The land of little rain text by Mary Austin photographs by Ansel Adams introduction by Carl Van Doren. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1950. 25.4x20 cm, pp. [1-2: blank] [i-iv] v-ix [x] xi-xv [xvi] xvii-xviii [xix-xx], 1-133 [134: blank] [135: "acknowledgments"] [136-138: blank], 48 plates, 1 map (duplicated on front and rear endpapers). original mustard cloth, front and spine panels stamped in reddish brown. First printing of this edition with photographs by Ansel Adams. The focus of Austin's book is the California deserts, but two chapters pertain directly to the Sierra Nevada: "The Streets of the Mountains," pages 183-[201], describes the canyons of the High Sierra, and "Water Borders," pages 205-221, describes the High Sierra mountain lakes and streams. "What makes it more than a California classic, truly an American classic, is its fidelity to the landscape and lore of its region" (Powell, page 45). "Although Mary Austin writes primarily about the arid lands east of the Sierra Nevada, she includes two chapters that rank among the best of Sierra descriptive prose ... These chapters alone would not suffice to place THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN in a Sierra Nevada bibliography were it not for the striking camera portraits of Ansel Adams. Among his 48 photographs are many that depict the breathless splendor of the Sierra Nevada's towering east face, jagged and awesome against the deep sky. The synthesis of Mary Austin and Ansel Adams creates a classic" (Robinson, p. 4). Powell, California Classics 4. Robinson 1 (this edition). Zamorano Eighty 2. Mild foxing to top edge of sheets, a very good copy in very good dust jacket with wear, fraying and shallow chipping along top and bottom edges, mostly spine ends, red on spine a bit faded. Printed price clipped from front flap. (#167918).
No statement of printing. Title page dated 1950.