post-it notes, and signed by him. At the time of his edits, the working title was Confessions of the Barbarian (not to be confused with the book of that title published posthumously as shown below). At the top of the first page, he has written "A Festival of Fools" and "A Fool's Progress" with a bracket and question mark. Housed in a large, custom clamshell box.
One Life at a Time, Please
1988. First edition. Published by Henry Holt. Inscribed
Inscribed (to no recipient): "all the best! Edward Abbey." His last publication of essays before he died. Includes sections on Politics (with a treatise on eco-defense and a controversial anti-immigration piece), Travels, Books and Art (with commentaries on Emerson and Krutch), and Nature Love. F in a F NPCDJ
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto): Notes From a Secret Journal
1989. First trade edition. Published by St. Martin's Press, New York. From Peter Matthiessen's library
Originally published by Ryder Press, New Mexico in a limited slipcase edition entitled Vox Clamantis in Deserto. A small volume with a red cloth spine, illustrated by Andrew Rush. Per the publisher's description on the flaps, completed less than two weeks before Abbey's death. Per bookseller Ken Lopez, from Peter Matthiessen's library. NF in a G NPCDJ.
Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey, 1951-1989
1994. Stated first edition. Published by Little, Brown, Boston.
Edited and with an introduction by David Petersen. Blue boards with red spine. F in a NF NPCDJ.
Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast
2006. Stated first edition. Published by Milkweed Editions.
Edited and with an introduction by David Petersen. Foreword by Terry Tempest Williams. Blue boards with red spine. F in a F NPCDJ.
The Canyon Country Zephyr [Newspaper]
Issue Feb/March 2009 [Volume 20 Number 6]. Described on the front page as "The Last Paper Issue of THE ZEPHYR" - a seemingly free broadsheet style Moab bi-monthly newsprint publication. "Clinging Hopelessly to the Past Since 1989" per the masthead. On page 7 is a full-page tribute to Abbey, written by Zephyr publisher Jim Stiles, which begins: "On March 14, 1989, Ed Abbey died at his home in Tucson, Arizona. On that same day, this publication was born. Abbey's last story, "Hard Times in Santa fe (sp?),"...appeared in the April issue. It was also Ed's last act of kindness and generosity to me after a friendship of 15 years. His enthusiasm and support for The Zephyr gave me the courage and confidence to pursue this unlikely venture." At the top of the page is a photo of Abbey taken by Stiles exactly one year prior to his death.
As of the writing of this entry (March 2023), The Canyon Country Zephyr appears to be going strong as an online publication, with seemingly most of its content still written by Jim Stiles. Impressive.
BAKKER, Elna (1921-1995)
An Island Called California: An Ecological Introduction to its Natural Communities
1971. Presumed first edition. Published by University of California Press, Los Angeles and Berkeley
Light green cloth boards. Photos by Philip Hyde. F in NF NPCDJ
Elna Bakker was an elementary school teacher and self-taught naturalist who published several books, An Island Called California being the best known. The book is frequently characterized as a "classic." According to her LA Times obituary, she was an environmental activist since the 1940s, a documentary film maker on natural subjects, a founding member of the Committee for the Preservation of the Tule Elk, secretary for 12 years for the Southern California Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and served on multiple other environmental organizations' boards. She was an accomplished photographer. Lyon describes the book as a "well-written" guide to the state's biomes and an advocate for intelligent appreciation as a foundation of conservation.
See Abbey (1971) re photographer Philip Hyde.
BASS, Rick (1958)
Wild to the Heart
1987. First. Published by Stackpole Books. Inscribed.
Inscribed on ffe: "Marc - Thanks again! Best wishes, Rick Bass, Oxford, MS 1989." Illustrated with drawings by Elizabeth Hughes, Bass' wife at the time. Bass' second book, a collection of essays "torn between his passion for the Utah wilderness and the reality of making a living in a place he cannot love - a lyrical exploration of the meaning of wilderness and freedom." F in a sun-faded VG DJ.
Brown Dog of the Yaak
1999. Stated first. Published Milkweed Editions. Inscribed to outdoor writer and publisher Nick Lyons.
Inscribed on title page: "To Nick Lyons - For the woods - Rick Bass." Nick Lyons, himself a writer of a number of outdoor books, primarily on fishing, had through his Lyons Press published Bass' previous book. Part of publisher Milkweed's Credo series, which "offers contemporary American authors whose work emphasizes the natural world and the human community the opportunity to discuss their essential goals, concerns and practices." The book contains four essays, plus an appendix on helping to preserve the Yaak Valley in Montana, where Bass lives. Like all books in the Credo series, it also contains a biographical sketch of the author - by Scott Slovic, founding president of the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment - and a complete bibliography of Bass' writings. F no DJ as issued.
Rick Bass is a prolific author focusing on the natural world, and he is also an environmental activist of note. As Slovic notes in his biographical sketch, "Rick Bass is one of the most respected contemporary American nature writers and fiction writers, and in addition to his artistic efforts, he spends much of his time (and money) working to protect the natural world, particularly the Yaak Valley." (p. 137). Bass has a degree in Geology with a focus on Wildlife and worked as a wildlife biologist for Weyerhaeuser and as an oil and gas geologist before turning to writing and teaching. He has won a considerable number of honors for his literary work.
BASS, Rick (1958) and DUNCAN, David James (1952)
The Heart of the Monster
2010. First issued only in paperback. Published by All Against the Haul, Missoula, MT. Signed by both authors.
Signed by both authors on half-title. This was a joint project protesting mega-load trucking through the Pacific Northwest to and from the Alberta tar sands. Consists of an essay by Duncan, who was recruited to the project by Bass, and a novella by Bass himself. Heavy stock illustrated with black-and-white and color photos throughout. An "Autographed Copy" sticker on the front and light edge wear, otherwise F.
David James Duncan (1952) is the author of award-winning books including The River Why and The Brothers K (neither of which is in the Collection). He has written in support of preservation of the Blackfoot River (of Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It fame).
BERGER, John J. (1945)
[Introduction by Morris Udall]
Restoring the Earth: How Americans are Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment
1985 Stated first. Published by Alfred A. Knopf. Signed and separately inscribed.
Inscribed using half-title as part of the inscription: "For Ron Carstens, Your help is needed in [Restoring the Earth - uses printed title]/With every good wish to you and your family, John J. Berger/January 16,1986." Two-page foreword by Representative Morris Udall of Arizona. The book is a detailed examination of a number of projects undertaken to restore damaged areas and ecosystems. Described in Amazon’s review as “a ray of light” in the midst of a litany of environmental woes. F in a F NPCDJ.
Dr. John Berger is an environmental science and policy expert and consultant who has worked for the National Resource Counsel, Friends of the Earth (at the invitation of David Brower), the US Office of Technology Assessment and the organizations Restoring the Earth and the anti-nuke Nuclear Information and Resource Service, both of which he was a founder of. He has published 11 books on environmental and energy issues.
Per Berger's Wikipedia page:
In 1985, he published Restoring the Earth: How Americans Are Working to Restore Our Damaged Environment and became the executive director of Restoring the Earth, an environmental organization based in Berkeley, California. [Note: The organization Restoring the Earth does not appear to have survived. There is a Restore the Earth Foundation, started after Hurricane Katrina, which has raised over $100 million for restoration of the ecosystems damaged by the storm.]
The group convened the 1988 Restoring the Earth Conference, which at the time was the most comprehensive meeting ever held on the repair of environmental damage and the re-creation of disrupted ecosystems. The meeting brought together environmental leaders, restoration practitioners, corporate executives, scientists, government officials, labor, media, grassroots activists and concerned citizens from throughout the U.S. to discuss and plan the restoration of all types of damaged natural resources and the planning of sustainable urban area. The conference drew national attention to examples of successful ecological restoration and to the potential of restoration technology to heal prior environmental damage. More than 150 scientific papers and popular talks were presented on topics ranging from the restoration of forests, rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands, estuaries, prairies, mined lands, wildlife and its habitats; to prevention, management and containment of toxic wastes.
Morris Udall represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years - a seat he won after his incumbent brother Stewart Udall became Interior Secretary under Kennedy. He was largely a leader in EC issues from his seat on the Committee for the Interior and Insular Affairs, which he chaired for 14 years. He fought for National Park expansion, ushered legislation which added eight million acres to the federal wilderness system, helped write and pass the Alaska Lands Act of 1980 and important nuclear waste disposal laws in 1982, and fought successfully for laws limiting strip mining.
In 1973 he was named legislator of the year by the National Wildlife Federation.
Mo Udall’s environmental record is perhaps marred by his strong support for hydroelectric dams in Arizona, including one that would have partially flooded the Grand Canyon (see Eliot Porter’s The Place No One Knew (1963)). In fairness, he genuinely felt that the coal-fired plants which were ultimately used instead were actually more environmentally damaging, a defendable position.
BOOKCHIN, Murray (1921-2006)
Toward an Ecological Society
1980. First in softcover, published simultaneously with hardcover. Published by Black Rose, Montreal. Inscribed
Inscribed on ffe in year of publication: "For Louise - in warm friendship - Murray Bookchin/Sept. 1980. The words "Review Copy" are neatly hand printed above the inscription. VG+ to NF in paper wraps.
Bookchin was a public intellectual such as existed in the 20th century and before (think people like Barry Commoner, Ashley Montagu and Lewis Mumford, to name three represented in the Collection). Described as a central figure in the American green movement, Bookchin was an anti-capitalist Marxist/anarchist type who, according to Wikipedia, "formulated and developed the theory of social ecology and urban planning within anarchist, libertarian socialist, and ecological thought. He was the author of more than two dozen books covering topics in politics, philosophy, history, urban affairs, and social ecology." His ideas were broadly influential in many of what might be thought of as the more leftist and counter-cultural movements of the day. His environmental philosophy, or social ecology, he called Communalism, described as "a system encompassing a direct democratic political organization anchored in loosely confederated popular assemblies, decentralization of power, absence of domination of any kind, and replacing capitalism with human-centered forms of production."
BORLAND, Hal (1900-1978)
Beyond Your Doorstep: A Handbook to the Country
1962. Stated first edition. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Inscribed to Borland's son
Inscribed on ffe: "To Don - with the hope that you find your own fields & open roads - Dad (who happens to be Hal Borland), 12/25/62." Illustrated with drawings by Peter Parnall. Described as being "for anyone who walks the woods and fields and wants to learn about the living things he has often looked at but never seen." VG+ in a VG+ NPCDJ
Borland was a popular author, editorial writer, journalist and naturalist who wrote nature-themed editorials for the NYT for 35 years. According to his NYT obituary, he had a New Yorker cartoon on his office wall picturing a man angrily shaking a copy of the Times and telling his wife" "Here's another of those crackpot editorials about the voices of frogs shattering the autumn stillness!" An NYT op-ed piece published after his death begins: "For 35 years, Hal Borland was our correspondent in the universe. There were snowflakes on his beat, and spring rain, a wood thrush singing in the dusk, an apple tree in bloom." Borland published over 30 books, winning the Meeman Award for Conservation Writing (1966), the John Burroughs Medal (1968), and the Interpretive Naturalists Award (1973).
Illustrator Peter Parnall (1936-) is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator, most with natural themes, along with being an acclaimed illustrator of over 80 other books including the first edition of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire (1968).
BRIGGS, Shirley A[nn] (1918-2004)
Silent Spring: The View from 1987
1987. Pamphlet published by the Rachel Carson Council.
A 20-page pamphlet containing a 9,000+ word piece which was written to be an Afterword for a 25th anniversary edition of Silent Spring. According to a note on the inside cover: "At the last minute, they [Houghton Mifflin] decided not to use the chapter, because an organization that was purchasing a portion of the edition found it insufficiently optimistic and too critical of the pesticide industry." The pamphlet contains 18 pages of text and a 1.5-page list of references. Two M.C. Escher prints are included, one on the inside rear cover. Per another note on the inside front cover, Escher in 1970 gave the Rachel Carson Council permission to use such prints without further permission or cost. Rear cover is a miniature of a Council poster celebrating Carson and the 25th anniversary of Silent Spring. VG+ in paper wraps.
Basic Guide to Pesticides: Their Characteristics and Hazards
1992. Third(?) printing. Published Taylor & Francis. Co-authored by the Staff of the Rachel Carson Council
Quarto. Brief foreword by Sen. Abraham Ribicoff. A scientific reference book with an agenda. NF
Shirley Ann Briggs was an American artist, writer and naturalist. She was a close friend of Rachel Carson, with whom she worked for a time at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Both were involved with the Audubon Society, for whom Brigg's edited its periodical The Wood Thrush. Briggs helped Carson with her research for Silent Spring. In 1965, after Carson's death, she helped found what is now called the Rachel Carson Council, which she led from 1970-1992. She wrote several books, papers and articles publicizing the danger of pesticides, including this book, which led to her being awarded Environmental Protection Agency's Rachel Carson Award in 1992. [Paul Brook's Speaking for Nature (1980) in this Collection is inscribed to Briggs, and her bookplate is also in Roderick Nash's Wilderness and the American Mind (1967) in the Reference section].
BROOKS, Paul (1909-1998)
Roadless Area
1964. Stated first edition. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Winner of the Burrough's Medal. Green cloth boards. Rough cut outer edge of text block. Illustrated with drawings by author. NF in VG+ NPCDJ with only slight sun-fading to spine.
The House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work: With Selections from her Writings Published and Unpublished
1972. Review Copy - Uncorrected Galley Proofs. Published by Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Paper tan covers. Prepublication review copy, with hand-numbered pages. Pen marks on upper right-hand corner of front cover. Brooks was Carson's editor, and suggested the title "Silent Spring." G+
Speaking for Nature: How Literary Naturalists from Henry Thoreau to Rachel Carson Have Shaped America
1980. First edition. Published by Houghton Mifflin, Boston. Inscribed to Shirley Ann Briggs with her bookplate
Inscribed on half-title: "For Shirley/With warm regards/From Paul." Shirley Ann Briggs was the close friend and biographer of Rachel Carson, who took her pic on jacket of Silent Spring and who led the Rachel Carson Foundation. Octavo. Tan cloth boards. Illustrated with drawings by author. This excellent book is cited frequently by sources I come upon in the course of researching this website, and I've read the book cover-to-cover more than once, and continue to refer back to it often. VG in G+ NPCDJ.
Brooks was an important and passionate environmental figure in his own right, serving as a director of the Sierra Club and writing and lecturing widely on conservation issues. He was editor-in-chief of the General Book Department at Houghton Mifflin and was Rachel Carson's editor (he suggested the title "Silent Spring") and close friend who became guardian of her adopted son when she died.
Shirley Ann Briggs (1918-2004) was an American artist, writer and naturalist. She was a close friend of Rachel Carson, with whom she worked for a time at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Both were involved with the Audubon Society, for whom Briggs edited its periodical The Wood Thrush. In 1965 she helped found what is now called the Rachel Carson Council, which she led from 1970-1992. She wrote several books, papers and articles publicizing the danger of pesticides, including Basic Guide to Pesticides (1992), in the Collection. She helped with Carson on her research for Silent Spring. She was awarded the Environmental Protection Agency's Rachel Carson Award in 1992. Roderick Nash's Wilderness and the American Mind (1967) in this Collection also has Briggs' bookplate.
BROWER, David (1912-2000)
The Sierra Club Wilderness Handbook
[Edited by Brower]
1967. Second printing. Paper covers. Published by Sierra Club and Ballantine Books. Sheridan Anderson's ownership sig on cover.
Softcover. Second printing of Aug 67, four months after the initial printing. This book would properly be included in the Anthology/Compilation section but given that it was edited by Brower, I have taken the liberty of including it with his other works. The contents of the handbook represent a collaboration of Sierra Club members, ten of whom are acknowledged as primary authors of specific chapters and sections in the Acknowledgements. Described on the rear cover as "A complete guide to camping and wilderness travel prepared by America's most famous camping and conservation society," the book was designed to be carried into the backcountry to be used as a practical guide. This title expands on and includes in its entirety the Sierra Club's Going Light with Backpack or Burro (not in the Collection), which was initially published primarily for the benefit of members in 1951. The book opens with Newton B. Drury's 1951 one-page Foreword to the original book, followed by Brower's 1951 Preface with a shorter second Preface dated 1967. VG in paper covers.
Written in pen on the upper left corner of the front cover: "PROPERTY: Sheridan Anderson," with the name signed. Sheridan Anderson (1936-84) was an artist (cartoon form), author, climber, and fisher principally known as the author and illustrator of the 48-page The Curtis Creek Manifesto (1978 - not in the Collection), variously described as "the best-selling fly fishing book of all time" by its publisher, "a cult classic" by Wikipedia, and "probably the best beginner's treatise on how to fly-fish" by Anderson's close friend Yvon Chouinard, climber and Patagonia founder.
Anderson was an eccentric, itinerant character who spent much of his short life wandering, and then living in Yosemite's Camp 4, the epicenter of the American climbing world in the 1960s. Anderson was not an elite climber but did participate in at least two first ascents, and he was friends with all of the elite climbers of the day. He was also the unofficial artist of the camp while also supplying trout to the residents - he was urged to combine his talents and publish a fly-fishing book in order to help him fund his itinerant lifestyle. He sent the first 15 pages cold to a publisher in Oregon, Frank Amato, who published it almost unedited. It has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in multiple languages and is still published by Amato Media. Anderson also published a backpacking guide in 1980. Sadly, he died of pulmonary issues at age 47. A neat character, one of many I'd have liked to have met as I do this site. Paul W. Nesbit's self-published Longs Peak: Its Story and a Climbing Guide (1969 edition Catalogued below) is inscribed by a third party to Anderson. For a great piece on him, I recommend:
https://www.theflyfishjournal.com/exclusive/searching-for-sheridan/
Newton B. Drury (1889-1978) is one of the more important 20th century environmentalists who has not (prior to March 2025) been represented in any way in the Collection, as he authored no books himself. I am delighted to add him. Drury served in various leadership roles for the Save the Redwoods League for 58 years from shortly after its inception in 1918 until his death. He also served as the fourth director of the NPS, from 1940-51, and later as a director the California State Parks Commission. He resigned from the NPS after claising with the secretary of the Interior Department about the latter's support for dams in Dinosaur NP (see This is Dinosaur (1955) in Anthologies [Link]).
Through Drury, Save the Redwoods was instrumental in lobbying for the creation of the California State Parks Commission. The League has helped to protect (through 2018) more than 200,000 acres of forestland and has helped create 66 redwood parks and preserves, including Humboldt Redwoods SP and Redwood NP and SP. The League was started after Stephen Mather in 1917 asked Henry Fairfield Osborn, Madison Grant and prominent paleontologist and conservationist John C. Merriam to investigate the status of the old-growth redwoods - the four men decided that protecting the trees by purchasing groves and creating a public park was essential. [See the pamphlet by Henry Fairfield Osborn entitled Save the Redwoods (1920) [Link]].
For Earth's Sake: The Life and Times of David Brower
1990. Stated first edition. Published by Gibbs-Smith/Peregrine Smith Books. Signed
Signed on half-title. Attractive black faux-marbled boards with gilt lettering. Two self-addressed Earth Island Institute info cards laid in. F in a NF NPCDJ.
Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Those Who Would Save the Earth [Co-written by Steve Chapple]
1995. Stated first edition. Published by Harper Collins (West). Inscribed to singer John Denver
Inscribed on title page: "To John Denver and all the good your great music and spirit has done for us all. David P. Brower. 4/95." Blue boards with black cloth spine. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Brower could arguably be called the most influential environmentalist of second half of the 20th century whose name is not Rachel Carson.
Brower was a world-class mountaineer with multiple first ascents who served in the legendary 10th Mountain Division in WWII, earning a Bronze Star. He edited and contributed to the Manual of Ski Mountaineering (1942), used to train mountain-troops during the war.
After the war, Brower worked with the Sierra Club, editing the Sierra Club Bulletin and managing the club's High Trips. He was named the club's first executive director in 1952. Brower had worked in publishing and rushed This is Dinosaur (1955), edited by Wallace Stegner, into print. The book and the work of Brower and Sierra Club were critical to saving the Dinosaur National Monument from flooding. [See the entry on the book in the Anthologies section for more details, including on Brower.]
Brower started the Sierra Club's celebrated and influential 'exhibit format' book series in 1960. See Eliot Porter (1962) for two of these books, as well as Ansel Adams and Nancy Newhall's This is the American Earth (1960), the first in the series. During Brower's 17-year tenure as ED, the club grew from 7k to 70k members. During that time, the club helped to save the Grand Canyon from dammed floods (wordplay on purpose again, see Porter), support the creation of new national parks and seashores (including Cape Cod National Seashore and Redwood NP), and win passage of the Wilderness Act (see Tomorrow's Wilderness (1963) in Anthologies, published by the club). As a whole, Brower is credited with making the Sierra Club the political force it continues to be today.
The importance of the Sierra Club's exhibit format books cannot be understated - in terms of their popularity and success in introducing many people to the beauty of nature and in terms of their success in raising funds for the Sierra Club. Per published reports, sales of the first books in the series generated more than $10 million in revenue in the first few years. A deeper discussion about the impact of art generally and the series specifically will be the subject of a blog piece expected to be published in Jan 2025.
Brower was forced out of the Sierra Club in 1969 over conflicts with the club's board of directors over financial issues and differing stances on nuclear power plants, which Brower opposed. (He eventually reconciled and served two five-year terms on the board in the 1980s and 1990s). He co-founded Friends of the Earth in 1969, an international network of grassroots environmental organizations, out of which spun the League of Conservation Voters and the Environmental Policy Center. Brower got into another fight, this time with the FOE board, and left in 1986.
In 1982, Brower started Earth Island Institute, which sponsors ecological and incubator projects, such as dolphin-safe tuna and the Rainforest Action Network. He also served on the board of the Native Forest Council for 12 years until his death in 2000.
Brower was clearly a contentious fellow - amongst his own favorite quotes about himself was by Russell Train, an EPA administrator under Nixon: "Thank God for Dave Brower - he makes it so easy for the rest of us to be reasonable."
Reasonable or not, Brower was a force of nature and for nature. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three separate times and was awarded the Blue Planet Prize in 1998. He was a giant.
BROWN, Lester R. (1934)
Building a Sustainable Society
1981. Stated first. Published W.W. Norton, New York. Inscribed.
Inscribed on ffe: "To Hal Sandler, whose concerns I share. Les Brown/Jan 5, 1982." Per seller uncommon signed and apparently uncommon or scarce in hardcover generally. VG in a NF NPCDJ.
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
2008. Advanced reading copy in paper covers. Published W.W. Norton, New York. Advanced uncorrected proof from Peter Matthiessen's library, with a note from author to PM and extensive annotations, presumably by PM.
Uncorrected proof of this revised and expanded edition of Brown's book Plan B (2004). Sent to Peter Matthiessen with an Earth Policy Institute post-it type note from Brown dated 12/2/07 "Peter, Thought you might like an advance copy." Preface and intro heavily underlined, presumably by Matthiessen. Somewhat battered with damp staining to top and side edges, not affecting the pages. Fair in paper covers.
Breaking New Ground: A Personal History
2013. First printing. Published by W.W. Norton. Signed
Signed on title page. Brown's personal memoir. Blurbed by Edward O. Wilson, David Suzuki, Carl Safina and Ted Turner, among others. F in a F NPCDJ
Brown is an environmental analyst. In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, he founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. He is a MacArthur "genius award" Fellow, was awarded the United Nations Environmental Prize, and was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 1991, among literally hundreds of other honors. In 2001 he left Worldwatch to establish the Earth Policy Institute, devoted to providing a plan to save civilization. He retired in 2015 and closed EPI. Worldwatch Institute closed two years later. He is the author or co-author of over 50 books printed in 40 languages. In 2009 he published Plan B 4.0, the last (to date) of the Plan B books.
CAHN, Robert (1917-1997)
Footprints on the Planet: A Search for an Environmental Ethic
1978. First edition. Universal Books, New York. Signed.
One-page foreword, and blurb by Jacques Cousteau. Also blurbed by William O. Douglas. Signed on ffe. NF in a NF NPCDJ
Cahn was a prominent environmental journalist, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his 16-part series "Will Success Spoil the National Parks" for the Christian Science Monitor. [See Horace M. Albright's The Birth of the National Parks (1985), which was co-written with Cahn]. That same year, Cahn also received the Interior Dept's Conservation Service Award, as well as the Distinguished Service to Conservation Award from the National Wildlife Federation.
Cahn was also a practitioner, serving from 1970-72 under President Nixon as one of three members on the then newly formed Council of Environmental Quality, the first centralized White House office formed to advise the President on environmental issues. Cahn was there at the outset of regulations requiring environmental impact statements, but he felt they were not necessarily being heeded at the time. His 10/28/97 WaPo obit quotes him as saying in 1972, upon his departure from the Council: "You can't expect agencies to turn around overnight.... I'm not satisfied that the agencies in all cases have really considered the environmental impact, instead of making their decision first and then writing an environmental impact statement to justify it. This is still done too much...but this is far less true than it was two years ago."
Per Cahn's NYT 10/30/97 obituary, he also served at various times on the Commission on Research and Management in the NPS, on the Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas of the World Conservation Union, the Coastal Zone Management Committee of the Commerce Dept, the Presidential Citizens' Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality, and the executive boards of the Trust for Public Land, Friends of the Earth and the Student Conservation Association. He also worked as a field editor of Audubon magazine and served as special assistant to the president of the National Audubon Society. Cahn was a writer in residence at the Conservation Foundation when he wrote Footprints. His papers, including a substantial amount of material collected while writing the book with Albright referred to above, are held as part of the NPS History Collection.
Cousteau's foreword is brief but cogent: "...Today, the public is realizing that there is an urgent need for an environmental code of conduct. But today, still, money is the only yardstick used to evaluate projects and make decisions. No planner really cares about the long-range consequences of his enterprises.... For short-term conveniences, we are taking away from future generations the vital options they would need to exercise in order to survive decently.... If yesterday, such blind behavior of the decision-makers was not even discussed, today, on the contrary, public opinion is awakening and irresponsible decisions are openly challenged.... What future are we to bequeath to our grandchildren? Bob Cahn's Footprints on the Planet will, I hope, be the trail leading to the environmental ethic we urgently need." (p vi).
Cahn includes a useful two-page list of supplemental reading at the end of the book - many books not (yet) in the Collection. Delightfully, he includes Dr. Suess' The Lorax in that list.
CALLENBACH, Ernest (1929-2012)
Ecotopia
1975. First edition, ninth printing. Paper wrappers. Published by Banyan Tree Books. Inscribed.
Inscribed on ffe: "For Rowan and his daughters - With all good wishes for an Ecotopian future for us all - Ernest Callenbach/21 April 1988." One of the few novels in the Collection. VG in paper wrappers.
Callenbach is known for Ecotopia, a classic cult novel, and several follow-up books. He was a simple-living adherent but not a Luddite - instead of rejecting technology, he advocated selective use in the context of a self-sustaining, ecologically sound bio-regionalistic society. After rejection from 22 publishers, Callenbach published the book himself - it has sold over a million copies and been translated into multiple languages. Per the NYT’s 4/27/12 obituary of Callenbach, the book has been embraced by “ hippies and New Agers, environmental activists and college and high school science students, as well as evangelical Christians increasingly concerned about the global environment.”
The book’s futuristic assumptions include widespread recycling, community bike shares, locavore organic food, solar energy and electric cars. Environmental literature professor Scott Slovic is quoted in the obit: “ “People may look at it and say, ‘These are familiar ideas,’ not even quite realizing that Callenbach launched much of our thinking about these things.”
Callenbach was a long-time staffer at The University of California Press (Berkeley). He initially was a film critic and scholar, the founding editor of ‘Film Quarterly' for the CA Press, which he edited for 33 years.
CHISHOLM, Anne
Philosophers of the Earth: Conversations with Ecologists
1972. First edition. Published by Sidgwick & Jackson, U.K. Inscribed to notable author and activist Jessica Mitford
Inscribed on ffe: "Decca and Bob, Many thanks, + love, from Anne." VG in a G+ NPCDJ.
The publisher's description of the book describes ecology as a heretofore "obscure" science (at least in the U.K.) and calls the book "the first attempt to bridge the gap between the professional ecologist and the interested layman...." Chisholm recounts conversations with two dozen scientists, including Paul Ehrlich, Barry Commoner, the Leopold family (Aldo's wife Estella and five children, including Starker and Luna), Rene Dubos, Edward Wilson and Lewis Mumford.
Chisholm is a celebrated British biographer who has served as Chair of the Royal Society of Literature. [I confess to having recognized none of the names of the subjects of her book-length biographies].
Inscribee Jessica Mitford (1917-1996) was an influential author, investigative journalist and celebrated challenger of stuffy establishment norms. She was born into an aristocratic British family but turned sharply left to Communism while most of the family turned towards fascism. Her memoir about this, called Hons and Rebels is considered a classic, as is her book The American Way of Death, which exposed unscrupulous business practices in the funeral industry (neither book is in the Collection). It became a best-seller and led to Congressional hearings and industry reforms. J.K. Rowling describes Mitford as the author who’s writing most influenced her own.
Chisolm wrote Mitford’s obituary for the Independent in the UK.
COMMONER, Barry (1917-2012)
Science and Survival
1966. First edition. Published by Viking Press, New York. Inscribed
Commoner's first book. Inscribed on ffe: "For Susan and Arthur - scientists in the fight for survival! Love, Barry." Blurb on inside front flap of DJ from Stewart Udall (about Commoner generally, but not specific to the book). Contemporary clipping from NYT Book Review by one Daniel Lang describing the book as "enlightening and important." VG in a VG NPCDJ.
The Closing Circle: Nature, Man & Technology
1971. Stated first edition. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Signed
Signed and dated in year of publication, in St. Louis, where Commoner taught at Washington University. Ownership stamps on half-title and last fe: "Belongs to Rosa Schwarz." VG in VG NPCDJ.
Commoner was an enormously impactful scientist - a biologist, botanist and ecologist, scholar and public intellectual. His NYT obituary (10/1/12) opens: "Barry Commoner, a founder of modern ecology and one of its most provocative thinkers and motivators in making environmentalism a people's political cause, died on Sunday...." His work is considered to have influenced the decision of the Nixon Administration to form the EPA and enact the Clean Air Act of 1970. An uncredited 2/2/1970 Time magazine article (he was on the cover) entitled "Environment: Paul Revere of Ecology" avers that "Barry Commoner is a professor with a class of millions - most of them real students, all of them deeply concerned about man's war against nature.... In the past year, he has given 32 major speeches, written 14 articles, and traveled to numerous U.S. campuses, where he is revered as a voice of reason in a lunatic world.... Commoner's message is...the price of pollution could be the death of man." (https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,878180-2,00.html)
Commoner first became an important environmental figure in the mid-1950's when he publicized his nationwide study of babies' teeth, demonstrating the presence of stronium-90 lodged there - which was a major force in the enactment of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. His ecological and environmental interests grew, and he founded Washington University's Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, the first of its kind in the U.S. (He later moved it to Queens College, where in 2014 it was renamed the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment).
The Closing Circle "was one of the first [books] to bring the idea of sustainability to a mass audience." (Wikipedia entry on Commoner). He argued that the economy needed to be restructured so that it was in greater harmony with the laws of ecology and that products having a detrimental impact on the environment - such as synthetics - be replaced by natural, sustainable products such as cotton or wool, for example.
In The Closing Circle, he proposed four informal rules of ecology, summarized as: 1. Everything is connected to everything else. 2. Everything must go somewhere. 3. Nature knows best. 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Per his NYT obituary, those rules were printed on a lot of T-shirts back in his day.
Commoner not only brought a broad ecological view to the environmental movement but was also concerned with the social justice ramifications of environmental issues - he was clearly way ahead of his time. "To resolve the environmental crisis, we shall need to forego, at last, the luxury of tolerating poverty, racial discrimination, and war." (The Closing Circle, p. 296). He had a long-running debate with Paul Ehrlich (author of The Population Bomb (1968)) in which Commoner argued that overpopulation was not the cause of environmental issues but actually was a consequence of poverty - he argued that increased wealth (requiring incidentally a meaningful redistribution of that wealth) would drive reduced birth rates - a view borne out by subsequent developments in many of the world's weathiest economies. In The Closing Circle, he wrote that reducing population was politically and morally impossible - the "equivalent to attempting to save a leaking ship by lightening the load and forcing passengers overboard... One is constrained to ask if there isn't something radically wrong with the ship."
Commoner ran for president in 1980 on the Citizen's Party ticket, a party he founded. Socialist in orientation, he garnered some 0.27% of the vote.
Historian Michael Egan, who wrote a book on Commoner, is quoted in a 2012 NYT's blog piece: "He should be in any top five list of American environmental leaders, up there with Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, John Muir and Alice Hamilton.... Over his career, Commoner worked on nuclear fallout, pesticides, water contamination, air pollution, toxic metals, the petrochemical industry, population, energy and nuclear power, urban waste disposal, dioxin, recycling and all manner of other environmental issues. To Commoner, these were not individual problems but rather parts of the same problem: American production choices were flawed.... I think he understood - much earlier than most - that environmental problems were really social problems and needed to be recognized as such." (https://archive.nytimes.com/dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/barry-commoners-uncommon-life/?searchResultPosition=1)
DEVALL, Bill (1938-2009) and SESSIONS, George (1938-2016)
Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered
1985. First printing. Published by Gibbs-Smith/Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City.
Grey boards. Unmarked save 1985 ownership signature (Louanne Rank). Laid in is a copy of an email from the publisher confirming this is a first printing. Dedicated to Arne Naess, who coined the term "deep ecology" (see more on him below) and Gary Snyder (see also below). NF in a fully intact VG DJ.
In this influential book, Devall and Sessions summarized the deep ecology philosophy with the following eight (paraphrased) points:
(1) All life has intrinsic value, (2) Which includes diversity, (3) Humans have no right to reduce diversity except to satisfy vital needs, (4) Which may require a substantial decrease in human populations, (5) Human interference with nature is at a critical and worsening state, (6) Policies need to be changed to reverse this, (7) Which requires valuing life over standard of living, and (8) All who agree with these principals must help implement them.
Bill Devall was a sociology professor at Humboldt State in CA who also taught classes in forestry, radioactive waste, and wilderness. He was an environmental activist in his own right, working to protect ecosystems in Northern CA, including old growth forests in the Pacific NW. George Sessions spent nearly 50 years as a philosophy professor at Sierra College in CA, a key player in the development of eco-philosophy and environmental ethics movements. He was also an accomplished climber, having been taken under the wing of David Brower as a young climber.
DILLARD, Annie (1945)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
1975. First UK Edition. Published by Jonathan Cape, London. Signed
Published in the US in 1974 and winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. This was her first book of prose. This UK edition has an introduction by Richard Adams (1920 - 2016), author of Watership Down. Brown cloth boards, slightly faded in parts. VG+ in a NF NPCDJ.
Dillard's work is often compared to that of the transcendentalists, particularly Emerson and Thoreau. None other than Edward Abbey, himself often called the "Thoreau of the West," called Dillard the "true heir" of Thoreau.
DOIG, Ivan (1939-2015)
This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind
1978. Stated first. Published by Harcourt Brace Jovanich. Inscribed.
Inscribed on ffe: "For Guy Reynolds - in remembrance of the WSS years we knew together. Best wishes, Ivan Doig, Seattle, Oct. 27, '78." WSS refers to White Sulpher Springs, Doig's hometown in Montana. Doig's first book, a memoir about his early life in Montana, based in part on interviews with his father and others, as well as archival research. The book was a finalist for a National Book Award for Contemporary Thought. Blurbed by Edward Hoagland. NF in a VG NPCDJ.
Doig is considered one of the deans of writers about the American West, writing about ordinary people in an extraordinary land. He won the Center for the American West's Wallace Stegner award and the Western Literature Association's lifetime Distinguished Achievement award. The majority of his books are fiction - this is one of three nonfiction books (excluding a co-authored textbook).
DUBOS, Rene (1901-1982)
The Wooing of Earth: New Perspectives on Man's Use of Nature
1980. First printing. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Signed
Signed on half-title. Among Dubos' last books. NF in a NF NPCDJ
Dubos is often credited with coining the phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally." He was a microbiologist and experimental pathologist by trade, the first to demonstrate the ability to obtain germ-fighting drugs from microbes. He spent most of his career at The Rockfeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University). Later in his career, he explored the interplay of environmental forces and human development. His humanistic philosophy is described as an optimistic one: local choices and conditions affect global issues, social evolution enables us to shift direction towards a more ecologically balanced environment, our increasing awareness of human impacts on the environment and the resilience of nature point towards an optimistic future, and we can apply success in addressing past problems to resolving future issues. The Wooing of the Earth is a summary of this philosophy, described in the publisher's blurb as a "balanced understanding of the environmental crisis...."
EHRLICH, Gretel (1946)
The Solace of Open Spaces
1985. First printing. Published by Viking Penguin, New York. Signed, with bookplate of Annie Dillard, who provided a blurb.
Ehrlich's first book, signed on title page. Bookplate "Ex libris Annie Dillard" on ffe. Above is Dillard's name in script. On the top right corner of the dj cover is a small white sticker which says Dillard, and on the spine near the bottom is another which says Annie. The cover sticker and signature on ffe are same handwriting but impossible to tell if it is hers, or if some bookseller needed multiple reminders that it was Dillard's copy. Dillard provided one of five blurbs on the rear dj cover (the other four by Tracy Kidder, Ed Abbey, Ivan Doig and Edward Hoagland - a distinguished group indeed!). Laid in is a small photo which appears to have been taken from the deck of a commercial ship at sea with no identifying info. Blue boards with ivory cloth spine, lightly faded at edges. VG- in a G+ NPCDJ.
The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold
2004. First printing. Published by Pantheon Books, New York.
From author's own library per bookseller Ken Lopez although nothing to verify this. (I find Ken and his people to be a truthful and reputable). Blue boards. F in a F NPCDJ.
EHRLICH, Paul R. (1932)
The Population Bomb
1968. Stated first printing. Published by Ballantine Books in conjunction with the Sierra Club. Paper covers, as issued.
Seemingly unread in cheap paperback binding. Gift inscription on inside front cover in marker: "Gary, Unfortunately, they don't issue shares in air or living space. A sober thought for our Christmas stockings - and a wish for future happiness. Tom." Introduction by David Brower. The book was hastily written by Ehrlich and his wife Anne (uncredited) at the suggestion of Brower and Ian Ballantine of Ballantine Books following Ehrlich's public lectures on the subject of overpopulation. Ehrlich credits his initial interest in the idea to a lecture given by William Vogt [see Road to Survival (1948)]. The book, although roundly criticized as too alarmist and containing many dire predictions which never came to pass, sold millions of copies and was enormously influential in popularizing environmental issues generally, particularly relating to population, food security and resource allocation generally.
Eco-Catastrophe: Dr. Paul Ehrich [Separately published reprint of a magazine article]
[Pamphlet] Circa 1970.
A reprint of a lengthy 1969 article by Ehrlich initially published in Ramparts Magazine called "Ecology Center Reprint I," which was priced at 25 cents. The Ecology Center was founded in Ann Arbor, MI following a teach-in on the first Earth Day in 1970. The reprint is plain paper, 8.5"x11", with the cover, lightly stained near top, showing a fuzzy xeroxed photo of a bird over water. The verso of the cover is blank, the other five interior pages contain the double-column text of the article. (A figure at the top of page 1 is a copy of a small wood engraving by M.C. Escher). The rear cover contains a typewritten "Basic Ecology Bibliography" consisting of 31 books, broken into nine categories. Except for the G+ cover, would describe the condition as VG+.
The Machinery of Nature: The Living World Around Us - And how it Works
1986. Second printing. Published by Simon and Schuster, New York.
Buff boards with green cloth spine. VG in a VG NPCDJ
Dr. Ehrlich, a biologist and long-time Stamford professor, is best known for The Population Bomb (and a number of subsequent books expanding on the same subject), although he has authored or collaborated on a staggering number of other books - many with his wife Anne to whom he has been married since 1954. He has been criticized as being way too pessimistic in his ecological predictions (for example, he predicted at one point that all major marine wildlife would die by 1980). At the same time, he has been widely recognized and celebrated for calling public attention to ecological and environmental issues and dangers. He himself concedes that he got the timing of many of his predictions wrong but still argues that overpopulation in particular, along with loss of biodiversity, overfishing, global warming, desertification, chemical pollution and competition for finite natural resources, will ultimately lead to disaster. He has been criticized from the left for over-focusing on population issues compared with distribution of resource issues, a criticism Ehrlich has conceded has a degree of validity. Overall, there is no question his work has had a huge impact on public awareness and discussion on environmental and ecological issues. His wife Anne (see below) was uncredited co-author on many of his books.
EHRLICH, Paul (1932) and Anne (1933)
One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future
2004. First. Published by Island Press/Shearwater. Warmly inscribed by both authors to the book's editor.
Inscribed on half title: "To Jonathan [Cobb] with deepest appreciation. Working with you not only saved this book, but made slavery a pleasure! You are a truly great editor as well as a good friend/Paul + Anne." The inscription is written by Paul and signed by both. F in a F NPCDJ.
Anne Ehrlich is a prominent biologist in her own right who has been substantively an equal partner with her husband Paul in their authorial, scholarly and activist endeavors, but was not credited as coauthor on many of their books.
FACKLAM, Margery (1927-2015) and Howard (1928-2002)
Changes in the Wind: Earth's Shifting Climate
1986. Stated first. Published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Inscribed.
Inscribed on ffe: "For Terri - another writer inspired at Chataqua - 1986/Best, Margery Facklam." An early climate change book, predating Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature by three years. The fact that it was written for a teenage/young adult audience makes it even more notable. In researching the book, Margery spent two weeks on a Duke University research trip to the Galapagos Islands studying ocean currents. Heavily illustrated with photos and with diagrams by Paul Facklam. F in a F NPCDJ.
Margery Facklam had a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in science education. She published her first children's book about natural science in 1962. She wrote more than 30 books, two of which were named Outstanding Science Trade Books by the Children's Book Council and the National Science Teachers Association. And Then There Was One (not in the Collection) was named best book of 1990 by the School Library Journal. In 2005, she received the Knickerbocker Award for her body of work from the New York State Library Association. She also worked as an assistant curator of education at the Buffalo Museum of Science, the director of education and public relations at the Aquarium of Niagara, and a coordinator of education at the Buffalo Zoo. Co-author and husband Howard Facklam was a long-time high school science teacher.
FARQUHAR, Francis P.
History of the Sierra Nevada
[Photos]
1965. First. Published by Univ of California Press in collaboration with The Sierra Club. Inscribed to a significant environmentalist
Inscribed on ffe: "To Mr. and Mrs. George Brewer, with the regards of Francis P. Farquhar, November 1965." The book is considered a classic of its genre and remains in print today (2024). Large octavo in blue cloth with a white illustration of a mountain on the front board. In a tan illustrated dj on fibrous paper. Errata slip laid in. NF in a NF NPCDJ
See also William H. Brewer's Up and Down California in 1860-64 (Catalogued 1860) which was edited by Farquhar and published in 1930.
Francis Farquhar was an environmentalist, author, bibliographer, bibliophile and accomplished mountaineer - History of the Sierra Nevada hits on all of these interests. He served two separate terms as the head of the Sierra Club and edited the Sierra Club Bulletin for 20 years. He had a number of first ascents in the Sierra, and there is a mountain named after him in Kings Canyon NP.
George Brewer was a significant if somewhat unheralded environmentalist who in 1947 worked with Fairfield Osborn to found the Conservation Foundation (which merged into the World Wildlife Fund in 1990 - there is now a different organization using the name). Brewer served as its education director until 1965 and was still a trustee when he died. Aldo Leopold and William Vogt served on the Foundation's advisory committee, according to correspondence in Leopold's papers. Brewer was also a governor of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation Education, and director of the National Parks Association and the Student Conservation Association. He was also a playwright who had several Broadway productions, and he co-authored and produced a series of conservation-oriented films for the Foundation. Incidentally, George and William Brewer appear to be unrelated.
FINCH, Robert (1943)
The Primal Place
1983. Stated first. Published by W.W. Norton. Signed.
Signed on half-title. Faded gift inscription on ffe. Blurb by Annie Dillard on rear cover. NF in a NF PCDJ
Finch is an author, essayist and radio commentator who has lived on Cape Cod since 1971. He has written or edited a number of books on the Cape, of which this is the second. His first, Common Ground (not in the Collection) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
FOSSEY, Dian (1932-1985)
Gorillas in the Mist [Uncorrected proof copy]
1983. Uncorrected proof copy. Published Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Advance uncorrected proof copy in lightly faded blue heavy paper wraps with edits in black pen by unknown hand which were included in the final publication. Anticipated publication date 25 August 1983. Pagination written in by hand. NF in paper wraps.
Fossey's book and the subsequent film adaptation were highly influential in publicizing the threats to mountain gorillas and their habitat and are considered a key element in the reversal of the population declines of that species. It remains, according to Wikipedia, the best-selling book on gorillas. She lived and studied gorillas for 20 years in Rwanda, where she became a fierce (often violent) opponent of poachers - claiming to have lashed one in the balls with stinging nettles and having reportedly kidnapped the child of another. She was described by one journalist in a 2002 WSJ article as "a racist alcoholic who regarded her gorillas as better than the African people who lived around them." In 1985 she was found murdered with a machete in her bedroom in her Rwandan camp.
GIBBS, Lois Marie (1951) [as told to Murray Levine]
Love Canal: My Story
1982. First. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany. Inscribed.
Inscribed on ffe: "12-22-88, For Bart, Thanks so much for your support. You're GREAT. Together we will win. Good luck & best wishes, Lois Marie Gibbs." NF in a VG NPCDJ
Lois Marie Gibbs was a primary organizer of the Love Canal Homeowners Association in the Niagara Falls area of New York State, whose work eventually led to the creation of the EPA's superfund program. She became a household name for her environmental activism, which she continues, focusing now on issues associated with fracking.
In 1978, Gibbs discovered that her five-year-old son's elementary school was built on a toxic waste dump. Concerned, she approached the local school board, which dismissed her. She began a grassroots campaign which led to the state's Department of Health ordering the school closed. After years of continued work, 833 families were eventually relocated from the area, and the cleanup of Love Canal began. Her work led to the creation of the EPA's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly referred to as Superfund or CERCLA, which is used to locate and clean up toxic waste sites nationally.
In 1980, Gibbs formed the Citizens' Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste - later renamed the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, which seeks to help in the formation and support of strong local organizations combatting local hazardous waste issues.
Gibbs has been honored with the 1990 Goldman Environmental Prize, the Heinz Award in the Environment in 1998, and other awards and honorary degrees. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. She was also played by Marsha Mason in a TV movie about the Love Canal fight in 1982.
HAGEN, Toni; DYHRENFURTH, G.O.; FURER-HAIMENDORF, Charles Von; SCHNEIDER, Erwin
Mount Everest: Formation, Population and Exploration of the Everest Region
1963. First English Language edition. Published by Oxford University Press, London. Ownership sig and bookplate of Antarctica explorer George Lowe
Originally published in German in 1959. Octavo. Grey cloth boards with blue printed field on spine. Large folding map in pocket attached to rpd. Signed and with bookplate of George Lowe, who was photographer for the first party to transect the entire continent of Antarctica . Translated by E. Noel Bowman, except, per a publisher's slip tipped into copyright page, Fuhrer-Haimendorf substantially rewrote and translated his own work (Part III). F-H's biographical blurb on the rear cover was amended by the publisher using a sticker over the original text. NF in a G NPCDJ which has a somewhat sun-faded spine.
HAMERSTROM, Frances (1907-1998)
Strictly for the Chickens
1980. Stated first. Published by Iowa State University Press. Signed
Signed on title page. Memoirish book about her and her husband's decades-long fight to study and save the prairie chickens of Wisconsin. NF in a VG- DJ, separating at front crease.
My Double Life: Memoirs of a Naturalist
1990. Paperback edition. Published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. Signed
Signed on title page. Paperback edition - unclear if there were preceding hardcover and/or paperback printings. Hamerstrom was an important ornithologist, naturalist, conservationist and prolific author. She was the only female to receive a graduate degree studying under Aldo Leopold. Illustrated with drawings by Elva Hamerstrom Paulson as well as photos. G+ in paper covers.
Frances Hamerstrom (nee Flint) was an interesting cat. She grew up in a very wealthy Boston family, groomed in finishing schools "to marry an ambassador." Instead, after failing out of Smith (seemingly on purpose), she secretly married Frederick Hamerstrom. They moved to Iowa to get bachelor's degrees, then to Wisconsin where Hamerstrom studied under Aldo Leopold, earning a master's in wildlife management in 1940. They went to work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources doing groundbreaking research on prairie chickens and birds of prey - they are credited with preserving habitat and saving the bird from extirpation in the state.
Hamerstrom wrote a dozen books, including several for children, and published over 100 scientific papers. Per her 9/7/98 NYT obituary, she lived for over fifty years in Wisconsin in a house with neither running water nor central heating.
HANCOCK, Lyn
Looking for the Wild: A 30,000-mile Naturalists Journey Across North America
1986. First (Canadian?). Published by Doubleday Canada. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. Signed
A re-creation of Roger Tory Peterson and James Fishers' iconic journey recounted in Wild America (1955) by a group of naturalists including the author and RTP himself, who wrote the 2.5-page Foreword - see the Catalogue entry for Wild America for more info. Hancock is an Australian-born Canadian author, educator and wildlife photographer. Signed by her on both ffe and half-title. F in a F NPCDJ
HARRIS, Eddy L. (1956)
Mississippi Solo
1989. [Edition/printing to come]. Published by Nick Lyons Press. Signed
Signed on half-title: "Magic! Eddy L. Harris." Harris' first book, an account of his solo trip down the entire length of the Mississippi, considered an early ecological work by a Black author. At once memoir, travelogue and exploration of the intersection of race and place. F in a NF DJ with an "autographed copy" sticker on it.
HARRISON, Ruth (1920-2000)
Animal Machines: The New Factory Farming Industry
1964. First edition. Published by Vincent Stuart Ltd., London
Tan cloth boards. Errata notice tipped in facing title page. Two-page foreword and a rear jacket blurb by Rachel Carson - this book was published in the year of RC's death (and my birth). VG in VG NPCDJ.
Harrison (OBE) was a British animal welfare activist and writer. When Animal Machines was written, industrial agriculture was a relatively new phenomenon - her prescient work preceded Pollan's popular The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), which raised society's consciousness about the ill-effects of modern agribusiness, by over forty years. That said, Animal Machines was itself an influential book which prompted U.K. and European changes in agricultural practices and was the inspiration for the "European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes." She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1986.
HARTZOG Jr., George B. (1920-2008)
Battling for the National Parks
1988. Stated first. Published by Moyer Bell, Mt. Kisco, NY. Inscribed to Naomi Hunt, an uncelebrated but important NPS figure.
Inscribed on title page: "Inscribed for Naomi Hunt with all good wishes, George B. Hartzog, 6/22/88." Foreword by Stewart Udall. Blurbs from Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner, among others. F in a F NPCDJ
George Hartzog was a lawyer who served as the seventh director of the National Park Service, serving an effective nine-year term beginning in 1964 before being forced out by Nixon for withdrawing the permit of Nixon’s friend Bebe Rebozo to park his yacht at a National Monument in Florida. The book is his autobiography.
According to an NPS bio, Hartzog succeeded in expanding the NPS system by over 60 sites, including the National Recreation Areas Gateway in NYC and Golden Gate Park in SF. Hartzog greatly expanded NPS urban programming and diversified its employee base, including appointing a Black man, Grant Wright, to head the NP Police - the first Black person to run a major American police force.
Per the NPS bio, Hartzog was instrumental in getting congressional approval for the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, allowing 80 million acres of Alaska wildlands to be withdrawn for new national parks, wildlife refuges, and wilderness. Former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall said, "[Hartzog] ... was a consummate negotiator, he enjoyed entering political thickets; he had the self-confidence and savvy to be his own lobbyist and to win most of his arguments with members of Congress, Governors and Presidents."
The author description in the DJ rear flap reads in its entirety: "George B. Hartzog, Jr. was not the beneficiary of an excess of formal education, yet he was the youngest ordained minister in South Carolina, and passed the bar exam on the third try without going to law school. He worked his way up from a ranger in the National Park Service until he was appointed its seventh director, and was at the helm during its most important years." Hartzog was profiled in The New Yorker by John McPhee.
Naomi Hunt (1919-2011) was a somewhat uncelebrated but nevertheless important environment figure who started working at the NPS in 1960. She worked directly with Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson on their National Park beautification projects. Later, Hunt edited the NPS’s magazine. Though she retired in 1985, she continued to research and write extensively for the NPS, sometimes spending months on location doing research.
HAY, John (1915-2011)
Nature's Year: The Seasons of Cape Cod
1961. First edition. Published by Doubleday & Co., Garden City. Inscribed and with a separate signed note to the inscribees laid in
Gray and yellow cloth boards. Inscribed: "With best regards to Armour and Peggy Craig/From John Hay." Laid in is a separate note reading: "Dear Armour and Peggy: Hope you had a good time in Europe this summer. Sending you my book in remembrance of your helpful editing job last year. Best, John." Laid in is also a Doubleday packing slip for six copies at $4.50 each. Light foxing to fpd and ffe, otherwise unmarked. VG no DJ.
The Immortal Wilderness
1987. First edition. Published by W.W. Norton & Co., New York and London
Reddish cloth boards. NF to F in a NF to F NPCDJ
A Beginner's Faith in Things Unseen
1995. First edition. Published by Beacon Press, Boston. Inscribed to Peter Matthiessen
Dark blue and brown cloth boards. Inscribed: "To Peter Matthiessen/From John Hay at the SIGNING!/All the best." Matthiessen provides a one sentence blurb on the rear cover: "John Hay is one of our very best essayists on the natural world." NF to F in a NF to F NPCDJ.
John Hay, though perhaps not a household name (although his eponymous grandfather was), was an influential naturalist and writer who lived on Cape Cod. He co-founded the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and served as its president for 25 years, until 1980. Writes Dave Gessner, Hay's biographer:
...he was one of the great artists and original thinkers of the latter part of the 20th century.... The editors of The Norton Book of Nature Writing call John Hay 'one of the most innovative and daring of contemporary writers in the genre.' [No cite provided].... [Hay] played a significant role in the development of American environmental thought and literature.... John's ideas, I believe now, were - and are - subtly radical. Primary among these ideas, the one imbedded everywhere in his work, is the notion that human beings may not be so central to the world after all.... If what truly matters is respecting the earth and preserving the diversity of ecosystems, then it follows that traditional ways of seeing land for what one can 'get' from it are discarded. [billanddavescocktailhour.com].
Hay's grandfather was the great John Hay who served as Abraham Lincoln's personal secretary during the Civil War and, forty years later, as Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt. His father was curator of archeology at the AMNH in NYC.
HECHT, Susanna and COCKBURN, Alexander (1941-2012)
The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon
1989. First edition. Published by Verso, London and New York. Signed by Cockburn
Signed by Cockburn on half-title. Hecht is a geographer, a professor at UCLA and at GIIDS in Geneva and a member of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. Her work on Amazon deforestation led to the founding of the field of political ecology. In 2004, this book was named one of the most influential books on cultural geography by the American Association of Geography. She is clearly a badass. Cockburn was a well-known left-wing political journalist. Green cloth boards. VG+ to NF in a VG+ to NF DJ.
HIAASEN, Carl (1953)
Tourist Season
1986. First printing. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Signed
Signed on ffe. Hiaasen's first solo novel - he had previously co-authored three novels with William D. Montalbano. Hiaasen is a journalist and native Floridian who has published some 25 +/- brilliant, satirical, funny-as-shit, smart, wonderfully entertaining novels, set in Florida, which almost universally have as central themes the environmental destruction and political corruption (usually related) of the state. In case it is not obvious, I am a huge fan. I am so happy he is represented in the Collection, finally! [He does have an essay in the anthology Heart of the Land (1994)].
Tourist Season is a black comedy about a group of environmentalists who undertake a campaign to drive tourism from Florida by offing selected tourists. I could write a chapter on Hiaasen, having read all of his books multiple times. If you've not read him, and possess a sense of humor, read him. His young adult novels are as good as his adult novels, just a shade less dark.
HICKEL, Walter J. (1919-2010)
Who Owns America?
1971. First. Published by Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Inscribed to Fred Hack, eco-conscious developer of Hilton Head
Inscribed on ffe: "To Fred Hack, For all your kind efforts on our visit to Hilton Head, 12-2-72." Laid in is a program for "Hickel Day," which was held the same day as the inscription, at Hilton Head. Hickel Day was sponsored by the Hilton Head Fishing Cooperative and South Carolina Environmental Action, Inc. VG with very light foxing in a VG NPCDJ with sun-faded spine.
Walter Hickel was an interesting cat - a businessman and real estate developer who served as Interior Secretary under Nixon despite strident opposition to his appointment from, among others, David Brower, George McGovern, Walter Mondale and prominent journalists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson. Despite the opposition, he turned out to be a strong environmentalist (note the Nixon Administration may be the most important pro-environmental administration in history after that of Theodore Roosevelt). During his stint at Interior, he helped defeat the construction of a chemical plant planned upstream from Hilton Head, which likely led to his celebration at "Hickel Day." The Hickel Day program includes a number of Hickel environmental quotes.
Hickel served two non-consecutive terms as governor of Alaska, one before and one well after his stint in Washington. As a businessman, his career was "marked by a commitment to development that balanced economic growth with environmental responsibility. His success as a businessman provided him with the resources and platform to pursue public service and activism, where he continued to advocate for sustainable development and environmental protection" per his Wikipedia page. Clearly, he was a man of his time, and his State - he was no environmental saint, but on balance and given historical context, he was one of the good guys. Incidentally, he was fired from the Nixon Administration for a public letter protesting Vietnam War policy following Kent State.
The book discusses Hickel's time at Interior and his philosophy that vigorous environmental stewardship and leadership, leavened by a sense of shared ownership and responsibility, are necessary for the (American) people as a whole to achieve individual and collective inner peace and happiness. He wrote at a time when the failures of the military-industrial complex were becoming acutely obvious.
Fred Hack was a Georgia timberman who spearheaded the purchase of a large swath of Hilton Head and its subsequent development. By all accounts he attempted to develop with an eye towards maintaining the natural elements of the island. I doubt he succeeded, but the fact that he even tried put him far ahead of this time.
HOAGLAND, Edward (1932)
Notes from the Century Before: A Journal from British Columbia
1969. Stated first printing. Published by Random House, New York. Inscribed
Inscribed on second fe: "To John/With best regards/Edward Hoagland." Black cloth boards with copper gilt design and lettering. Outer edge of text block rough cut. VG+ to NF in a VG NPCDJ.
The Courage of Turtles
1970. First or early edition. Published by Random House, New York. Inscribed
Inscribed on second fe: "To John/With best regards/Edward Hoagland." May be a first edition but Random House from 1967-1970 was evolving their protocol for indicating the publishing history. If it is not a first it is an early edition, as it is priced at $5.95. Octavo. Tan and purple boards. Outer edge of text block rough cut. VG+ to NF in a VG NPCDJ.
The Moose on the Wall: Field notes from the Vermont wilderness
1974. First edition. Published by Barrie & Jenkins Ltd., London. Signed
Signed on title page. With a letter of provenance to me from bookseller Ken Lopez indicating the book is from Hoagland's personal library. Never published in the U.S. Brown cloth boards. VG+ to NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Red Wolves & Black Bears
1969. Stated first edition. Published by Random House, New York. Signed
Signed under half-title. Mustard and red boards. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Edward Hoagland was among the premier essayists of his time - indeed John Updike referred to Hoagland as "the best essayist of my generation." Hoagland is probably best known for his nature essays. The Washington Post referred to him as "the Thoreau of our time." Alden Mudge quotes Hoagland in a 2001 piece: "Becoming a committed conservationist one also becomes - unfortunately - a pessimist because you start paying attention to the destruction of habitat wherever you are.... Political radicalism opposes the forces that are destroying nature, such as rampant capitalism, private enterprise with no limitations put on it, no environmental limitations. Social conservatism opposes what removes us individually from nature...the destruction of natural areas, of nature, of habitat, and the dissolution of traditional social boundaries which fit human beings to live in nature, boundaries which involve altruism, courage, community and personal attachments." Hoagland believes he will be best remembered for his nature writing. "Because people will want to know what these wild places were like when there are no more wild places. There will be no more wild places! There will be national parks that will be like glorified zoos. But there simply will not be wild places." [https://web.archive/web/20080601205948/http://www.bookpage.com/0102bp/edward_hoagland.html].
JOHNSON, Cathy
The Nocturnal Naturalist: Exploring the Outdoors at Night
1989. Stated first/first. Published by Globe Pequot Press, Connecticut. With a lengthy inscription to Ann Zwinger, who blurbed the book, and a laid-in lengthy personal TLS to Zwinger.
Inscribed on ffe: "To Ann - With my gratitude and affection. Where would a struggling young (!?) writer be without the encouragement, wisdom and occasional prods of people of goodwill like yourself? Exactly nowhere. Love, Cathy." Laid-in is a highly personal, typewritten, signed one-and-a-half-page letter from author to Zwinger (noting among other things that she hates the subtitle). Finally, there is also a post-it with a note from author to AZ stuck to the bottom of the TLS that presumably accompanied the book. White cloth boards. F in a F NPCDJ.
According to Johnson's own website [cathyjohnson.info], she has worked as an artist, writer, teacher and naturalist and has written and/or illustrated 36 books (as of 3/2023), including two art books for the Sierra Club. Her website is a hell of a lot nicer than mine :)
LaBASTILLE, Anne (1933 - 2011)
Woodswoman
1976. Stated first edition, first printing. Published by E.P. Dutton & Co., New York. Signed.
Signed on ffe. Salmon colored cloth boards. Front hinge showing early signs of separation, else VG in a VG NPCDJ.
This classic (and wonderful) book is about the author's experience building and living alone for many years in a remote, boat access-only area on Twitchell Lake (which she called Black Bear Lake in the book) in New York State's Adirondack mountains. The cabin was moved in 2015 to Adirondack Experience Museum, where it was reassembled and is on public display. (See my blog post from July 2023 regarding my visit to the museum to see the display).
This is the first of four books in LaBastille's Woodswoman series, and the best known. LaBastille was an environmentalist and working ecologist of note, author of 16 books and many articles and scientific papers, including some of the first to highlight the impacts of acid rain. She helped to establish wildlife refuges in Central America and served on the board of the Adirondack Park Agency, which regulates land use in the park.
LEVENSON, Thomas
Ice Time: Climate, Science, and Life on Earth
1989. Stated first edition. Published by Harper & Row, New York. Signed
Signed on title page: "Best wishes, Thomas Levenson/June 20, 1989." With two prior owner's ownership stickers (one is a bookplate) neatly placed on ffe. Levenson is an academic (MIT), science writer and documentary filmmaker. A relatively early book on climate change, published the same year as McKibben's The End of Nature. Buff boards with blue cloth spine. VG+ in a NF NPCDJ.
LINDSEY, ALTON A.
Naturalist on Watch
1983. First in paper covers (published simultaneously in hard back). Published by Merry Lea Environmental Center, Goshen College, Indiana. Signed.
Signed on title page, above which is a presentation inscription in a different hand. The book consists of forty short essays. VG in paper wraps.
Lindsey was a pioneering ecologist, author and professor who is credited with spearheading important land conservation measures in the state of Indiana, where he taught at Purdue. Lindsey was the last surviving member of Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic expeditions, and a chain of 12 islands off the coast of the continent are named the Lindsey Islands after him. In 1976, the Ecological Society of America named him the “eminent ecologist” of the year. He was a founding member of The Nature Conservancy.
Per his obituary in the NYT, in retirement Lindsey sometimes impersonated John Burroughs, wearing fake whiskers and carrying a long walking stick whilst quoting from the master’s writings. By all accounts he had an excellent sense of humor.
LOPEZ, Barry [Holstun] (1945-2020)
Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven
1976. First. Published by Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, Kansas City. Signed
Lopez’ first book, signed on title page. Published under the name Barry Holstun Lopez (he dropped Holstun in the books listed below). From the collection of Shawn Donnille, his sale PBA Galleries Nov 2023. Donnille is an environmental activist and well-known natural living proponent, the founder of Mountain Rose Herbs, a large organic products retailer. NF in a NF NPCDJ
Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape
1986. First printing. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Inscribed to Peter Matthiessen
Inscribed on half-title: "Finn Rock/February 24, 1986/Peter, with admiration, in a shared sense of enthusiasm for the land, for all it contains. Barry." Letter expanding on provenance from Ken Lopez, bookseller, laid in. Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Wonderful. Dark grey boards with white cloth spine. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Crossing Open Ground
1988. First printing. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Signed advance review copy
Signed on half-title. Advance review copy with publisher's materials laid in including author photo, review copy slip listing anticipated publication date (2/23/88), and stapled publicity sheets. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
Barry Lopez was an important, widely read and honored author whose work focused on nature and its intersection with human cultures. Described in a Guardian review of Arctic Dreams by Robert Macfarlane as "the most important living writer about wilderness," Lopez was a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine and a contributor to many others, including National Geographic and Outside. He traveled extensively and wrote in-depth about the landscapes he explored. In addition to winning the National Book Award for Arctic Dreams, he was also nominated for that award for another work. He was also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a John Burroughs Medal and many other honors. He was elected as a fellow of the Explorers Club in 2002.
LOVELOCK, James (1919-2022)
Gaia: A new look at life on Earth
1979. First edition. Published by Oxford University Press.
Green cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine. 157 pages. Printed in the UK with British Library Cataloguing in the Publication Data on the copyright page (no Library of Congress) but with a US$ price on the inside front flap of the DJ. Unmarked. NF in a VG+ NPCDJ.
The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back - and how We can Save Humanity
2006. First edition, seventh(?) printing. Published by Allen Lane (Penguin). Inscribed
Inscribed on title page: "To Martin Mottram. James Lovelock." Forward by Sir Crispin Tickell. NF in a VG+ NPCDJ
Sir Crispin Tickell (1930-2022) was a British diplomat, academic and prominent environmentalist. He was President of the Royal Geographic Society and the Marine Biological Association, director of the Policy Foresight Programme at Oxford, Chairman of the Climate Institute in Washington, and headed and served on various government task forces and commissions. He was interested in conservation of biodiversity, climate change and population control, among other issues. Margaret Thatcher credited Tickell with persuading her to make her 1988 speech on climate change to the Royal Society.
The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning
2009. First printing. Published by Basic Books/Perseus. Signed.
Signed on title page. Otherwise unmarked and unread. Black boards, gilt lettering to spine. 278 pages through index. The inside flaps of the DJ are blank - the price is on the UPC field on rear. F in a F DJ.
The prospect of summarizing Lovelock's life, accomplishments, views and influence is a daunting one. He is definitely (along with Gary Snyder), a candidate for "most interesting person in the world."
Lovelock is best remembered for the Gaia Hypothesis, first expounded in book form in Gaia: A new look, above, (he published several journal pieces on the hypothesis prior to the book's publication). The hypothesis theorizes "that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate life on the planet." [Wikipedia entry on the hypothesis]. The theory quickly achieved broad acceptance amongst environmentalists, but less so in the scientific community. The particulars of the theory are encompassing and complex.
Lovelock was an independent scientist and environmentalist of international repute and broad expertise. He had a PhD in medicine, although he did not originally go to college, for financial reasons. He believed the lack of early university training allowed him to avoid early specialization, giving him a broad enough view to formulate the Gaia Hypothesis. His father was illiterate until attending a technical college (having served six months hard labor for poaching) and his mother started working in a pickle factory at 13, too poor to accept a scholarship to a grammar school.
Lovelock went to night school while working, before finally going to university full-time to study chemistry. He was recommended by a professor to do medical research. When WWII began, he got a temporary deferment as a student, but also registered as a conscientious objector. He rescinded that and tried to enlist in the face of Nazi atrocities but was denied as his research was deemed too important. After the war he got his PhD and spent two decades at the National Institute for Medical Research, while also conducting research at Harvard, Yale and Baylor.
Lovelock's work on rodents was highly influential in the development of the field of cryonics - he was also a prolific inventor who accidentally invented the microwave oven to thaw frozen (but living) rodents humanely. He did not recognize the application to cooking. He created and developed a whole host of scientific instruments, some for the NASA space program. He also invented the electron capture detector, which was critical in the discovery that CFC's were depleting the ozone.
Lovelock was an early warner about climate change, and became a passionate advocate for nuclear power as the only practical, carbon neutral alternative to fossil fuels. Some of his theories and statements about climate change, including some of his proposed solutions, were controversial.
Lovelock was a fellow of the Royal Society. His 1974 nomination reads:
Lovelock has made distinguished contributions to several diverse fields, including a study of the transmission of respiratory infection, and methods of air sterilisation; the role of Ca and other divalent ions in blood clotting; damage to various living cells by freezing, thawing and thermal shock and its prevention by the presence of neutral solutes; methods of freezing and thawing small live animals; methods for preparing sperm for artificial insemination, which have been of major economic importance.
He has invented a family of ionisation detectors for gas chromatography. His electron capture detectors are the most sensitive that have been made and are universally used on pollution problems for residual halogen compounds. He has many inventions, including a gas chromatograph, which will be used to investigate planetary atmospheres. His chromatographic work has led to investigation of blood lipids in various animals, including arteriosclerotic humans. He has made a study of detecting life on other planets by analysis of their atmosphere and extended this to world pollution problems.
His work generally shows remarkable originality, simplicity and ingenuity.
He also earned the Blue Planet Prize in 1997, the environmental equivalent of a Nobel Prize, among a great many other honors.
According to an article by The Sunday Times by Brian Appleyard, Lovelock worked for decades for MI5, the British equivalent of the CIA. He is described in the article as "basically Q in the James Bond films."
MACLEAN, Norman (1902-1990)
A River Runs Through It and other Stories
1976. First edition. Published by University of Chicago Press. Inscribed
Inscribed on ffe: "Billings/April 4, 1977/Bill/Good luck and try a Bailey Grey Wulf/Norman Maclean." Accompanying the book is a typed, unsigned note dated 11/25/14 from the initial owner (Bill) describing his purchase of the book and how, when Maclean came to speak to students at Eastern Montana College in Billings (now Montana State University Billings) he could not attend, but the professor who had invited Maclean to speak (Dr. Sue Hart), who was Bill's neighbor and friend, offered to take the book in for Maclean to sign. The inscription was extemporaneous (and mispelled Wulff). The letter also gives background on the fly and the shop where it was developed, the owner of which consulted Redford on the movie.
Inclusion of this book in this collection is arguably a bit of a stretch, but insofar as I consider the titular story the finest single piece of writing I've ever read - and I've read a lot - it's here.
The book was the first work of fiction ever published by University of Chicago Press, where Maclean was a legendary teacher for years. The work was rejected by New York publishing houses (which Maclean grew to loathe), and there is a story that the U Chicago Press published it as a sort of favor upon Maclean's retirement. It was nominated for the Pulitzer but ignored by the committee, which did not issue an award for fiction that year.
The book itself is cased in blue cloth boards with a NPCDJ, somewhat sunfaded, particularly at the spine. The book itself is VG+ to NF. I read it at least every two years, but I read a paperback copy, not this one..
MARZANI, CARL (1912-1994)
The Wounded Earth: An Environmental Survey
1972. First. Published by Young Scott Books. Inscribed
Wounded Earth is aimed at a teen/young adult audience. Inscribed on ffe: To Bobbsie R Horne (sp?), in remembrance of things past with sorrow and affection, Carl, May 1972." VG in a VG DJ.
Another fascinating author! Everyone is unique, but as amongst EC/Nature writers, Carl Marzani is more so than most. His bio is of little direct relevance to the history of the EC movement, but I’ll summarize it anyway, as it’s good fun.
Italian-American Carl Marzani was a lifelong committed Marxist who spent nearly three years in prison in the late 1940’s for having not disclosed his pre-war communist party membership when he worked for the government during and after WWII. Mind you, he did not just work for the government - during the war he worked for Wild Bill Donovan at the OSS, and after the war he transferred to the State Department, where he prepared top secret intelligence reports as deputy chief of the Presentation Division of the Office of Intelligence. There is evidence the Soviet Union had a spy located in a position similar to the one Marzani held, but not that he was it. Apparently, he never hid his former CP membership, but told his colleagues he had quit, which he had in 1941.
Marzani was an accomplished fellow. He graduated from Williams College, where he edited the school’s literary magazine. After college he received a fellowship to Oxford, resulting in a degree in Modern Greats (philosophy, politics and economics). His stay at Oxford was interrupted by a stint with the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War, where he was ultimately slated for execution by his anarchist unit on suspicion that he was a communist. He got away and went back to Oxford. Following his return to the states in 1938 (following a summer of hitchhiking through Europe and Asia) he got a WPA job as an economics teacher at NYU, when he joined the communist party as district organizer.
After WWII Marzani formed a movie company, which produced films for various labor unions and progressive political candidates. He went to jail in 1949 - describing himself as the Cold War’s first political prisoner - after nine of the 11 charges against him were reversed on appeal. The last two stuck after the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 following a rare rehearing. His movie company went out of business.
Following prison, Marzani formed a publishing company that published leftist writings and operated book clubs to which it distributed its works. The effort was allegedly subsidized by the KGB. The company’s property burned in 1968 under mysterious circumstances, ending that phase. Subsequently he bought four Manhattan brownstones, renting three and living and writing in the fourth. Throughout his career he was a prolific author, mostly on economic and political topics.
In the "About the Author" blurb on the inside rear flap of the DJ, Marzani leaves out the bit about prison, but does note that he "held a responsible position in the State Department Intelligence Office until he resigned in protest against the developing Cold War." (The blurb ends with the fact that Marzani had just become a grandfather, making his youngest son an uncle at the age of two months.)
Wounded Earth is described on his Wikipedia page as “well-regarded.” [The info above is drawn from the page]. According to a Kirkus’ contemporary review, Marzani embraces technological approaches to solving EC issues, proposing a “realistic” program for reducing auto emissions by 2/3rds, developing sustainable energy sources to be also distributed free to less developed countries, replacing chemical pesticides, etc. The review concludes: “This is a book that encourages commitment without false assurance, and its specificity of names, cases, and bibliographic footnotes adds to its value among juvenile titles on the environment.”
That said, the delicious conclusion of a 1972 NYT survey of recent environmental literature aimed at youth, by E.F. Porter Jr., is worth a read: “Many, perhaps most, of the current offerings on environmental issues for children (and for adults, too) seem to be the product of the problem directed school of journalism. They have a Reader's Digest flavor: ponderous and breathless, detail‐ridden and indignant, like a platoon of asthmatic bank examiners. The next time there is something new to say about the environment I hope there is a Rachel Carson or a Loren Eisley, with an ear for music and a critical eye for facts, to say it.”
MASER, Chris
Forest Primeval: The Natural History of an Ancient Forest
1989. First edition. Published by Sierra Club Books. Inscribed
Inscribed on title page: "With respect, Chris Maser, 13 Sept. 1999, Corvallis, OR." Maser's second book. NF in a NF DJ.
Per the catalogue of bookseller 'Rural Hours,' "this book is a 'biography' of an old-growth forest in Oregon's Cascade Mountains across a millennium.... Maser describes the total ecosystem as it evolves and weaves it with the chronology of humanity during this timeframe, including finally his own biography at the tail end. Chris Maser (his website) is an interesting figure who for 20 years was a research scientist with [BLM] and [USFS]. He argued very early on for a holistic approach to forestry (some of his key research showed that small mammals like voles were essential to the spreading truffle spore which is essential to the mycorrhizal health of the trees - thus the whole ecosystem needs to be conserved), and he was discounted and ostracized by the old guard leadership; over these differences, he resigned in 1985 and turned to writing and has been prolific since then."
[It sounds to me as if his journey was similar to Dr. Suzanne Simard, the ground-breaking forest ecologist who was the model for one of the protagonists in Richard Power's The Overstory. I greatly enjoyed Simard's 2021 memoir The Mother Tree (not in the Collection), As Simard did much of her academic work in OR, one speculates that perhaps she and Masur knew one another.]
MATTHIESSEN, Peter (1927-2014)
[THREE COPIES]
Wildlife in America
1959. First edition. Published by Viking Press, New York. NF in a VG+ NPCDJ
1959. First edition. From Matthiessen's personal library per bookseller Ken Lopez. VG in a Fair NPCDJ.
1987 updated and expanded edition. Brown cloth boards with tan cloth spine. From PM's personal library per bookseller Ken Lopez. NF in a NF NPCDJ
Subtitled: The first history of man's effect on the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals of the North American continent. With eight color plates, 16 pages of photography, and a unique series of more than one-hundred line drawings of rare, extinct and vanishing species. Illustrated by Bob Hines. Introduction by Richard H. Pough (1904-2003). Green cloth boards with tan cloth spine.
Bob Hines is a fascinating figure. He also illustrated Rachel Carson's Edge of the Sea. Read about him in the Trefethen entry (1961).
I'd never heard of Richard Pough but he was a giant in the area of land conservation, identifying areas of critical importance and raising the money to protect them. He founded the Open Space Institute and during his long career also worked ten years at the National Audubon Society, served as head of Conservation and General Ecology at the AMNH, and as the founding president of the Nature Conservancy. In a 1945 New Yorker article, he raised the alarm about DDT decades before Carson. While he never published any book under his own name, Pough collaborated with Charles E. Little (see his Dying of the Trees (1995)) on a book published by OSI in 1965 called Stewardship (Catalogued under Guidebooks).
The Cloud Forest: A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness
1962. First edition. Published by Viking Press, New York. Inscribed by Matthiessen to his parents
Inscribed on half-title: "For Mom and Dad/WIth much love + many thanks/Pete." Black cloth boards, showing some handling and minor fading. VG with no DJ.
The Snow Leopard
1962. First trade edition. Published by Viking Press, New York. Signed
Signed on title page. I specify this is the first trade edition because apparently there was a limited edition published first. Winner of two National Book Awards. One of the great reads of my life - enhanced by having read it while trekking through the Nepalese Himalaya. Recounts PM's trip to Nepal with naturalist George Schaller (see below) seeking the snow leopard and enlightenment, not necessarily in that order. He never found the snow leopard. VG- as the front joint is showing beginning signs of separation, in a VG PCDJ.
The Tree Where Man Was Born [Co-Titled: Eliot Porter/The African Experience]
1972. Stated first edition. Published by E.P. Dutton, New York. From Matthiessen's personal library with materials laid in.
Coffee-table style book on coated paper with text by PM and photos by Eliot Porter. Laid in is (1) a two-paged typed, signed letter to PM dated 10/19/89 on UCLA letterhead from a professor (Nicholas G. Blurton Jones) seeking PM's help in advocating for governmental acceptance for the lifestyle of the Hadza in Tanzania, a group of hunter/forager/subsistence peoples; and (2) a Survival International Bulletin dated Jan. 1990, addressed to PM, seeking support for the semi-nomadic Barabaig peoples, also of Tanzania. Brown cloth boards. Some foxing to ffe. Chips out of top and bottom of DJ at spine. G+ to VG- in a G- NPCDJ.
Sand Rivers
1981. First edition. Published by Viking Press, New York. Signed
Signed on title page. Photos by Hugo van Lawick. Owner's sig on ffe. Tan cloth boards. VG in G PCDJ.
Hugo van Lawick (1937-2002) was a Dutch wildlife photographer and cinematographer whose work helped popularize the chimpanzee research of Jane Goodall, whom Lawick later married and subsequently divorced. Lawick won eight Emmy awards for his films.
The End of the Earth: Voyages to the White Continent [First copy]
2003. Published by National Geographic Society. Advanced reader's copy in paper covers, from PM's library. F in paper covers.
The End of the Earth: Voyages to the White Continent [Second copy]
Stated first printing. From PM's library per bookseller Ken Lopez. Gray boards, black cloth spine. F in a F NPCDJ.
The End of the Earth: Voyages to the White Continent [Third copy]
First printing, used by Matthiessen as a working copy for corrections to a second edition, with substantial edits in his hand. On ffe is a post-it note written in unknown hand (presumably his assistant): "Peter's copy of his requested changes in book before 2nd Printing or Paperback edition." On right corner of ffe is written in black ink "Work Copy" and immediately below in red ink "See Continuing Mistakes," with an arrow pointing down. Multiple torn paper bookmarks. NDJ.
[PHOTO ALBUM ASSOCIATED WITH THE END OF THE EARTH]
A spiral-bound photo album prepared for PM for his birthday in 2004 (per inscription) from Birgit Freybe Bateman, who was the photographer for End of the Earth. Contains photos from Tasmania (one of the subjects of the book). Also, two photos laid in by Bateman from Bhutan.
PM was a prominent environmentalist in addition to his illustrious career as a writer. He remains to this day (2024) the only person to have won National Book Awards in both the nonfiction and fiction categories, for The Snow Leopard and Shadow Country.
McKIBBEN, Bill (1960)
The End of Nature
1989. Stated first edition. Published by Random House. From Peter Matthiessen's library
Per bookseller Ken Lopez, from the library of Matthiessen, with his markings and under-linings on the first 20 or so pages. An early and influential book on climate change. First serialized in The New Yorker. Black boards with a copper gilt design on cover, black cloth spine. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life
2008. Stated first paperback edition. Published by Henry Holt, New York. Signed
Paper wrappers. Not obvious as to whether there was a hardbacked edition. Signed on title page. Former owner sig on ffe. VG in paper wraps.
The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life [Proof copy]
Advance proof copy containing six essays omitted from the final version. In blue paper wrappers with two stickers, one with a contact at the publisher listing the publication date as March 4, 2008, and the second in neon pink noting the titles of the essays that were "NOT" [their emphasis] going to appear in the final version - clearly a late decision. NF in paper wraps.
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
2010. Stated first edition. First printing. Published by Times Books/Henry Holt. Inscribed
Distinctively inscribed on ffe: "4/16/10/Julilly Kohler/For Julilly, We need your help at 350.org!/Bill." (The "We need your help" phrase is in a different pen than the rest. Navy blue boards, lime green cloth spine. F in a F NPCDJ.
Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
2019. Stated first edition. First printing. Published by Times Books/Henry Holt. Signed
Signed on title page. Navy blue boards. F in a F NPCDJ.
McKibben is among the most visible and well-known of his generation of environmental activists and writers. In 2007 he founded 350.org along with a group of students at Middlebury College, where he has taught. (350 refers to the ppm of CO2 that represents a climatological tipping point). As the name suggests, 350.org is focused on global warming and has since its founding organized, along with McKibben himself, some of the largest recent public actions protesting current environmental policies and practices in the U.S. He has been described as "the world's best green journalist," has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Award, the Sierra Club's John Muir Award, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - among many other recognitions.
McPHEE, John (1931)
The Pine Barrens
1988 paperback ed., later printing. Originally published 1968. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York. Signed.
Signed on half-title. Originally published in 1968, the first paperback edition was 1988. This is a later printing (#32). Newspaper clipping laid in about the dedication of the 16 square mile Franklin Parker Preserve in the pine barrens, between the Wharton and Brendan Byrne State Forests. The land, a former cranberry farm, was purchased by the State of NJ in December 2003. The 53-mile Batona Trail (BAck TO NAture), which I've backpacked, runs through the Preserve. Owner's sig on ffe, which is lightly foxed (the rest is clean). NF in paper covers.
Encounters with the Archdruid
1971. Stated first printing. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York. Review copy
Brown boards with very small discoloration on top of front board. Spine of DJ chipped and sunfaded. Laid in are (1) a card from the publisher presenting the copy as a review copy, stating the publication date (Aug. 7, 1971) and the price ($6.95) and requesting two clippings of recipient's subsequent review; and (2) a black-and-white photograph of McPhee credited to James Graves. VG+ in G- NPCDJ
The book is about a series of conversations, in natural settings, between environmentalist and author David Brower and three 'enemies" of Brower's conservation agenda. The text was originally published in The New Yorker.
Encounters with the Archdruid (Author's Proof)
Author's proof - photocopied single-sided pages, each sheet containing two facing pages of text. Bound in plastic at the top. There are photocopied markings throughout, and the first (of three) parts of the book contain extensive underlinings in yellow and red. On the front cover in yellow are written "David Brower" and "Charles Park - geologist" and in red "Chas Fraser". Park and Fraser are two of the three "enemies" mentioned in the prior entry - I surmise that the yellow and red markings are by Park and Fraser, respectively.
To the extent any introduction to McPhee is needed, he is considered a pioneer of creative nonfiction and is enormously respected among his literary peers (and readers) for his craftsmanship, the breadth of his subject matter, and overall quantity and quality of his work. He has been a Pulitzer finalist four times, winning for Annals of the Former World [see below]. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1965, and a nonfiction writing instructor at Princeton University since 1974.
The Control of Nature
1989. First edition. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York
Brick orange cloth boards. The text first appeared in The New Yorker. F in a F NPCDJ.
Annals of the Former World
1998. Stated first edition. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York. Signed by McPhee with ownership signature of D.J. [Donald] Cram, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. The book is a 696-page melding of four of McPhee's prior books plus new material, collectively written and published over a 20-year period. Black cloth boards. NF to F in F NPCDJ.
MILLS, Stephanie
Whatever Happened to Ecology?
1989. First printing. Published by Sierra Club Books, San Francisco. Inscribed
Inscribed on half-title: "For Gregory Gessay, MD/Wishing you healing, and much power to heal all our relations/Stephanie Mills/Fire and Grit/June 22, 1999." Mills was catapulted into the national spotlight as a result of her 1969 commencement address at Mills College (the address is reproduced in American Earth (2008) in Anthologies). She is a bio-regionalist, professor, author and lecturer on environmental and community issues. This was her first book. Buff boards with rust-colored cloth spine. NF in a NF NPCDJ.
MONTAGU, Ashley (1905-1999)
The Endangered Environment
1974. Stated first printing. Published by Mason & Lipscomb, New York
Technically an anthology of very short pieces - one to three paragraphs - from third parties on various environmental issues, compiled by Montagu, who also wrote the four-page introduction. Black cloth boards. VG+ to NF in a fair, heavily chipped PCDJ.
Montagu was an anthropologist, college professor and well-known public intellectual whose best-known work questioned the validity of race as a biological concept. He was a humanist who publicly opposed creationism, supported feminism (his 1952 book The Natural Superiority of Women was "one of the major documents of second-wave feminism and the only one written by a man" per Wikipedia), fought genital mutilation and opposed nuclear armaments, among many other stances. He also wrote The Elephant Man, which David Lynch transformed into the classic movie.
MURPHY, Robert Cushman (1887-1973)
Fish-Shape Paumanok: Nature and Man on Long Island
1964. Apparent first. Published by American Philosophical Society. Inscribed
Inscribed on ffe: "Signed for Thelma Driebel(?)/Robert Cushman Murphy." Laid in is a 1999 bill of sale from NYC bookseller Judith Pynchon conveying the book for $24.50 to Jack Reneau of the Boone and Crockett Club (see Durward Allen's Our Wildlife Legacy (1954) for more on Reneau. The book contains the text of Murphy's 1962 Penrose Lecture at the APS, being the 28th in a series which started in 1934 per the Preface. The volume is number 58 in the Memoirs of the APS. The title is a reference to a poem by Walt Whitman, a Long Islander who used the phrase from time to time. NF in a fair NPCDJ that is heavily sun-faded and discolored and chipped at the edges.
A description of the book on the website of Penn Press:
The bittersweet message of this volume is at once Robert Cushman Murphy's celebration of the magnificent environment and history of Long Island that inspired him; a chronicle of man's destructive tendencies as they focus on this sandy strand; and a gentle warning to change our ways. Although it weaves history and natural history into a time-sequenced story, this is not just a book about the past. Its broad scope still provides a Rosetta Stone enabling all who would know to decipher the hieroglyphics of ecology. The relationship between nature and humans will continue to be of paramount importance to this earth, and both sides of the equation will continue to benefit from the quiet message of this book.
Robert Cushman Murphy was a Long Islander and the Curator of Ornithology at the AMNH, where he first worked assisting Frank Chapman as a youth. He participated in numerous oceanic scientific voyages. He was honored by, among others, the National Academy of Sciences, the Explorers Club, the Geographic Society and the AOU, and won the John Burroughs Medal for another book.
NABHAN, Gary Paul (1952)
The Desert Smells Like Rain: A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country
1982. First. Published by North Point Press, San Francisco. Inscribed
Inscribed on second fe: "For Steve, for all the deserts we love, all the songs we've sang, & the friendship shared. Gary Paul Nabhan/19 Feb 82." The attractive bookplate on the fpd is from the library of Steven P. Brown. Nabhan accompanies Papago peoples through their homeland, learning what they know of desert rains, plant and animal lore, and their native agriculture. Blurbed by Rep. Morris Udall and Barry Lopez. NF in a VG NPCDJ
Nabhan is an agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist and prolific author whose work is focused on the Southwest. He explores the intersection of environmental and cultural degradation. He is a leader in the multicultural, collaborative conservation movement, an expert in the traditional ecological knowledge of agrarian societies, a pioneer of the local food movement, and a founder of the heirloom seed conservation movement. He co-founded in 1983 the non-profit Native seeds/SEARCH, which is focused on preserving indigenous agricultural plants and the knowledge of their uses. He won a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 1991 to continue that research.
Nabhan is a first-generation Lebanese-American, making him the first (only, as of fall 2024) author of Middle Eastern descent in the Collection of which I am aware. He has won the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing and been a Pew Conservation Scholar, among other awards and recognitions. He teaches at University of Arizona, having previously worked at Northern Arizona University and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum..
NAESS, Arne (1912-2009)
Ecology, community and lifestyle: Outline of an Ecosophy
1989. First English-language edition. Published by Cambridge University Press
Translated and edited by David Rothenberg. Per Rothenberg's preface, the book is "not a direct translation of Arne Naess's 1976 work…but rather a new work in English, based on the Norwegian, with many sections revised and rewritten by…Naess and myself…." According to a lightly penciled note on the copyright page, it was "Received EOW library" in Oct. 1989. I am unable to identify that institution. Book is in a glossy yellow, blue and gray hardback, with no DJ, and with a major scrape/gouge on the bottom of the rear cover. Fair- to poor
Naess was an influential Norwegian philosopher and environmentalist who coined the term "deep ecology" [see Devall and Sessions' book of that name (1985)]. He combined a philosophy of non-violence with environmentalism, believing every living being has an equal right to live. He believed a deep, true understanding of ecology would allow humans to truly be a part of the ecosystem, as opposed to our current, oppositional, position.
David Rothenberg is a philosopher, professional musician, professor and author who worked with Naess for several years in the 1980s.
NELSON, Gaylord (1916-2005)
America's Last Chance to Preserve the Earth
1970. Apparent first. Published by Country Beautiful Corp, Waukesha, WI.
Quarto coffee-table style book with text and 65 b+w photos, published in the same year as the first Earth Day, which Nelson founded. On title page, authors are identified as Nelson and the Editors of Country Beautiful, but only Nelson is identified on the cover. Intro and nine chapters that are explicitly conservationist, with titles such as "The Price of Ecological Ignorance," "Fouling the Waters: Lakes and Streams," "New Priorities: Cleaning Up," and "Pesticides: The Warning Signs are Clear." Parts of the Introduction and four of the chapters were previously published in periodicals. NF in a VG- NPCDJ. In the Intro, Nelson writes:
Parly because of my background, I have been preoccupied throughout much of my service as a state legislator, as Governor and as a United States Senator with the urgent need for preserving some significant part of our world of nature. Through the past decade of work in this field, I have come to the conclusion that the number one domestic problem facing this country is the threatened destruction of our natural resources and the disaster which would confront mankind should such destruction occur."
In the final chapter, Nelson lays out an eleven point "Agenda for the 1970s" with items including a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all citizens access to a "decent environment," pollution control and remediation, famIly planning, citizen involvement in environmental policymaking, compulsory environmental education, and the enactment of controls over land use, mineral extraction, etc. His pollution control efforts included introduction of legislation to phase out the internal combustion engine by 1978. It did not pass. Interestingly, Earth Day is not mentioned in the chapter.
Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise
[With Susan Campbell and Paul Wozniak]
2002. First printing. Published by University of WI Press. Signed by Nelson with his stamp of an environmental quote. Also signed by co-author Wozniak.
Below the half-title is stamped: "Nations can recover from lost wars, witness Germany and Japan/But/There is no recovery from a lost ecosystem. Gaylord Nelson - Earth Day 1993." Below that is Nelson's signature in felt pen, followed by: "Work for the future.... Paul Wozniak." Foreword by the once responsible and respected environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. F in a NF DJ.
Gaylord Nelson was a governor and three-term US senator from Wisconsin (1962-81) primarily known for his environmental work, including founding the original Earth Day in 1970. After losing his last senate race in 1980, Nelson became counselor to and a board member of the Wilderness Society. Per a piece on the Society's website, Nelson "authored legislation to create a national hiking trails system as well as the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail System. He also sponsored several key pieces of environmental legislation, including the Wilderness Act. His efforts led to bedrock environmental laws, such as the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act." Nelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his environmental work in 1995.
Co-author Susan Campbell is an author and environmental journalist best known for her work in the late 1990s reporting on the severe chemical contamination of Wisconsin's Fox River. Co-author Paul Wozniak is an environmental advocate, historian and analyst who focuses on energy issues. Blurbed by Mike Dombeck, Paul Hawken and Lester R. Brown.
NELSON, Richard (1941-2019)
The Island Within
1989. Published by North Point Press. Warmly inscribed to author Gary Paul Nabhan
Inscribed: "For Gary Nabhan, with my gratitude and admiration for your work, which has rekindled my love of the desert and shown again how much it means to have a place on earth. Thanks, too, for the good companionship and good laughs. I look forward to a lot more in times to come, on your island or mine. Best always, Dick Nelson, Phoenix, March 1990." This book is considered to be Nelson's masterwork, for which he won the John Burroughs Medal. Blurbed by Ann Zwinger and John Hay among others. VG+ in a VG NPCDJ.
Nelson was a cultural anthropologist, environmental activist and author who spent a significant amount of time living in Alaska and writing about indigenous cultures and the relationship between humans and nature. He was the long-time host of the nationally syndicated public radio show Encounters.
Nelson was active in fighting to protect old-growth rainforest in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska as well as fighting increased oil drilling. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation in 2006.
“The only job description that fully fit with his temperament and enormous skill set was that of being in exuberant contact with the wild world,” his friend, Gary Nabhan, wrote in a memorial Facebook post.…”
The Island Within is a memoir of four years Nelson spent in “the forest university,” an unnamed island in the Pacific Northwest. The book won the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing in 1991. In addition to other awards, he was Alaska State Writer Laureate from 1999-2001.
NESBIT, Paul W.
Longs Peak: Its Story and a Climbing Guide
1969. Seventh ed., originally published 1946. Self-published 72-page stapled paper wraps. Inscribed to author Sheridan Anderson
Inscribed: "Sheridan - I'm strictly a social climber myself. Carlson." See Brower's Wilderness Handbook (1967) for more on Anderson, the author/illustrator of the cult classic Curtis Creek Manifesto (not in Collection) fly-fishing guide. This guide has a space to log a climb near the end, which has been charmingly filled out by one Barb Coulson, who climbed Longs Peak with 14 other women on 8/8/69.
NICHOLSON, [Edward] Max (1904-2003)
The Environmental Revolution: A Guide for the New Masters of the Earth
1970. First edition. Published by Hodder and Stoughton, UK
Green boards somewhat faded at edges. Laid in is a sheaf of materials related to Nicholson, including the program for his funeral, a seven-page typewritten speech entitled "Whose Environment" with extensive handwritten edits (presumably by Nicholson) which appears to have been delivered at the Atheneum in 1981, and several clippings. VG- in G+ NPCDJ
Nicholson was chair of the initial organizing committee which founded the World Wildlife Fund and also helped found the Nature Conservancy, which he ran for 14 years. While there, he established the first major center for applied ecological research, Monks Woods Environmental Station. He was primarily active in the U.K. and was involved in numerous other environmental and other organizations. During the war, he was in charge of cargo shipments across the Atlantic.
"Max was instrumental in setting up the Council for Nature in 1958. He helped found the Conservation Corps (the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) in 1959 and to develop the Wildlife Trusts Movement. From 1963-74, Max was the influential convenor for conservation of the International Biological Programme. He initiated what is now the Trust for Urban Ecology in 1977 and was president (1980-85) of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He also advised Ladybird Johnson...on her beautification of America programme." [From the obituary of Nicholson from The Guardian newspaper]. He is also credited with being a key factor in Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, becoming interested in environmental causes..
OPEN SPACE ACTION COMMITTEE [Richard Pough and Charles E. Little]
Stewardship
1965. Presumed first edition. Published by Open Space Action Committee (OSAC - now the Open Space Institute)
Quarto. Guidebook for metro-area property owners with open space, primarily in the NYC metro, interested in permanent preservation of that space through donations, easements, etc. One-page Foreword by Steward L. Udall, then Interior Secretary. OSAC is shown as the "author" although on the last page it notes that the text is by Charles E. Little and Robert L. Burnap (with most photos credited to Doran S. Moll). Per the OSI website, the book was primarily a collaboration between Little and Richard Pough, the latter a pioneer in creating vehicles for such open space preservation as both OSAC founder and founding president of The Nature Conservancy. The book is 82 pages including appendices listing governmental and non-profit resources for property owners interested in preservation, and statutes and rulings impacting that activity. There is a small slip tipped in on title page updating the OSAC's address. VG in a VG- DJ with chipping at edges, corners and spine ends and beginning of separation at joints.
OSI is a national leader in conservation, having helped to protect 2.5 million acres (as of fall 2024) in the eastern US and Canada. A tribute to Pough upon his death in 2003 on the OSI website quotes Little regarding the approach of OSI and the book: "Our open space protection plan had a clear course of action: salesmanship, persuasion, and planning. Our goal was to reach the non-specialists." This is a pretty neat book imo - if for no other reason than because there is some OSI-owned land that is particularly near and dear to me.
PORTER, Eliot (1901-1990)
Glen Canyon: The Place No One Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado
1963. Presumed first edition. Coffee-table style book. Published by Sierra Club Books, San Francisco.
Foreword by David Brower. Large quarto photo book on partially coated paper. Relatively short verbiage by Porter, then a series of photos on right-hand pages and quotes from various environmental luminaries on left. Chip out of corner of second fe. Small discoloration on facing page of fpd containing two-paged map. VG+ in G+ NPCDJ.
From the Sierra Club's website, excerpted from a 4/25/2020 piece by John de Graaf about Stewart Udall, then Interior Secretary, who was backing the administration's plans to build a damn below the Grand Canyon:
The Sierra Club had earlier agreed to one Colorado River Dam, the Glen Canyon Dam, just above the Grand Canyon. But Brower had never seen the canyon. When he did, his failure to stop it became the greatest regret of his life. He was determined that such a thing should not happen to the Grand Canyon. Brower and the Sierra Club published a book of photos, The Place No One Knew, about what had been lost as the waters of Lake Powell began to fill Glen Canyon. Brower sent it to Udall. Harold Gilliam, later a San Francisco Chronicle columnist, but then a Udall aide, would later recount that Udall's eyes glistened as he looked through the book. "I was in Congress when we voted for this dam," Udall said sadly. "We had no idea what was there." Soon afterward, Udall rafted through the rapidly filling canyon and then down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, having second thoughts about dams.
Udall decided he'd seen enough and stopped the project.... "The most important thing for any public official...is to be open-minded. And Brower changed my mind about the Grand Canyon. He showed me I was wrong. And for that, I'm in his debt, no question about it." [https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/stewart-udall-remembrance].
So, this book essentially saved the Grand Canyon.
Brower, who was head of the Sierra Club, reportedly traded Glen Canyon for Echo Park/Dinosaur (see This is Dinosaur (1955) in Anthologies) and called it his gravest mistake. Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire wrote moving of a rafting trip down the canyon and bemoaned its loss. Brower begins his foreword: "Glen Canyon died in 1963 and I was partly responsible for its needless death. So were you. Neither you nor I, nor anyone else, knew it well enough to insist that at all costs it should endure. When we began to find out it was too late." Glen Canyon has been compared to the Grand Canyon, but with more historically significant ruins of First Peoples. It is now Lake Powell.
"In Wildness is the Preservation of the World"
1989. First edition. Large quarto photo book. Published by Sierra Club Books. Signed
Signed by Porter on ffe. Foreword by David Brower. Lengthy introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch. Photos accompanied by selections from Thoreau's journals. Wallace Stegner and Ansel Adams both served on the Sierra Club's publications advisory committee. NF in a VG NPCDJ.
Porter was an interesting cat. He earned his BA in chemical engineering and an MD, both from Harvard, and remained there as a medical researcher. Around 1930, Porter's younger brother, painter and art critic Fairfield Porter, introduced Eliot to Alfred Stieglitz, who ended up showcasing Eliot in his gallery, following which he became a full-time photographer. Per his Wikipedia page: "For twenty years, Porter pursued a project to publish nature photographs combined with quotes from works by Henry David Thoreau. Not until an associate introduced him to the executive director of the Sierra Club did Porter find a willing publisher.... The book enjoyed considerable success,.. pioneered the genre of the nature photography coffee-table book, and led to several other titles by Porter in a similar format published by the Sierra Club and others.... [H]e served as a director of the Sierra Club from 1965 to 1971." Porter also provided photos for several of the books in the collection, including Peter Matthiessen's The Tree Where Man Was Born (1972) and Edward Abbey's Appalachian Wilderness (1970).
The importance of the Sierra Club's exhibit format books cannot be understated - in terms of their popularity and success in introducing many people to the beauty of nature and in terms of their success in raising funds for the Sierra Club. Per published reports, sales of the first books in the series generated more than $10 million in revenue in the first few years. A deeper discussion about the impact of art generally and the series specifically will be the subject of a blog piece expected to be published in Jan 2025.
REISNER, Marc (1948-2000)
Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water
1986. First edition. Published by Viking, New York. Inscribed to Ivan Doig
Inscribed on dedication page: "For Ivan Doig - With appreciation from a fan. All good wishes/Marc Reisner/October 1986." Reisner's best known book, it was a finalist for National Book Critics Circle Award and, in 1999, ranked 61 of the 100 most notable 20th-century non-fiction English-language books by a Modern Library panel. Black boards with black cloth spine. F in a NF NPCDJ.
Ivan Doig (1939-2015) authored sixteen fiction and nonfiction books, mostly set in Montana. His books are considered among the finest of the post-war American West - its land and people. He was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Wallace Stegner award, among many other honors.
Game Wars: The Undercover Pursuit of Wildlife Poachers
1991. First printing. Published by Viking, New York. Signed
Signed on half-title. Pale yellow boards with black cloth spine. F in a NF NPCDJ
SAX, Joseph L. (1936-2014)
Mountains Without Handrails: Reflections on the National Parks
1980. Eighth printing in softcover dated 1989. Published by University of Michigan Press. Inscribed to James Pipkin
Inscribed on half-title: "For Jim, With warmest regards/Joseph Sax." Ownership name in handwritten print above of James Pipkin. Likely Jim Pipkin (1939-2023), a prominent attorney who would have been a colleague of Sax's for a time, having served as Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior Department. In 1994 Pipkin was appointed by President Clinton to serve as Ambassador and Special Negotiator for the US-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. "He played a key role on Pacific Northwest Forest issues and was chief federal negotiator on Everglades restoration" according to a memorial piece on Pipkin. He was also an accomplished photographer who studied with Ansel Adams in 1975. Extensive underlining throughout. Blurbed by Wallace Stegner and Roderick Nash, among others. VG in paper wraps.
Joseph L. Sax had a major impact on the development of environmental law in the U.S., expanding the "public trust doctrine" to formulate the "far-reaching legal doctrine that recognizes air, seas, and other natural resources as a public trust that must be protected from private encroachment." (NYT obituary of Sax by Douglas Martin dated 3/10/14, from which much of this entry is drawn). Per that obit: "In an article frequently described as seminal, Professor Sax proposed that some natural resources - the oceans, other bodies of water, shorelines, the air and portions of land - are so important that they should be treated in the courts as a 'public trust,' and that citizens had the right to sue to protect them against government, business and private individuals who might threaten them." This doctrine has spread throughout various US states and foreign countries.
Sax wrote Michigan's environmental act, passed in 1970, which is known as Sax's Law. Earlier in his career, as a professor at University of Colorado, he helped the Sierra Club in its campaign to arrest development on the Colorado River. Sax served as counsel to President Clinton's Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbit, focusing on habitat protection. In addition to UC, he also taught at Univ of Michigan and Berkeley. In this book, he attempts to address the ongoing issue of conservation vs. recreation in National Parks.
In 2007 Sax was a recipient of the Blue Planet Prize, amongst the most prestigious of those awards recognizing environmental contributions.
SCHALLER, George B. (1933)
Mountain Monarchs: Wild Sheep and Goats of the Himalaya
1977. First printing. Published by University of Chicago Press. Inscribed to Peter Matthiessen
Inscribed on ffe: "To Peter Matthiessen with fond memories of a wonderful journey. George Schaller." Schaller was Matthiessen's travel companion while Schaller doing his own research for this book (for which he made several trips) on the Himalayan journey which led to PM's National Book Award winner, The Snow Leopard (see above). Apparently the sixth book in the "Wildlife Behavior and Ecology Series," of which Schaller was the editor. Buff cloth boards. NF in a VG+ DJ.
Stones of Silence: Journeys in the Himalaya
1980. Second printing. Published by Viking Press, New York. Inscribed and with a handwritten letter presenting the book to Peter Matthiessen laid in
Inscribed on half-title: "To Peter Matthiessen with gratitude for all your contributions to this book. George Schaller." Laid in is a note written by Schaller: "Dear Peter, I had planned to give you this book in April, but we did not get together, and in the rush of leaving I forgot to mail it. So here it is belatedly, with many thanks for all you did to help me with it. Enclosed also is a rock for your meditation room. I picked it up in the dust at the foot of the Potala [Palace is Lhasa, Tibet] where once a prayer wall stood. The wall is gone, as all others in Tibet, smashed and the remnants used as road fill. You are lucky to have Dolpo with its relatively untouched culture. I'll be back toward the end of September and hope to see you then. In November I'm off to China. All the best/George." Illustrated with drawings by Jean Pruchnik and photos by Schaller. Stained tan boards, brown cloth spine. G in a G NPCDJ.
Tibet Wild: A Naturalists Journeys on the Roof of the World [Uncorrected proof]
2012. Uncorrected proof in paper covers. Published by Island Press. With a letter from the publisher to Peter Matthiessen seeking a blurb for the final edition laid in.
Winner of the National Book Award. Laid in is a typed letter from the publisher dated 6/27/2012 seeking a blurb from PM. Letter notes a tight timeline - the anticipated publishing date on the rear cover is listed as 9/11/12. Two pages of text which mention Schaller's Himalayan journey with PM are marked with post-it type notes. VG+ in paper covers.
Schaller is a "biologist, conservationist and author. Schaller is recognized by many as the world's preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout Africa, Asia and South America." Schaller did groundbreaking research on mountain gorillas, paving the way for Dian Fossey (see elsewhere). "Schaller's work in conservation has resulted in the protection of large stretches of area in the Amazon, Brazil, the Hindu Kush in Pakistan, and forests in Southeast Asia. Due in part to Schaller's work, over 20 parks or preserves have been established, including Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the Shey-Phoksundo National Park in Nepal, and the Changtang Nature Reserve, one of the world's most significant wildlife refuges. At over 200,000 [square] miles, the Chang Tang (sp?) Nature Reserve is triple the size of America's largest wildlife refuge, and was called 'One of the most ambitious attempts to arrest the shrinkage of natural ecosystems', by the New York Times." [Quotes from Wikipedia entry on Schaller]. [Add PM quotes about GS from TWMWB]
SCHELL, Jonathan (1943-2014)
The Fate of the Earth
1982. Stated first edition. Published by Alfred A. Knopf. Inscribed by Terry Tempest Williams to her husband
Inscribed by Terry Tempest Williams to her husband on April 28, 1982, in New York City: "Dearest Brooke - May we continue to share a social conscience and a love for all that is alive. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all. I love you. Terry". [I will say that I am not sure why I have this book and not Williams, who is still alive at this writing]. Black boards. Still has a Rizzoli bookstore label stuck on rear of DJ. VG+ in VG NPCDJ.
The Fate of the Earth [Uncorrected proof]
An uncorrected proof review copy in plain gray paper wrappers. A box below the title on the front cover reads: "An urgent late addition to the Knopf spring list - the series of articles from THE NEW YORKER about the potential extinction of mankind in nuclear war. Published in hardcover April 26, 1982/First printing 35,000 copies/$13.95". Unmarked - F in paper wraps.
An influential book in the debate in favor of nuclear disarmament, of which Schell was a strong proponent. Arguably a stretch to argue that it belongs in this collection - but we'll allow it. From the NY Times obituary of Schell: "With 'The Fate of the Earth' Mr. Schell was widely credited with helping rally ordinary citizens around the world to the cause of nuclear disarmament." Reaction to the book was "starkly divided" according to the obit, which quotes a James Lardner piece in the Washington Post: "It has been called 'the new bible of our time, the 'White Paper of the age'...and it has been called 'gibble gabble'...." The book was the primary inspiration for the widely watched 1983 TV movie 'The Day After,' and was chosen as one of the 20th century's 100 best works of journalism by a panel of experts convened by NY University in 1999..
SHEPARD, Paul (1925-1996)
The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game
1973. First printing. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Inscribed to Joseph Meeker
Inscribed on half-title: "To Joe Meeker - Kindred spirit/Paul Shepard." Illustrated by surrealist artist Fons von Woerkom. Blurbed by Rene Dubos. NF in a VG- NPCDJ.
Shepard was an influential professor and writer on natural philosophy and human ecology who introduced the concept of the ‘Pleistocene Paradox.’ The paradox posits that because 99% of humans’ evolutionary history was spent in a hunter-gatherer society, which involves continuous interaction with nature, modern ‘civilization’ is antithetical to healthy psychological development. Without sustained exposure to nature, humans remain in an infantile or adolescent state.
Shepard’s books have become “landmark” texts among ecologists, paving the way for modern primitivism (and the Keto diet fad?). Primitivism was an element of Transcendental thought - Shepard developed a scientific foundation for the mode of thinking. Tender Carnivore is considered among his most influential works. Shepard taught for 21 years in various programs at the Claremont colleges.
Joseph Meeker pioneered the study of eco-criticism, which he originally called literary ecology, in a 1972 book. It is an interdisciplinary field which attempts to tie together ecological analyses of literary (and, more recently, other media) works with an underlying goal of finding solutions to contemporary environmental issues.
SNYDER, Gary (1930)
Turtle Island
1974. Paperback first edition (simultaneously published in clothbound). Published by New Directions, New York. Inscribed to Peter Matthiessen
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Inscribed on title page: "For Peter Matthiessen, I almost feel this book is part of your work (with deep respects). Gary." Mostly poetry, with some prose. Covers scuffed, interior very sound. G+ to VG.
From the blurb on the back cover of Turtle Island about the poems contained therein: "All...share a common vision: a rediscovery of this land and the ways by which we might become natives of the place, ceasing to think and act (after all these centuries) as newcomers and invaders. A tentative cross-fertilization of ecological thought with Buddhist ideas...."
The Practice of the Wild: Essays by Gary Snyder
1990. First. Published by North Point Publishing, San Francisco. Signed
Signed on title page. Burgundy cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine. Nine essays by the master. From goodreads.com: "The nine captivatingly meditative essays in The Practice of the Wild display the deep understanding and wide erudition of Gary Snyder in the ways of Buddhist beliefs, wildness, wildlife, and the world. These essays...stand as the mature centerpiece of Snyder's work and thought, and this profound collection is widely accepted as one of the central texts on wilderness and the interaction of nature and culture. As the Library Journal affirmed: 'This is an important book for anyone interested in the ethical interrelationships of things, places, and people, and it is a book that is not just read but taken in.'" F in NF NPCDJ.
Snyder is a candidate for "the most interesting person in the world" in my opinion. He spent many years working in various manual labor positions, including as a seaman, logger, trail crew member and fire-tower warden, among others. He became an integral part of the "Beat Generation," and was the inspiration for the main character in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums. He was close friends with Alan Ginsberg - Snyder read one of his poems at the event featuring the first reading of Ginsberg's "Howl." He frequently traveled and lived in Japan, undertaking serious training in Zen Buddhism, sometimes living as a Buddhist monk. While in the U.S., he mostly lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains with a back-to-the-land ethic. A key focus of his poetry is a fusing of environmental and Buddhist concepts and teachings. He became a professor at UC Davis in 1986 and is now professor emeritus of English. He has been referred to as "the poet laureate of deep ecology," having been extensively referenced by Sessions and Devall in their influential book Deep Ecology (1985) [See above], and as "the Thoreau of the Beat Generation." [See https://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/911/1343 for an article entitled "Nature Writing in American Literature" by Petr Kopecky discussing the influence of Snyder, Muir and Mary Austin, among others, on the deep ecology movement].
TERRES, John K. (1905-2006)
From Laurel Hill to Siler's Bog: The Walking Adventures of a Naturalist
1969. First printing. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Inscribed to a relative
Inscribed on ffe: "Inscribed to Patsy - with love and best wishes, Marion and John K. Terres, New York, NY, April 15, 1975." There is a small handwritten note from "P" passing on the book, noting the author was married to a cousin. Also laid in are photocopies of the NYT review of the book by poet May Sarton, a letter written by Terres to the NYT about a rare gull seen in MA and a marriage announcement of another family member. Blurbed by, among others, Sally Carrigher. Illustrated with very detailed black-and-white drawings by Charles L. Ripper (1930-2019). VG+ in a NF NPCDJ.
Terres was a naturalist and author with a particular interest in birds. He served as editor of Audubon magazine from 1948-1960 and was a contributing editor to Birder’s World. He authored or edited more than fifty books, including The Audubon Society’s encyclopedia of birds. He won the John Burroughs Medal for Laurel Hill to Siler’s Bog, about his explorations in a section of the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
Charles Ripper was "one of the best-known wildlife artists in the country" according to his 6/30/19 obituary in the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, WV. He wrote and illustrated several books himself as well as illustrating hundreds of postage stamps and L.L. Bean catalogues, among other things.
UDALL, Stewart L. (1920-2010)
The Quiet Crisis
1963. First. Published by Holt Rinehart, New York. Inscribed
Inscribed on ffe: "To Jim Kentzler/With best wishes/Stewart L. Udall/April 2, 1964." 2.5-page intro by JFK, for whom Udall served as Interior Secretary (he served 1961-69). Blue boards showing slight sun-fading to top and bottom edges. VG- in G- PCDJ with one-inch square chip missing from front left top corner and other light wear.
Described as a "pioneer of the environmental movement," Udall in The Quiet Crisis "warned of a conservation crisis in the 1960s.... In the book, he wrote about the dangers of pollution, overuse of natural resources, and dwindling open spaces. Along with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, The Quiet Crisis is credited with creating a consciousness in the country that led to the environmental movement." [From the Wikipedia page on Udall].
1976: Agenda for Tomorrow
1967. Stated first. Published by Harcourt, Brace & World, New York. Inscribed to conservation-minded congressperson Jeff Cohelan
Inscribed on ffe: "For Jeff Cohelan, One of the first Conservation Congressmen!/Stewart L. Udall/Dec 1968." Cohelan was a liberal Democrat from the Bay Area who served six terms. He was a spokesperson for the Sierra Club and fought for national park designation to preserve California redwoods. He also coauthored the 1964 Civil Rights Act and served as floor leader for the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Interestingly, he lost a primary from the left in 1970, to Ron Dellums. Introduction by John W. Gardner, who was Secretary of Health Education and Welfare under LBJ (Gardner was the only Republican in his cabinet) and founder of Common Cause. VG+ in VG NPCDJ.
Udall was enormously influential in environmental causes throughout his life, but particularly as Interior Secretary when the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the National Trail System Act of 1968 and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 were all enacted. He oversaw the addition of four national parks, six national monuments, eight national seashores (including Cape Cod) and lakeshores, nine national recreation areas, twenty national historic sites and fifty-six national wildlife refuges. These include Canyonlands, North Cascades and Redwood national parks and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. In 2010, the headquarters of the Interior Department were renamed the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building.
See Porter's The Place No One Knew (1963) for an important and touching piece about Udall and his change of heart regarding the damming of the Colorado River below the Grand Canyon..
WALLACE, David Rains (1945)
Idle Weeds: The Life of a Sandstone Ridge
1980. Published by Sierra Club Books. Inscribed to a close family friend
Inscribed: "To Sarah O Johnson, My mother's good friend and sister's Godmother, David Rains Wallace, 10/8/80." Wallace's second book, profiling Chestnut Ridge in Ohio, which Wallace describes as a different and overlooked but important kind of "wilderness." Written while Wallace was working as a public information specialist at the Columbus Ohio Metropolitan Park District, which he did from 1975-8. Illustrated by Jennifer Dewey. NF in a NF NPCDJ
The Klamath Knot [Uncorrected proof copy]
1983. Uncorrected proof copy. Published by Sierra Club Books, San Francisco
Uncorrected page proof copy in red heavy paper wrappers, listing publication date as 1/31/83. Illustrated by Karin Wikstrom. Winner of the Burroughs Medal in 1984. Unmarked. NF in paper wrappers.
Wallace is a prolific author on environmental issues in addition to being a conservation activist himself. He largely writes nonfiction with a scientific focus, albeit blending other elements. Per his Wikipedia entry: "...[T]he eminent botanist and co-founder of the 'neo-Darwinian synthesis,' G. Ledyard Stebbins, described The Klamath Knot as: 'A classic of natural history that will take its place alongside Walden and A Sand County Almanac.'" [No cite provided].
In On July 22, 1984, The New York Times Book Review published an article by Wallace entitled "The Nature of Nature Writing," a broad overview of the genre which is very much worth a read. Rather than try to excerpt it (in fact the History section of this website is a major expansion of many of the same themes), here is a link to copy and paste into a browser: https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/books/the-nature-of-nature-writing.html?searchResultPosition=1
WEYLER, Rex (1947)
The Song of the Whale
1986. Stated first edition. Published by Anchor Press/Doubleday. Inscribed to ecocriticism founder Joseph Meeker
Described as "The dramatic story of Dr. Paul Spong - founder of the Greenpeace Save-the-Whales movement - and his startling discoveries about whale intelligence. Inscribed on half-title: "To Joe Meeker - 1st class Rainbow Warrior & eco-pioneer. Rex Weyler March 21, 1990." Weyler is an author and environmental activist in his own right, having served as a founding director of the Greenpeace Foundation, founder of Greenpeace International, and editor and publisher of the newsletter Greenpeace Chronicles. He served as photographer on Greenpeace campaigns from 1974-82 and remains active in the organization today. He has published a number of books, including several on the history of Greenpeace. The Rainbow Warrior was the Greenpeace ship used to much effect and fame in the 1970s and 80s in various campaigns against whale and seal hunting, nuclear testing and waste dumping. In 1985 the French security service bombed the ship in a New Zealand port, killing a photographer.
Dr. Paul Spong (1939) is behavioral scientist who has studied orcas extensively. His work has highlighted the advanced intelligence of orcas and other Cetaceous animals. He is credited with helping to catapult the issue of commercial whaling into the public consciousness through his work with Greenpeace. A moratorium on commercial whaling was passed in 1982, in part due to his efforts, and has been in effect since 1986.
See the entry on Paul Shepard (1973) for more on ecocriticism founder Joe Meeker.
WHYTE, William H. 1917-1999)
The Last Landscape
1968. Stated first edition. Published by Doubleday & Co. Advance review copy with publisher's note laid in.
Green cloth boards. VG in a VG NPCDJ
William Whyte is best known for his book The Organization Man (1956 - not in the Collection). Following the success of that book, he turned his attention to open space protection and urban beautification, being at the vanguard of the use of easements and recommending rail trails and other strip parks, for example. He worked closely with Charles H. Little in the early years of the Open Space Institute, founded by Richard Pough (originally the Open Space Action Committee - see it's book Stewardship (1965), listed under OSAC's name).
Per the description on the back of the book:
[Whyte] became a prime mover in the action he writes about. His pioneering work on easements led to the passage of major open space statutes in many states. He drafted the innovative conservation program enacted in Connecticut. Working with Lawrence S. Rockefeller and the American Conservation Association, he produced the highly influential book Cluster Development [not in the Collection]. He was a member of President Johnson's Task Force on Natural Beauty, and authored the proposal later enacted by Congress as the Urban Beautification Program.
Not coincidentally, it was reading The Organization Man that spurred Charles Little to abandon a career in advertising an environmentalist and writer. He met Whyte (known to friends as Holly) soon after and they became close collaborators.
WILSON, Edward O. (1929-2021)
The Theory of Island Biogeography
(Written with Robert H. MacArthur)
1967. First edition. Published by Princeton University Press, New Jersey
Monograph. Brown paper covers. Among the most influential books on ecology ever written. "It became arguably the most influential published work in ecology. 'It is a true landmark among landmarks,' the ecologist Robert May wrote...." (From NYT obituary of Wilson published December 2021). The importance of the work was recognized early on. In a lengthy contemporary review of the book for Science magazine (a clipping of which is laid into the volume), Prof. Terrell H. Hamilton of UT Austin writes that this is "a book which may revitalize ecology.... I contend that the book also has strong implications for the future development of ecology as a predictive science." Ownership signature of Robin Foster, Dept. of Botany. VG
In Search of Nature
1996. First printing. Published by Island Press/Shearwater Books (Shearwater is an arm of The Center for Resource Economics). Inscribed
Inscribed on title page: "To Karen and David Davis, with thanks to fellow conservationists and especially for your help on Stacy Mountain." Wilson has also drawn two of his trademark ants. Laid in is a letter dated 12/18/96 from one Monte Allen on the letterhead of the Massachusetts Office of The Nature Conservancy stating in relevant part: "As I was reviewing some of this year's highlights with Professor Edward O. Wilson, he wanted to recognize the key role you played in our acquisition of the Plante property on Stacy Mountain…." There are several Stacy Mountains in New England, none particularly prominent. Impossible to tell without further research what the letter refers to, and tangential enough to ignore. NF in a NF non-priced DJ.
Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life
2016. Stated first edition. Published by W.W. Norton's Liveright Publishing Corp. Signed
White and blue boards. Laid in below half-title is Wilson's signature on a Liveright Publishing Corp. tipped-in sticky-backed note. The title of the book refers to Wilson's argument that half of the earth's surface must be maintained in a natural state if we are to preserve adequate biodiversity on the planet. F in a F NPCDJ.
Wilson was a giant amongst evolutionary biologists who spent the latter half of his career dedicated to the cause of preserving biodiversity - indeed he is frequently referred to as the "father of biodiversity." Wrote Wilson: "Now when you cut a forest, an Ancient Forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are removing or drastically imperiling a vast array of species even within a few square miles of you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands. Many of them, the very smallest of them, are still unknown to science, and science has not yet discovered the key role undoubtedly played in the maintenance of that ecosystem, as in the case of fungi, microorganisms, and many of the insects." [www.saveamericasforests.org/wilson/second.htm]
ZWINGER, Ann (1925-2014)
Beyond the Aspen Grove
1970. Stated first edition. Published by Random House, New York. Inscribed
Tan cloth boards. Inscribed on half-title "With best wishes, Ann H. Zwinger." Her first book (of more than 20). Illustrated with her own black and white drawings. Very minor soiling/fading to text block edges, not impinging on the actual leaves. VG++ to NF in a VG++ PCDJ.
Run, River, Run: A Naturalist's Journey Down One of the Great Rivers of the West
1975. Stated first edition. Published by Harper & Row. Inscribed
Blue/green cloth boards. Inscribed on half-title "To The Richards - Ann Zwinger." John Burroughs Association Medal winner. Illustrated with Zwinger's own black and white drawings and maps. Account of a journey down the Green River. In a 10/12/75 NYT review by none other than Edward Abbey, he writes "...[H]er account of the Green River and its subtle forms of life and nonlife may be taken as authoritative. 'Run, River, Run' should serve as a standard reference work on this part of the American West for many years to come." NF to F in a NF to F PCDJ.
Zwinger was a naturalist and art historian whose interest in ecology was sparked by her family's purchase of land in Colorado. She was well recognized for her work, having been nominated for a National Book Award for her book Land Above the Trees (not in the Collection) and having won, in addition to the Burroughs Medal, the Western Art Federation Award for nonfiction in 1995, the John Hay Award from the Orion Society in 1996 and the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association in 2001.
ZWINGER, Ann and TEALE, Edwin Way
A Conscious Stillness: Two Naturalists on Thoreau's Rivers
1982. Stated first edition. Published by Harper & Row, New York. Inscribed by Zinger
Inscribed on half-title: "For Carl & Dick - with fond regards - Ann Zwinger/July 1982." As described in the Catalogue entry on Teale (1953), he died when nearly through with this book. Zwinger completed the book in consultation with Teale's wife and others. F in a VG NPCDJ.
ART SHOW CATALOGUES
Art Show Catalogue - The Pollution Show - Oakland Museum - Jan 10 - Feb 15, 1970
Exhibition catalogue for show featuring 70 artists, including Ansel Adams, Tom Cottrell, Phillip Hocking, Phil Linhares and Jack Mendenhall. Catalogue consists of 8.5" square cards, most with photos of works from the show, plus a two-card statement from the Sierra Club on pollution in America. The cards are held in a custom pictorial folder. The first card, which lists the participating artists, has a Withdrawn stamp from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. VG++. Stored downstairs.