Steep Trails
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. Hardcover. Large paper, first edition of this collection of Muir's writings from the field, spanning three decades of his life. In 1918, the editor William Frederic Bade concluded his introduction with the reflection that 'Many, too, will read with pensive interest the author's glowing description of what was one time called the New Northwest. Almost inconceivably great have been the changes wrought in that region during the past generations. Henceforth the landscapes that Muir saw there will live in good part only in his writings, for fire, axe, plough, and gunpowder have made away with the supposedly boundless forest wildernesses and their teeming life.' With seventeen illustrations, including a hand-colored photogravure frontispiece of Mount Shasta.[1][i]-ix,[3], [1]-391, [3]. 'Three hundred and eighty copies of this large-paper edition were printed at The Riverside Press, Cambridge, in September, 1918. Three hundred and fifty copies are for sale. This is number 102' Green paper-covered boards, green cloth spine. Edges of the text and the spine show some darkening with age. The rear pastedown has a small bookseller's label: 'Robertson's San Francisco'. Robertson's operated in San Francisco from 1906 to 1924, and is one of the ancestors of local institution Books Inc. 9.5 x 6.25" Near Fine. Item #2022-M325
Price: $439.00