Angle of Repose
Doubleday and Co, New York, 1971. 1st Edition. Hardcover. A terrific association copy, given the inscription on the half title: "For Alice and Proc Mellquist, Affectionately, Wallace Stegner." Proctor Mellquist was the longtime editor of Sunset Magazine, based in Menlo Park, a magazine that for decades helped define a Western culture that Wallace Stegner also represented and promulgated. As another Sunset editor Bill Marken reflected, Mellquist and his predecessor Walter Doty "were there for the 1940s-1960s when Sunset vividly reflected and also powerfully shaped the distinctive lifestyle emerging during a time of unprecedented western population growth, prosperity, and creativity." Mellquist took over in 1954 and carried on as editor until (it seems) 1981 a 25 year tenure. Bill Lane, the magazine s publisher of 40 years, reflected that "[Doty] should go down in the history of one of Sunset s great editors. Some people would say he was probably the greatest editor of Sunset, although Proctor Mellquist in my opinion was as great or maybe greater." Meanwhile, Stegner admired the magazine and was a strong supporter of it. "You can t look closely at Sunset without developing a considerable respect for the intelligence that goes into that operation," he said. He went so far as to appear in a promotional video on the magazine s history. In turn, publisher Bill Lane was so influenced by Stegner s writing that he eventually endowed the Jean and Bill Lane Lecture Series and a Center for the West at Stanford, as well as Peninsula Open Space Trust s (POST s) Wallace Stegner Lecture Series (we wish we could have gotten our hands on this association copy, too). Mellquist and Stegner also sat together as advisory board members for the organization California Tomorrow, one of the first to push for smart growth, and they helped publish its newsletter, Cry California. Like a true editor, Mellquist suggested the group change the name of their project from the dry Resource Policy Institute to California Tomorrow. Stegner also weighed in editorially, writing in response to an early draft of a publication, "Let s not give the impression we expect people to go out and shove a stick of dynamite up the old Essex s exhaust." As for Alice Mellquist, apparently she regularly contributed recipes to Sunset, another token of the times. This particularly copy is a first edition hardcover in near fine condition with some minor soiling at board edges and a couple of bumps, as well as some unidentified speckling to the top of the page block; in a near fine jacket with only a little wear around the edges. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971. All in all, a book and an association that embodies both the culture of California during this era, and the challenge of its runaway growth. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in place-based and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions. Near Fine / Near Fine. Item #ABE-1662878192792
ISBN: 038507882X
Price: $2,500.00 save 5% $2,375.00