Painters of the Desert, 1960, First. Inscribed Association copy

Folio, 13.25 x 9.75, 111 pp. Publisher: Desert Magazine. Ed Ainsworth. 1960, First edition. ASSOCIATION copy. Original orange cloth, lettered in gilt. Foreword by Carl Schaefer Dentzel. Illustrations and plates throughout from drawings and paintings (some in color) by various artists, and photographs of them.

Condition

Very Good. Spine ends and top corners a bit bumped, lacks dust jacket. ASSOCIATION copy with a 8-line INSCRIPTION by Ainsworth in ink on the half-title page: "For Lindley, my pal, raconteur, wine taster, bibliophile, author and a great drinking companion -- may your footsteps be guided to the best vineyards where the juice of the grape inspires new limericks and happy memories of old friends. And I hope you like my book! Most sincerely, Ed (Ed Ainsworth).

About this book

An important work on the artists who captured the sublime beauty of the Californian and Southwestern deserts, including Maynard Dixon, Nicolai Fechin, Carl Eytel, Don Perceval, John Hilton, and others.

Edward Maddin Ainsworth was born in 1902 in Waco, Texas; attended Texas A & M and UCLA; worked for newspapers in Waco, Texas, San Pedro and Bakersfield, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, before coming to work at the Los Angeles Times as a copyreader in 1924; progressed from city editor to state editor, editorial page editor, assistant to the managing editor, and eventually became a columnist; author of column, On the Move; member, Board of Governors, Los Angeles County Museum; member, Zamorano Club, Death Valley 49'ers, and E Clampus Vitus; wrote several books on California and the West and also contributed to various magazines; married Katherine Lake, chief librarian in Monrovia, California, 1931; died in 1968. (https://search.library.ucla.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01UCS_LAL:UCLA&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LibraryCatalog&docid=alma994621543606533)