Jim Harrison is the sort of writer who manages to cross genre boundaries and mediums as if they didn't exist at all, and making one feel as though they were all a part of a much bigger plan all along. In this way we can see how his first book Wolf: A False Memoir about a man tracking a wolf in the northern territories is linked, stylistically, to the animalistic, emotional Wolf - the screenplay featuring Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer about a werewolf - and then also to True North, or his poetry chapbooks Walking, or The Theory and Practice of Rivers. All of his works feature a strand of the New England transcendentalist tradition - that wanderlust for the lost American wilderness, the finding of oneself through stepping outside of societal norms, only to find a simpler, shared (animal?) humanity lying beyond.
It may come as no surprise then, that Jim Harrison is also the author of the interlocking stories of Legends of the Fall - which later became a powerful film about Indigenous American land rights. For a collector, Jim Harrison offers a unique opportunity to collect a still-living author, and one who is still very widely regarded (he won a Grammy for his scriptwriting on the film Wolf!). His early poetry collections, if signed and in good condition, can be as valuable as a two to three thousand US dollars - a very good feat for a still living author!
A very worthwhile collection might include the collected stories of Legends of the Fall (Delacourte Press, 1979) - only one of which -- Revenge -- formed the main body of the film. A signed copy of the collected four stories in first edition would cost somewhere between six hundred and eight hundred dollars. However, a much more interesting item to add to a collection might be Harrison's The Raw and the Cooked, his non-fiction accounts of adventures with food by Dim Grey Bar Press (1992). The true first limited edition is only one of twenty-six hand-lettered copies, each with hand-made paper supposedly infused with garlic and herbs! One of these twenty-six volumes can be found for somewhere in the region of seven to nine hundred US dollars.
Harrison, Jim. Plain Song. Norton, New York (1965). contains 47 poems in all; Total 1500 copies.
Harrison, Jim. Walking. Pym Randall, Cambridge (1967). Total 126 copies; 100 numbered copies.
Harrison, Jim. Locations. W.W. Norton and Company, New York (1968). First edition 1250 copies.
Harrison, Jim. Five Blind Men. Sumac Press, Fremont (1969). 100 copies; 26 lettered copies; An anthology of poetry by Harrison, Dan Gerber, George Quasha, J. D. Reed and Charles Simic; Signed by Harrison on the first title page.
Harrison, Jim. Outlyers and Ghazals. Simon and Schuster, New York (1971). Dust jacket design by Paul Baoon
Harrison, Jim. Wolf. Simon and Schuster, New York (1971). A False Memoir; Dust jacket design by Paul Bacon;First Printing (title page verso).
Harrison, Jim. A Good Day To Die. Simon and Schuster, New York (1973). Harrisons photo on the back DJ is taken by Jill Krementz--the wife of Kurt Vonnegut.
Harrison, Jim. Letters to Yesenin. Sumac Press, Fremont (1973). 1000 copies; an additional 126 hardbound, signed copies
Harrison, Jim. Farmer. Viking Press, New York (1976). 1st issue (distance from spine cloth to front edge just over five inches); Photograph of author on inside back cover by Guy de la Valdene; Illustrated by one b/w line drawing by Janet Halverson
Harrison, Jim. Returning To Earth. Ithaca House, Berkeley (1977). The Court Street Chapbook Series, edited by Scott Sommer and C.S. Giscombe; 500 copies.
Harrison, Jim. Legends of the Fall. Delacorte Press, New York (1979). 3 volumes; (I) Revenge, (II) The Man Who Gave Up His Name, (III) Legends of the Fall; Illustrated by John Thompson, which appears on the frontispiece to Legends of the Fall;First Printing stated on each respective volumes copyright page; 250 copies signed by Harrison.
Harrison, Jim. Warlock. Delacorte/Seymore Lawrence, New York (1981). Front jacket painting by Russell Chatham curtesy of Jack Nicholson; Rear jacket photograph of Author by Bob Wago; 250 copies.
Harrison, Jim. Natural World. Open Book, Barrytown, New York (1982). a Bestiary; Poems By Jim Harrison; Sculpture By Diana Guest; Illustrated with 19 black and white photographs of animals and flowers by Diana Guest and Poems by Jim Harrison; Total 350 copies signed; only 100 for sale.
Harrison, Jim. Selected and New Poems. Delacorte, New York (1982). 250 numbered copies signed by Harrison.
Harrison, Jim. Sundog. Dutton/ Seymour Lawrence, New York (1984). 250 copies signed by Harrison
Harrison, Jim. Theory and Practice of Rivers and Other Poems. Winn Books, Seattle (1986). Illustrated by Russell Chatham; 350 copies signed by Harrison.
Etchison, Dennis. Lord John Ten. Lord John Press, Northridge (1988). A Celebration; this anthology brings together contributions by 26 writers, each of whom has SIGNED the book at his contribution: Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, Raymond Carver, James Crumley, Jack Dann, Dennis Etchison, William Everson, President Gerald Ford, Bruce Francis, Stan Freberg, Tess Gallagher, Jim Harrison, Roberta Lannes, Patrick Magee, Barry Malzberg, William F. Nolan, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert B. Parker, Bronwyn G. Pughe, James Purdy, Whitley Strieber, John Updike, Diane Wakoski, Derek Walcott, and Lorri Ziegler; 325 copies.
Harrison, Jim. BOOK FOR SENSEI. Big Bridge Press, Pacifica (1990). Poems by Michael Rothenberg, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Joanne Kyger, Andrei Codrescu, and Jim Harrison; illustrated with hand-colored drawings by Nancy Davis; First edition, limited to 26 hand colored, lettered copies, signed by Nancy Davis and each of the six poets (M. Rothenberg, M. McClure, P. Whalen, J. Kyger, A. Codrescu and Jim Harrison); Total 100 copies.
Harrison, Jim. Russell Chatham. Clark City Press, Livingston (1990). One Hundred Paintings; Essays by Jim Harrison, Chris Waddington and Russell Chatham; 101 color illustrations; 275 copies signed by Chatham.
Harrison, Jim. Woman Lit By Fireflies. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Florida (1990). 225 copies signed by Harrison.
Harrison, Jim. Just Before Dark. Clark City Press, Livingston (1991). Collected Nonfiction; A collection of essays on Food, Travel, Sport and Literary Matters; 250 copies; With two vignettes by Russell Chatham.
King, Stephen. LORD JOHN SIGNATURES. Lord John Press, Northridge (1991). 150 deluxe copies; illustrated with photographs of all but King (though there is a facsimile of a manuscript page) and SIGNED by Stephen King, John Barth, James Blaylock, Robert Bloch, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Ray Bradbury, James Lee Burke, Ramsey Campbell, Harry Crews, James Crumley, Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris, Dennis Etchison, Gerald R. Ford, Richard Ford, Bruce Francis, Ellen Gilchrist, Jim Harrison, Tony Hillerman, William Kennedy, Ursula K. LeGuin, John LHeureux, Elmore Leonard, Thomas McGuane, Norman Mailer, Richard C. Matheson, Brian Moore, Joseph A. Mugnaini, Joyce Carol Oates, Edna OBrien, Robert B. Parker, Tim Powers, Reynolds Price, James Purdy, Dan Simmons, Peter Straub, Ross Thomas, Anne Tyler, John Updike, Eudora Welty, and Donald E. Westlake; Also includes a section of facsimile autographs of Thomas Pynchon, Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, Einstein, Herman Melville, Ted Williams, and others; Total 576 copies.
Harrison, Jim. The Raw And The Cooked. Dim Gray Bar Press, New York (1992). illustrated by Deborah Norden; ContainsReturn of the Native/or Lighten Up,Lets Get Lost, andOne Foot in the Grave.; Total 126 copies; 100 numbered copies. Signed by Harrison.
Harrison, Jim. Julip. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN COMPANY, BOSTON (1994). Three novellas; 200 copies.
Harrison, Jim. The Shape of the Journey. Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend (1998). New and Collected Poems; 250 copies signed by Harrison.
Harrison, Jim. A Conversation. Aralia Press, Pennsylvania (2002). Ted Kooser; 2 volumes; 38 hardbound copies including 26 lettered copies and 150 copies signed by Harrison and Kooser.
Harrison, Jim. Off to the Side. Atlantic Press, New York (2002). A Memoir; 250 copies signed by Harrison.
Harrison, Jim. Braided Creek. Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend (2003). Ted Kooser; A Conversation in Poetry; 250 copies; 26 lettered copies signed by both authors.
Harrison, Jim. Livingston Suite. Limberlost Press, Boise (2005). Includes eight illustrations from Montana artist Greg Keeler; 100 hardcover copies numbered and signed by Harrison and illustrator Keeler and also 750 unnumbered copies.
Harrison, Jim. Saving Daylight. Copper Canyan Press, Port Townsend (2006). 26 lettered copies; Signed by Harrison on title page.
Harrison, Jim. Returning to Earth. Grove Press, New York (2007). 250 copies signed by Harrison
Harrison, Jim. The English Major. Grove Press, New York (2008).
ORR, Gregg. Jim Harrison. Univ. of Nebraska, Omaha (2009). A COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY; 100 copies; Foreword by Jim Harrison and an introduction by Robert DeMott. Included with tthe limited edition is a signed print by Russell Chatham, Late Afternoon, which was used for the dust jacket in the trade edition. Signed by Orr, Torrey and Harrison.