Description
The first edition, first printing of The Wonderful Country, inscribed by the author, Tom Lea.
Octavo, [10], 387pp. Publisher’s beige pictorial cloth, title stamped in red on spine, illustrated endpapers, red topstain. Stated “First Edition” on copyright page. Illustrated throughout with drawings by the author. In the publisher’s illustrated dust jacket, price-clipped, light toning to the spine, short closed tear along front panel, a near fine example.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper: “Inscribed for Fritz Hammel / With best wishes from the author / Tom Lea / Nov. 1952.”
The Wonderful Country was Lea’s second novel, following The Brave Bulls. Set in the border country of Texas, New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Sonora, the novel follows Martin Brady, an American fugitive living in Mexico under the name MartÃn Bredi, as he returns to Texas after fourteen years and is drawn into the political and personal conflicts of the borderlands. A noted work of Southwestern fiction, the novel was later adapted into the 1959 film starring Robert Mitchum and Julie London.
