Search Results: Titles starting with Y from Rural Hours

NY: Vintage, 2007. First edition. Softcover. Fine. Signed on the title page by Didion, and thus scarce. In about five years of watching, we have never seen another signed copy of this book on the market. This is the play she adapted from her National Book Award-winning memoir which opened starring Vanessa Redgrave at the Booth Theatre in New York in March 2007. A nice find for the Didion devotee. A fine paperback, slim at 67 pages, with perhaps a hint of toning to leaves; still fine.

Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. Inscribed on the title page: "For Lynn Hurst, Joan Didion." Third printing before publication. Near fine book with light bumping to spine ends, a small bump to each lower board edge, and one small spot to front board. In a very good plus jacket with a few spots of soiling (that might wipe off) and a large golden ovular "Autographed Copy" sticker to lower right of front panel; the spine is *not* sunned as is so often the case for this title. Comes with a paperback reading copy.

Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Association copy, inscribed to a close friend or family member, quite possibly her brother-in-law the journalist Dominick ("Nick") Dunne: "For Nick, who was there through all of these scenes -- from San Juan Bautista to St. John the Divine -- with love always, Joan Didion." Mission San Juan Bautista was where Joan and her husband John Gregory Dunne were married; St. John the Divine was the site of their daughter Quintana Roo Dunne's wedding, the funeral for John Gregory Dunne (as described in this book), and ultimately Joan's own memorial. Laid in is a hand-written note on her personal stationary, bookmark size, 6.5 inches by 3.25: "Dear Nick -- I managed to find you a first edition, so it's almost like getting it in October -- Love, xx, J." The book was published in October 2005, and this is a first printing. Gregory Dunne and his brother Dominick (if it's that Nick, which seems likely considering this individual attended their… Read More

New York: Scribners, 1969. First edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Fine. Fisher, Leonard Everett. Handsomely signed on the title page by Scheffer, who has a marine mammal biologist in the Pacific Northwest and the author of a dozen books.  Uncommon signed. Describing the first twelve months in the life of a sperm whale calf, this book was a bestseller and won the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing in 1970. With elegant ceatational-astrological illustrations to start each chapter (each month of the year) by Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Leonard Everett Fisher. An epigraph by Henry Beston. Loren Eisley wrote in The New York Times that "Scheffer knows, as Melville knew, that it is an 'unwritten life' he seeks to chronicle. Even the modern zoologist can gain, at best, only glimpses of the lives of these mysterious and transformed creatures .... It is just this interweaving of the known with the unknown that makes 'The Year of the Whale' a volume to be treasured." On the jacket's rear,… Read More

NY: Knopf, 2005. First edition. Hardcover. First printing. Inscribed two days after its official publication date (October 6, 2005) on the title page: "For Dee Dee -- via Kelly -- with thanks for the picture help! Joan Didion, October 8 2005." An uncommonly long inscription for Didion, who is typically quite to the point. This book won the National Book Award and was adapted by Didion into a broadway play starring Vanessa Redgrave. A fine copy in a near fine jacket with just a touch of rubbing. Perhaps the best condition of any of the signed copies we've handled, as this jacket is prone to sunning. Comes with a paperback reading copy.

NY: Knopf, 2005. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near fine. Fifteenth printing. Signed on the title page by Didion. Winner of the National Book Award and adapted into a play starring Vanessa Redgrave. A fine copy with one dogeared page; in a near fine jacket with a subtle crease down the spine and a silver "autographed copy" sticker at lower right on front panel. Comes with a paperback reading copy.

University of Chicago Press, 1964. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. Inscribed (to no recipient) on the front free endpaper: "With best wishes, George Schaller." The second book of this legendary field biologist, uncommon signed. Second printing. Very good with a slight twist to spine and faint dust soling to top face of text block; in a very good jacket with light edge wear and sunning to spine. Schaller won the National Book Award in Science for *The Serengeti Lion.* // 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: Random House, 2020. First edition. Hardcover. Very good. A softcover uncorrected proof of this debut, a work of literary journalism that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction. An investigative true crime story that is also a sophisticated exploration and history of the Bakken Oil Boom and the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, and a beautiful evocation of place. Contemporary uncorrected proofs are increasingly uncommon as publishers move to digital proofs. Laid in an unsigned publicist letter giving the book away to a lay reader. A very good plus copy with edge wear and scratching..

Temple Bar Bookshop, Cambridge, MA, 1974. Soft cover. Fine. Signed by Merrill on title page. With the ownership signature and date (1991) of Greg Gatenby, longtime director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, on the FFEP. Beautiful copy.

Yosemite, CA: Flying Spur Press, 1974. First edition. Hardcover. Association copy, inscribed to Horace Albright--who wrote the foreword to this volume--on a typed, signed label affixed to the first blank: "May 17, 1975, For Horace Albright, whose memories and Foreword enhance this book, with the appreciation, admiration, and deep affection of the author. Shirley."  Laid in at front is stapled article torn neatly from the summer 1974 issue of California Historical Quarterly by Sargent with the title "Welllllcome to Camp Curry," an article in the lead up to this book. Notations on the back may be in Albright's hand. Also included is a photocopy of a one-page article that describes the opening of The Ahwahnee Hotel from what may be a National Parks Association publication. Labels were Shirley Sargent's usual mode, it would seem because her handwriting (from other samples we've seen) was actually very tough verging on impossible to read. Her labels suggest a level of advanced thoughtfulness and have… Read More

Yosemite, CA: Flying Spur, 1970. First edition. Softcover. Near fine. Association copy, inscribed to Horace Albright--who wrote the foreword to this volume--on a typed, signed label affixed to the half-title page: "Aug. 3, 1970, For Grace and Horace with appreciation, admiration and affection. Shirley."  Her signature is in her hand. Stapled to the interior rear wrap is a single-sheet 8.5 x 11" book release/party invitation for Yosemite's Famous Guests at Curry Village on Yosemite letterhead.  Labels were Shirley Sargent's usual mode, it would seem because her handwriting (from other samples we've seen) was actually very tough verging on impossible to read. Her labels suggest a level of advanced thoughtfulness and have a certain charm.  She was a prolific historian of Yosemite. Her bestselling book was John Muir in Yosemite National Park (1972), but she published on many facets of the park and its history via her own Flying Spur Press.   Horace Albright became the second director of the… Read More

Overlook Books, 1978. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. Association copy, inscribed to Annie Dillard on he half-title page: "For Annie, whose sense of light and shadow has so inspired me-- (forgive the effusion) Daniel." With Dillard's bookplate on the same page. Laid is also a note from Epstein on John Hopkins University stationary: "3-11-81, Dear Annie, Thanks for the book. I'd read it, but it's much better to have the signed copy. Here's one of mine, with some poems in it I can still read. Your books aren't prose. After my conversation with Gary [perhaps anthropologist Gary Clevidence, Dillard's husband at the time], I don't know what poetry is anymore! Dan." Epstein is the winner of a Rome Prize, NEA and Guggenheim fellowships, and an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Very book with light foxing to upper edge and some soiling to cloth, in a very good jacket with slight wear to corners and subtle sunning to spine and top front edge.… Read More

Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Inscribed on the title page: "For Don Faulkner, Fondly, John Ashbery, Albany, 1/22/01." Donald W. Faulkner was a professor and poet, who additionally edited four collections of Malcom Cowley's writing. Before moving to the University of Albany, from which he retired as professor, Faulkner taught at Yale where he mentored writers including ZZ Packer, Claire Messud, and Susan Choi among many others. A nice association copy. Fine book in fine jacket.