Where Rolls the Oregon (inscribed association copy)
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914. First edition. Hardcover. An association copy, nicely inscribed on the front free endpaper: "To my dear Commander, Henry E. Parmenter -- and the yellow-billed magpie, and our thrilling day afield with the birds of California. Dallas Lore Sharp, April 15, 1924, Casa Loma, Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara. These are days afield in Oregon." Uncommon signed, with no other copies available as of this writing, but presumed later printing because the title page lacks the original year of publication and the front board lacks the cliff illustration we see in other copies. Parmenter was a career Naval commander and dedicated amateur ornithologist and member of related societies; apparently his interest in ornithology originated from his service on the U.S.S. Albatross, presumably with attention to seabirds. As this tribute in The Condor notes, he did field work in Santa Barbara with famed California ornithologist William Dawson and in San Francisco recorded more than 1700 days of avian observations. We can see that he published on prairie falcons, shearwaters, western gulls, the Florida gallinule, and other species. The yellow-billed magpie, mentioned in the inscription, is found only in California's Central Valley, so a nice inclusion--Sharp would have wanted to see it. Where Rolls the Oregon is Sharp's account of his season of travels throughout Oregon to explore its environments and wildlife guided by William Finley, ornithologist, photographer, and at the time the State Game Warden. There are chapters devoted to sea stack rookeries and to birds at the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge on the east side of the state (it's a great read). Sharp was a significant and prolific natural history writer of the first half of the twentieth century. He was a contemporary of John Burroughs, featured alongside him in such prominent anthologies as The American Fields and Forests, which also included Thoreau and John Muir. Burroughs himself said of Sharp's work, "If any man has a spark of nature in his soul, these books will fan it into a fire. They are a breeze from the woods and the hills." Sharp was a professor at Boston University. A very good book in green cloth with gilt lettering. Nudging and rubbing to spine ends, rubbing to corners, with the upper front corner just worn through to the board. No dust jacket. With Parmenter's notes on the first blank in a blue pen. A nice association and inscription. Very good. Item #2167
Price: $475.00 save 5% $451.25