RIVER NOTES: THE DANCE OF HERONS

Kansas City, Kansas: Andrews McMeel, 1979. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Kansas City, Kansas: Andrews McMeel, 1979. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 100 pages. The second volume of the "Notes" Trilogy. One of Barry Lopez's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only by a small Kansas press. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Barry Holstun Lopez's "River Notes: The Dance of Herons". Eleven short stories of life along the river. The second volume of stories inspired by Nature. It is preceded by "Desert Notes: Reflections In The Eye of A Raven" (1976) and concludes with "Field Notes: The Grace Note of The Canyon Wren" (1994). "Evokes and celebrates the forces, settings, rituals, movements, and imperatives of a river, as it calls us back to unity with the natural world. Each story is like music, reminiscent of a soft, flowing stream" (Publisher's blurb). The influence of the trilogy is transcendent: John Luther Adams recently completed for our century his own Nature-inspired, stunningly beautiful "Become" trilogy, the symphonic counterpart to Lopez's oeuvre: "Become Ocean", "Become River", and "Become Desert". Written in the (seemingly) simple, limpid prose style that has become the writer's distinctive, indeed inimitable, voice. Barry Lopez is widely regarded as the contemporary heir of the canonical "Nature Writing" tradition whose pantheon includes such figures as Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Rachel Carson, and Aldo Leopold. That he is, substantively and stylistically. He is also a brilliant storyteller/fictionist, in a way that his great predecessors are not, and as such equals the achievement of a near-coeval in (the slightly older) Peter Matthiessen. Barry Lopez died on December 25, 2020, Christmas Day, at the height of the pandemic year. An absolute "must-have" title for Barry Lopez collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in blue fountain pen on the title page by Barry Holstun Lopez. It is signed (in his full name) directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Barry Lopez's signature is one of the most beautiful, old-fashioned in the best way, among all contemporary writers. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Finalist of the National Book Award in 1978 for "Of Wolves And Men". Winner of the National Book Award in 1986 for "Arctic Dreams". One of the greatest American writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BARRY LOPEZ TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0836261062.