The Writings of John Muir. Manuscript Edition (in 10 vols.)
- SIGNED
- Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916. Limited edition. Fine. One of 750 numbered copies, this being copy 153, with a leaf of ink manuscript (195 x 155 mm.), heavily edited in pencil by Muir. A Fine set. Ten volumes, octavo (145 x 213 mm)., occupying 385 mm. (15.5 inches) of shelf space. With hand-colored frontispieces in each volume, plus many other plates. Publisher's three-quarter red morocco over red cloth, ruled in gilt. Top edge gilt. Red marbled endpapers. Small twentieth-century bookplates (L.W. Jordan Jr.) to each pastedown. Red ribbon bookmark in each volume. A lovely example of this beautiful set.
The manuscript leaf comprises material that may have figured into The Mountains of California. The excerpt reads, "...most savage aspect – in the gray darkness; while a waterfall sang me a solemn song as it came pouring from a glacier into the lake. The fall, + the lake, + the glacier, are almost equally bare + plantless, while the storm beaten pines scattered among the [?] toward the east are so dwarfed you might walk among their tops. The scene was one of the..."
One of America’s most important naturalists and preservationists – and a monumental figure in both the history of the environmental movement and the state of California. Muir not only founded the Sierra Club, but was instrumental in the establishment of both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Though Muir is known chiefly as an American figure, he was born in Scotland – and came over as a boy when his family immigrated to the Midwest. Muir maintained an interest in spirituality and nature from his youth. Indeed, he explored the American wilderness extensively after he finished college, walking at one point over 1,000 miles from Kentucky to Florida. Eventually he would settle in Northern California, where he would make his most significant impact, exploring the Sierras and Yosemite.
“He knew the mountains and forests of the West as they are known only to one who has dwelt in loneliness among them, hardened his body and nourished his soul in their splendorous solitudes” (New York Times). Fine.
The manuscript leaf comprises material that may have figured into The Mountains of California. The excerpt reads, "...most savage aspect – in the gray darkness; while a waterfall sang me a solemn song as it came pouring from a glacier into the lake. The fall, + the lake, + the glacier, are almost equally bare + plantless, while the storm beaten pines scattered among the [?] toward the east are so dwarfed you might walk among their tops. The scene was one of the..."
One of America’s most important naturalists and preservationists – and a monumental figure in both the history of the environmental movement and the state of California. Muir not only founded the Sierra Club, but was instrumental in the establishment of both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Though Muir is known chiefly as an American figure, he was born in Scotland – and came over as a boy when his family immigrated to the Midwest. Muir maintained an interest in spirituality and nature from his youth. Indeed, he explored the American wilderness extensively after he finished college, walking at one point over 1,000 miles from Kentucky to Florida. Eventually he would settle in Northern California, where he would make his most significant impact, exploring the Sierras and Yosemite.
“He knew the mountains and forests of the West as they are known only to one who has dwelt in loneliness among them, hardened his body and nourished his soul in their splendorous solitudes” (New York Times). Fine.