Basin and Range
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 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 Writing--and a first edition hardcover of that anthology (ed. Hennig Cohen, Basic Book 1969) is included with this purchase. This copy of the Basin and Range is in very good condition, its only demerit some foxing to the page block, especially the top face, and some adjacent foxing to the top edges of the boards. The jacket is very good; the cover looks great with some faint sunning to spine and some foxing to top of back flap. No tears or chips. Basin and Range is of course the first installment of what would become McPhee's Pulitzer-prize-winning compilation Annals of the Former World. Very Good / Very Good. Item #ABE-1593624416506
ISBN: 9780374109141
Price: $275.00 save 5% $261.25