Search Results: Titles starting with B from Rural Hours

San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1992. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Signed by Norton, Yevtushenko, and Brower--every contributor listed on the title page has signed it but Matthiessen. Uncommon as such (Matthiessen's signature alone in this volume is more prevalent). Describes in word and photograph the 1990 journey of Matthiessen, Paul Winter, and a group of Russian environmentalists who traveled around Baikal, the world's oldest and deepest lake, containing one-fifth of the planet's fresh water and increasingly threatened. A fine book in a fine price-clipped jacket. .

Milkweed Editions, 2000. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Association copy, inscribed on the title page: "For Mary Oliver, in abiding gratitude, Mary Rose O'Reilley, 2-3-06." A wonderful association, Mary to Mary, considering that same year (2006) Oliver selected O'Reilley as the winner of the prestigious Walt Whitman Award for 'Half Wild'--thus the abiding gratitude. Oliver said of 'Half Wild': "[O'Reilley's is] a style that celebrates life and dignifies sorrow, that includes the drifter; the Japanese print; deer in the woods; herons in the wetland grass; a lost child recovered but, it could be, forever half wild; and especially, for it is a continuing presence in this book, that mystery we call the soul. That part of us that is of another world, come perhaps to instruct us in this one." This book, 'The Barn at the End of the World,' was O'Reilley's previous, and seems this copy amounts to a rare stray from Oliver's library. A nice blurb by Temple Grandin on the back. A very near fine… Read More

Swan Scythe Press, 2001. Soft cover. Fine. Inscribed to poet Jim LeCuyer on the title page: "For Jim -- In the spirit of earth's poetry -- Maria Melendez, Sept 2002, Strawberry Creek." Author is/was the writer in residence at the UC Davis Arboretum. Blurb from Gary Snyder.

Santa Barbara: Unicorn Press, 1967. First edition. Fine. One of 26 copies of this "Poetry Card" signed for the occasion of a reading at the Unicorn Bookshop on April 22, 1967. "This is copy P, Lew Welch," reads his inscription on the rear/colophon. 450 total copies were produced. Stiff goldenrod, textured paper, a single sheet folded once to make a card. The interior presents his poem "The Perfect Con." With what is likely the original unmarked envelope. Scarce--only one other unsigned copy of "The Perfect Con" is currently available. A fine copy.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. First printing signed by McPhee on the fly title. A very-good-plus hardcover, with some slight sunning or wear to upper and lower edges of the tan boards with black cloth, some slight bowing, and perhaps as a result, some barely perceptible waviness to the second half of the text block. The jacket is very good with sunning to spine (usual for this book). A road trip through Nevada and geologic time. The first installment of what would become McPhees Pulitzer-prize-winning compilation Annals of the Former World. Please inquire for photos.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. Association copy. First edition first printing hardcover, inscribed on the half title page: "For Rocco Siciliano, a man whose first name could not be more appropriate in this context, from Roemer s brother, John McPhee." You ve got to love McPhee s humor: It s a book about about rocks. Rocco Siciliano was an accomplished businessman who grew up in Salt Lake City thus his keen interest in this particular book. He settled in Los Angeles, but became a major donor to the University of Utah, his alma mater. He also served in an advisory capacity to four presidential administrations. Laid in is a short 6 x 9" typed note signed by Roemer McPhee, John s older brother, that reads, mainly: "Everything comes to him who waits. You knew, of course, that I would not see John until last weekend. He was happy to inscribe the book and I think he did so appropriately." Perhaps Rocco was really eager to read and had expressed some… Read More

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. Association copy. First printing hardcover with an inscription on the half title: "For Murray Murphey, from LeAnna Whitman, and with all best, too, from a friend dating back to early geologic time. John McPhee." That's a fun bit of wit from McPhee, considering the book. LeAnna Whitman is John McPhee s sister-in-law (he is married to Yolanda Whitman), and Murray Murphey was a philosopher and historian at the University of Pennsylvania, where he pioneered and chaired the Department of American Civilization. Murphey and McPhee shared a fellowship year at Cambridge University in 1953-1954, which is likely when and where they became friends the "early geologic time" McPhee references. Murphey grew up in Colorado Springs and no doubt had an appreciation for Western geography and geology. He contributed, for example, an essay on John Wesley Powell's "The Exploration of the Colorado River" to the anthology Landmarks of American… Read More

NY: Dodd, Mead, 1951. First edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Signed by Klingel on the front free endpaper. Uncommon signed, and this Dodd, Mead hardcover edition seemingly uncommon or scarce in general. Third printing, 1952, the year after first publication. Glowing blurbs by Rachel Carson, Edwin Way Teale, Helen Cruickshank, and N.J. Berrill. This book won the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing in 1953 (the year after Rachel Carson won it for *The Sea Around Us*). Green cloth with blue top stain. A very good book with clean cloth boards, gently rubbed at edges, and faint foxing to outer text block edge and FFEP. Bookplate belonging to J Benton Schaub also on FFEP below Klingel's signature. In a very good jacket with edge wear and very short tears at spine corners..

Mariner, 2004. Soft cover. Near Fine. Not signed, but from the library of the author, though unmarked except for a bookseller's note. Fine except for some faint toning to page edges.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Not signed and unmarked except for a bookseller's note in pencil, but from the library of the author. Fine in fine jacket.

Doubleday, 1979. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. an early book about shoreline erosion and sea level rise, inscribed by Kaufman on the half-title page: "For Charlotte, Dont despair theyre all environmentalists out there, just keep scratching them with your writing them & youll find out." A little hard to interpret, but perhaps Charlotte was a concerned property owner rather than a conservationist? Kaufman is a conservationist (who may now have property rights/free-market leanings), and Pilkey is a marine geologist. Later printed in paperback by Duke University Press. A near fine book in a very good dustjacket with some light speckling/scratching to upper front panel and minor wear to corners. Please inquire for photos. We invite you to explore our dedicated collection of signed and inscribed climate change books.

Knopf, 1994. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Inscribed on the half-title in blue pen in the year of publication: "To Jennifer, with best wishes, Jonathan Weiner, 1994." Additionally signed, just below the inscription, by Peter and Rosemary Grant, the Princeton biologists profiled in this Pulitzer Prize-winning book for their famous long-term study of Galapagos finches on Daphne Major that show evolution in real time. A remarkable collection of signatures, a prize for any science writing collection. A fine book even considering the smallest of bumps to lower front corner. In a fine jacket.

Knopf, 1994. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Inscribed on the half-title page: "For Ferol Smith, with best wishes, Jonathan Wiener, June 21, 1995." Just below is the additional signature of Weiner's wife, the YA/children's book author Deborah Heiligman, to whom the book is dedicated,  a scarce and lovely inclusion. Fifth printing. Very near fine in a near fine jacket with one strip of light rubbing on real panel and a gold "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize" sticker on the front. For those interested in this title, see also our copy signed by Weiner and by Peter and Rosemary Grant, the scientist-protagonists of this book. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions.

Atlantic Monthly Pr, 2000. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Signed limited edition, #236 of 250, green cloth in matching slipcase. Near fine because of some light fading to spine and edges of slipcase, otherwise tight and unread.

La Alameda Press, 2004. Soft cover. Near Fine. Creatively signed on FFEP: "23:IX:06, David Meltzer, Black Oak Books, Berkeley." Also has sketch of a face, presumably a self-portrait. Fine except for the upper right corner of cover, which is ever so slightly upturned.

W. W. Norton & Company, 2021. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Fine. Signed on the title page in black ink. Uncommon signed (released during the pandemic). The first book from a decorated environmental literary journalist who is a perennial contributor to the Best American Science and Nature Writing. Blurbs by Elizabeth Rush, Elizabeth Kolbert, John Vaillant, Florence Williams, and Elena Passarello. Near fine because of some light bumping to upper corners and one bump to lower front board; in a fine jacket. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions.

NY: G.P. Putnam, 1928. First edition. Hardcover. Very good. A family association copy, signed on the second blank: "Inscribed for Leopold & Douglas Damrosch by William Beebe, John Tee-Van, and Tante Helen." Beebe, John Tee-Van, and Helen Damrosch Tee-Van's signatures are each in their own hand, a rare collection of signatures. Beebe was a preeminent naturalist-writer, known especially for the far-flung ocean expeditions he conducted for the New York Zoological Society and his pioneering descents in a submersible "bathosphere." John Tee-Van authored one of the appendices in the book, "Methods in Submarine Photography"; he was recruited by Beebe to the Department of Tropical Research, and for 26 years was a member of Beebe's exploration team. Eventually Tee-Van became the director of the Bronx Zoo from 1952-1962. His wife Helen was a scientific illustrator (an early female scientific illustrator?) and worked for 41 years for Beebe and the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation… Read More

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Not signed and unmarked except for a bookseller's note, but from the library of Robert Stone, whose story "Under the Pitons" from Esquire is the second story in this anthology. Edited and selected by Katrina Kenison. One minor bump to lower edge of front board, but still fine.

NY: Grove Press, 2010. Fine/Near fine. Inscribed on the title page: "For Sally and Marc, With pleasure, Kay Ryan." Fourth printing. Fine book in near fine jacket with light rubbing to pale rear panel and one minor scratch at lower spine.

University of California Press, 2008. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. Inscribed on the half-title page in sharpie: "To Dutch, Trees rule! NMN." Uncommon signed. Nadkarni is one of the foremost canopy ecologists and a pioneering woman in biology. Blurbs by Richard Preston, Bill McKibben, and Thomas Lovejoy among others. Fine book in a very near fine jacket with a little edge wear. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions.