Long Shore

Cabin John, Maryland (?): Crothers, Brewster, and Kaufmann, 1971. Copy No. 244 of a limited edition of 750 copies, being a reprint of the 1939 original edition. Hardcover. Good. Arthur D. Fuller. xviii, [2], 108 pages. Small size book, measuring 4" x 6". Contains Foreword by Gordon Grand, and Illustrations by Arthur D. Fuller. Slight darkening to text. Inscribed on fep to Ron Crawford by Charles Crothers. Originally published in 1939 by The Derrydale Press, This is a collection of 32 poems, illustrated by Arthur D. Fuller. Joel David Barber (1876-1952) was an early 20th-century architect from New York City who is best known as an early collector and promoter of duck decoys as folk art. Barber began collecting the carved wooden decoys in 1918 after finding one, a red-breasted merganser hen, by accident near his Long Island boathouse. In addition to collecting and exhibiting the works, Barber organized decoy carving competitions and produced works of his own. This includes a 1932 exhibition composed of 116 decoys in his own collection and 54 contemporary decoys made by Charles "Shang" Wheeler sponsored by Abercrombie & Fitch. But his most enduring contribution was his 1934 book Wild Fowl Decoys which is considered the seminal work on the subject, and remained the definitive collector's guide for many decades after its publication. The book includes images of decoys designed and made by Barber himself. He also wrote a lesser known work of short stories and poetry, Long Shore, based on his experiences as an outdoorsman in New England. Following his death, Barber's collection of about 400 decoys was given to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Some of the poems were originally published in The Queen Anne's Record & Observer and Country Life & The Sportsman. The book records old tidal scenes and events slumbering across the film of the author's memory. Joel Barber's records in short stories and verse memories of places he visited and fished during a long life in the outdoors. He writes movingly about lying in a dory off Monhegan Island in Maine gunning for eider ducks with eagles in the sky and rafting swans and geese soaring overhead. Barber was a master wordsmith whose stories and poetry bring to life a lost way of life along the Atlantic shore. The Derrydale Press was an American book publishing company founded in 1927 with headquarters on Park Ave. in Manhattan, New York. It was the creation of Princeton University graduate Eugene V. Connett III (1891-1969). He told Time magazine that he got the Derrydale name "from a bottle of whiskey and a map of Ireland." An important publisher of outdoor books for North American audiences during the first half of the 20th century, according to a 1938 Time magazine article, it was the only publishing house in the world devoted exclusively to sporting books. The company went out of business in 1942. Godfrey W. Kaufmann of Potomac, Maryland had a copy of the original signed limited edition of 1939 from the Derrydale Press. Since the copyright was expired, he worked with William Brewster of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Charles Crothers of Cabin John, Maryland came together to produce "a few copies for the enjoyment of those who love the tidewater marshes." There may have been fewer copies of this largely facsimile reprint produced that were originally printed by the Derrydale Press.