Foot-Loose in the West

New York: Morrow, 1932. First edition. Illustrated with sketches made en route by Helen Finger. 302 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Orange Cloth. Fine. Bookplate of Edward Borein, reproducing one of his drawings. First edition. Illustrated with sketches made en route by Helen Finger. 302 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Inscribed to Western Artist John Edward Borein. Inscribed "For Ed Borein, man of esceptional (sic) gifts from Charles J. Finger. A Voyage done, set sail and steer once more, For further landfall on some nobler shore."

John Edward Borein (1872-1945), son of a California deputy sheriff, was sketching Western subjects at the age of five. Encouraged by his family to become an artist, he matriculated at a San Francisco art school, but left after a month to work as a cowboy. In this pursuit he became highly proficient, although, encouraged by his awed fellow cowhands, he continued to draw and sketch in his spare time and, in 1896, began to see his work in print. He eventually developed an enviable competence as a watercolorist, but gave up painting in oils when he compared his work--unfavorably--with that of his friend Charles M. Russell

In 1906 Borein moved to New York to work as an illustrator, and studied etching--which would become a speciality--at the Art Students' League. It was this which set him apart from his peers in Western art, and nearly 400 of his etchings are recorded. Seeped in the history and allurements of the West, he returned to California permanently in 1919, and it is to his native state that much of his work relates. By the 1930s his watercolors, produced with sparkling, vivid colors and conveying a flavor of authenticity without pretension, were enormously popular; they number over 1,000 examples. He is known as an artist "who got the details right" and his readily identifiable personal style sets him apart from others who depict the landscapes, the inhabitants, the history, and the sun-drenched aridity of the American West.