Description
The first edition of This Is The American Earth by Ansel Adams, from the estate of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Quarto, xviii, [2], 89pp, [1]. Light green cloth, title stamped in gilt on the spine, stamped in blind on the front cover. No additional printings noted. Faint foxing to cloth boards and the endpapers, internally clean. Solid text block. Wear to the head and heel of the spine. In the publisher’s first state dust jacket, $15.00 on the front flap, a few short closed tears, bright illustrations, a near fine example.
This copy is signed by James Roosevelt, below his stamp: “From The Collection of Eleanor Roosevelt.” Includes the personal bookplate of Eleanor Roosevelt, affixed to the front pastedown and a label noting this is “No. 948,” from the “Estate of Eleanor Roosevelt / Hyde Park, N.Y.” The initials “ER” on the spine in black ink.
This Is the American Earth was first published in 1960 by the Sierra Club as the inaugural volume in its influential Exhibit Format Series. The book originated from a 1955 photographic exhibition organized by Ansel Adams, Sierra Club Executive Director David Brower, and writer Nancy Newhall, which was initially displayed in Yosemite National Park and later toured nationally and internationally.
