Search Results: Authors starting with B from Rural Hours

Univ Of Minnesota Press, 1997. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Inscribed in year of publication on half title page in brown ink: "10/9/97, For Olie, with best wishes, David Backes." Blurbs by Stewart Udall, Douglas Wood, and Paul Gruchow. Near fine book on account of slight foxing to top face of text block; otherwise fine. In a near fine jacket with light rubbing. // 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: Franklin Watts, 1972. First edition. Hardcover. Signed on the title page by Bancroft and located at "Sanibel-Captiva," the islands on the Gulf Coast of Florida where he lived and worked as a writer and nature guide after a career in journalism. With the owl-illustration bookplate on the pastedown of notable naturalist Shirley Ann Briggs and taped below it a note "From the desk of Joseph B. Phillips" dated 1973 that recommends and relays the book as a gift to Briggs. This book is a science-informed novel set in "the immediate future" that traces the lives of a bald eagle, an osprey, and a falcon as they migrate and breed and confront  environmental hazards, notably DDT: "The reader is able to see how the killing of aphids in a small cornfield by DDT can affect birds and animals hundred of miles away  ... The impact [of the book] exceeds that of the most alarming scientific treatise on the subject of vanishing species." Shirley Ann Briggs was a close friend and colleague of Rachel Carson and… Read More

Washington DC: Island Press, 1993. Near fine/Near fine. Inscribed generously on the title page: "To John: Your progressive voice is like a beacon shining from the dark, lighting a path towards the future for Idaho + the West. Rocky Barker." Uncommon signed. A book that is "a journalist's  exploration of the coexistence of endangered species protection and the future of resource dependent communities." Case studies examined along the way include Pacific salmon, grizzly bears, peregrines falcons, and wolves. Barker was an environmental journalist for the Idaho Fall's Post Register and later Boise's Idaho Statesman, and he led a sixth-month investigation on the subject in the Northwest.  He's also written on fires in Yellowstone. A near fine book with a daub of white paint to upper right corner of front board and faint sunning to lower edges; in a very near fine jacket.

NY: Little, Brown, 1971. First edition. Hardcover. Two inscribed books by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, headlined by her first book, The Forests and Wetlands of New York City. Uncommon signed, but here inscribed on the half-title page in blue ink: "For Robert Glynn, with warm regards, Betsy Barlow."  An early book focused on urban nature, it won the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing in 1973. With a foreword by Rene Dubos, who writes in part: "The Forests and Wetlands of New York City is much more than an enjoyable and illuminating guide to the history and present state of nature in the city. It demonstrates that while man is all too often a destroyer of wilderness, he can also shape and restore the natural world--and perhaps even improve on it by giving existential expression to the genius of the place." Quarto with black and white photos, illustrations, and maps throughout. A near fine book with a touch of dust soiling to the top face of the text block and light sunning to board… Read More

NY: Crown, 2015. First edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. Inscribed in the year of publication on the title page: "May 2015, For Treena, With showers of thanks for your passion for conservation, Florida, and its water. My best, Cynthia Barnett." Uncommon signed. Longlisted for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Glowing blurbs by Elizabeth Kolbert, Douglas Brinkley, Bill McKibben, David George Haskell, and Richard Louv. Near fine with a little rubbing to lower boards; in a near fine jacket with some small scuffs and spots of faint discoloration to rear panel (front panel immaculate).

NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1925. First edition. Hardcover. Very good/Good. A biography of John Burroughs in two volumes. Neither is signed, but laid into volume one is a one-page autographed letter signed (ALS) from Clara Barrus, John Burrough's close companion and the steward of his legacy as first assistant and then literary executor. It's addressed to the author of an article, "Burroughs, Unofficial Ambassador," that appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, presumably in 1928 the year the letter was written. She writes "I think Burroughs himself would have enjoyed it." Googling doesn't turn up the article, but surely it could be found; the author is apparently anonymous, though Barrus leads with initials: "J.P.S.E." (another hand has then written "= O.S." . . . a mystery). On letterhead reading "Woodchuck Lodge, Roxbury-in-the-Catskills" the home of Burroughs, the missive finishes: " As the biographer of J.B., many things written about him drift to me, & many of them are inaccurate and, in other… Read More

Dutton, 2015. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Inscribed on the title page: "To Maria, Love you! Drew Barrymore" (as this book was found in Ketchum, Idaho, possibly someone like Maria Shriver?). Near fine due to a couple light, small damp stains to edges of outer front board); in a near fine jacket with light rubbing. // 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.

G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Inscribed on half-title page to Greg Gatenby, longtime director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors. With Gatenby's ownership signature and date (1986) on FFEP. Near fine book in near fine price-clipped jacket.

Shambhala, 2004. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Association copy, inscribed by the author to Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Ed Young on the sage front free endpaper (in the elegant calligraphic script that the entire book is produce with): "For Ed--and your own true and deepening nature. Love and gratitude, Barbara." A delightful book, by the author of several Sierra Club books, which details her meditations in the solitude of country life, illustrated with her own watercolors. All of the text in the book is calligraphy by Bash. Ed Young won the Caldecott for Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China (1990). He was U.S. nominee in both 1992 and 2000 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition available to creators of children's books.

Pantheon Books, 1983. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Book 1, 'Seven Fish, etcetera,' of this four miniature volume box set is signed by Leonard Baskin in a blue ink on the title page, which is on the verso on the front free endpaper; signed at event at the Albany Institute of History and Art. Near fine books with small spots of edge wear; in near fine jackets except Book 4, which has some fraying at head and tail of the spine and is thus very good. In a near fine stiff cardboard slipcase with wear to corners. // 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. WRB402023E.

Livingston, MT: Clark City Press, 1992. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Inscribed in the year of publication on the half-title page in blue pen: "For Marc, Great to see you & be here -- Thanks for your work -- Rick Bass, 6/19/92, Oxford." We suspect Marc may be another writer, but don't know his identity. This book is "an inspired essay advocating wolf reintroduction and recolonization, in the context of one small pack's fate." With a cover and illustrations by famed Western painter Russell Chatham, who founded and owned the wonderful Clark City Press that published many Montana writers and associates including Jim Harrison. 165 pages. A very handsome production, and a fine book in fine jacket.

NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near fine. Inscribed on the half-title page in the year of publication: "For Marc -- Best of luck and wishes -- Best, Rick Bass, Oxford '89."  Uncommon for also being inscribed by the book's dedicatee and illustrator, Bass's then-wife, with a separate pen: "For Marc, Best wishes, Elizabeth Hughes, Oxford, 1989." As of this writing there are no other copies signed by Hughes available, and it's an especially nice inclusion as this book is dedicated "To Elizabeth" and she is substantially a character in the book (for an example, see photo of page 3). This is Bass's fourth book; written in the style of a journal, it lyrically shares his expertise as an oil geologist and is simultaneously a "subterranean exploration of the self." With an opening epigraph from Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard, and blurbs by Thomas McGuane, Annie Dillard, and Jim Harrison. A fine book in a near fine jacket with very subtle sunning to the spine. .

TX: Texas A&M Press, 1985. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very good. Inscribed on the half-title page: "For Marc -- Nice to meet you, & thanks for coming -- Best, Rick Bass, Oxford '89."  Uncommon for also being inscribed by the book's illustrator, Bass's then-wife, with a separate pen: "For Marc -- Thanks! Best, Elizabeth Hughes, Oxford 1989." As of this writing there are no other copies signed by Hughes available. This is Bass's first book, seventeen essays about his family's deer hunting tradition in the Texas Hills Country and the natural history of deer. It launched Bass, an oil geologist, to an impressive writing and environmental activist career. A fine book in a very good price-clipped jacket with sunning to spine, otherwise in great shape.

Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Signed on title page. With a Russell Chatham painting on the cover. Magical , passionate, and lyrical, the three novellas in this collection are perhaps the finest Rick Bass has written. Fine in fine jacket.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Inscribed on the title page: "For Mike, Happy Birthday -- All fine wishes -- Rick Bass." An association copy: Unmarked, but from the library of naturalist-author, MacArthur Genius Grant-- and John Burroughs Medal-winner Gary Paul Nabhan, known in particular for his writing on Indigenous populations and their ethnobotany in the desert Southwest. Uncommon signed.

NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Fine. Number 27 of 100 limited edition copies. Near fine due to a bump to the lower front corner; in a fine jacket..

NY: W.W. Norton, 1989. First edition. Hardcover. Fine. A softcover advanced uncorrected proof inscribed in the year of publication on the half-title page: "For Marc -- Thanks! Sorry we missed you -- Best, Rick Bass, Oxford 1989." Uncommon for being a signed proof. We suspect Marc is another writer, but aren't sure. His third book and first book of short stories, with nice blurbs by George Plimpton and Joy Williams.  An about fine copy with trace edge wear, but we note the book does not seem quite rectangular and has offset wraps, a printer's error that adds interest in our opinion.

University of Georgia Press, 1998. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. Elizabeth Hughes Bass. Signed on title page. A short story with illustrations by Elizabeth Hughes Bass, his then wife. With a Russell Chatham painting on the cover. Fiber is a story about the ravages of activism and the healing properties of art. Fine in near fine jacket.

NY: Knopf, 1944. First edition. Hardcover. Very good. Association copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "Inscribed for Marcia Clapp with love by Will Beebe." Marcia Clapp [DeRocco] was an artist who sculpted a stone bust of Beebe that's now held in his archives with the Wildlife Conservation Society. She later founded the Pocono Art Center. Beebe was a preeminent and fascinating naturalist-writer, known especially for his ocean expeditions he conducted for the New York Zoological Society. This anthology is his selections of the best natural history writing, and it's table of contents lists a veritable who's who including: Aristotle, Pliny, Linnaeus, John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, John Burroughs, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Ernest Thompson Seton, Donald Culross Peattie, and so on. See photos for full table of contents. Beebe gives short introductions to authors and rationales for his selections at the top of each… Read More

NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1953. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very good. Inscribed on the blank following the title page in a blue pen: "To Dr. Raymond Hockey [sp?], from Will Beebe, with warm regards." Uncommon signed. Beebe was a preeminent and fascinating 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." In this book, as the jacket describes, "the famous naturalist returns to discover, among the familiar sights of the teeming metropolis, a world hidden from the eight million people who call it home." An early book of urban environmental writing. A fine book in a very good or better jacket with rubbing and touch of wear to spine ends..