Black Sun
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971. First edition. Hardcover. Signed association copy, with additional ANS laid in. 159pp. Octavo [21 cm] Black cloth with a bright yellow ink stamped title on the spine. Boards are crisp and unworn; interior is clean, tight, and bright. In a dust jacket, with subtle toning and general light rubbing to the panels. Crease to jacket front flap, else very light wear. Very good + / very good. Item #63239
ISBN: 0671208969
The author's fourth novel. A fictional account of the author's time spent as a fire lookout on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Abbey blends both the dying of his wife in a New Jersey hospital, and one Carol Turner, who disappeared into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument into this bittersweet love story.
Inscribed by Abbey, in the year of publication, to his longtime friend, the bookman and publisher Ernie Bulow on the front free endpaper: "all the best / to the Bulows / Abbey '71." With an ANS laid in. The note reads: "5-17-71 / Dear Ernie, / Have never rec'd a copy of the Wasatch / Front - or Western Humanities Review. / Please mail - or deliver, if you come this / way soon. How's it all going up there / in Holy Land? Best regards, / Ed Abbey / North Rim, Arizona 86022."
After receiving an English degree in the sixties, Bulow worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, resided in Gallup, N.M., and taught English at Fort Wingate on the Navajo Reservation. Subsequently, he received a doctorate from the University of Utah (Abbey's note is addressed to him there), and he returned to Gallup, where he traded in Indian jewelry and kachinas and opened his bookstore. Abbey and Bulow began their friendship in 1970 at the University of Utah, where Bulow was a graduate student, and Abbey was a visiting professor. It was Bulow that managed to publish Ed's essay "Science with a Human Face" in the University of Utah literary magazine "Wasatch Front." This essay was later included in "The Journey Home." It is also significant to note that Bulow was a featured character in Abbey's novel "The Fool's Progress." Interestingly, Bulow also shared a close friendship with Tony Hillerman, with whom he collaborated often.
A nice association copy, inscribed to a close friend by Abbey when he was at the peak of his career, having published his landmark work of natural narrative,"Desert Solitaire," just three years earlier.
Price: $2,000.00