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The Founding Fish
by McPhee, John (signed)
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0374104441
- ISBN 13
- 9780374104443
- Seller
-
La Grande, Oregon, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Association copy, inscribed on the half title in the year of publication: "For Roy Newman, with the very best wishes of Randal Whitman, and with regards, too, from Randal s brother-in-law, John McPhee, 2002." Not sure who Roy Newman is presumably he s a fisher or at least "fish-interested," since this book is a deep dive into shad but it's always so fun to see McPhee also spell out the giver of the gift. As the inscription makes clear, McPhee is married to Randal's sister, Yolanda Whitman. Yolanda provided a shad dart illustration for The Founding Fish, and she also appears in the text on several occasions in the role of what you might call a fisherman s widow. She calls the cops, worried about John, when he s been out fishing too long. She also sets McPhee straight with a cutting remark (as she probably often does): "Catch-and-release fishing is analogous in a general way to the form of 'humane' bullfight that omits the kill Fishing is crueler than hunting, in that your goal is to have the fish fight for its life." Randal must be a proud brother. The book is near fine in a near fine jacket, with a few bumps to the boards corners and a streak of rubbing on the jacket where the paper transitions on the board beneath it. Pages are crisp as morning water. Please inquire for photos.
Synopsis
McPhee’s twenty-sixth book is a fascinating example of personal history, natural history, and American history in descending order. Every spring, American shad-Alosa sapidissima leave the ocean in groups of thousands and run distances upriver to spawn. John McPhee, a shad fisherman himself, recounts the shad’s role in the lives of George Washington and Henry David Thoreau. He fishes with and visits the laboratories of famous ichthyologists during which he takes instruction in the making of the darts from a master of the art, fishes in various North American rivers, and cooks shad in a variety of ways. In the words of Bill Pride for The Denver post, he " fishes the same way he writes books, avidly and intensely. He wants to know everything about the fish he's after, its history, its habits, its place in the cosmos "
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Details
- Bookseller
- Rural Hours
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- ABE-1593626212967
- Title
- The Founding Fish
- Author
- McPhee, John (signed)
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0374104441
- ISBN 13
- 9780374104443
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2002
Terms of Sale
Rural Hours
We offer a 30 day return guarantee, with a full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. If you change your mind about an item, you may return it within 30 days after delivery in its original condition for a full refund less shipping costs.
About the Seller
Rural Hours
Biblio member since 2023
La Grande, Oregon
About Rural Hours
Rural Hours (formerly Wood + River = Books, est. 2019) specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, environmental literature, and contemporary essay, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions. We draw our name from the popular-but-then-forgotten book by Susan Fenimore Cooper (published in 1850), generally considered the first work of environmental creative nonfiction by a woman in the U.S. We are interested in challenging and expanding the canon of environmental literature and finding books that tell remarkable stories and illuminate the tradition of writing about place and natural history.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Half Title
- The blank front page which appears just prior to the title page, and typically contains only the title of the book, although, at...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Bumps
- Indicates that the affected part of the book has been impacted in such a way so as to cause a flattening, indention, or light...
- Association Copy
- An association copy is a copy of a book which has been signed and inscribed by the author for a personal friend, colleague, or...
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Crisp
- A term often used to indicate a book's new-like condition. Indicates that the hinges are not loosened. A book described as crisp...
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