Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Edward Abbey. Desert Solitaire (signed). McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Signed hardcover first edition in plain brown boards has minor wear to corners, spine top and bottom, a few light marks to back cover, spine slightly sunned. Flyleaf slightly yellowed from contemporary newspaper review (now in envelope, laid in). Signed legibly Edward Abbey in black ink on flyleaf. A solid copy at an excellent price.
Seller: Andrew's Books, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 269pp. Octavo [21.5 cm] Brown cloth. Illustrated. Spine ends gently bruised. Small bookstore sticker at head of front flap. Blind ownership embossment in lower right corner of title page. In a dust jacket, with subtle rubbing and chipping to the extremities. Signed holographic letter from Abbey laid in. Eight lines of text in blue ink and signed Ed A. The author's fourth book and his first work of nonfiction. This collection of meditations by then park ranger Abbey in what was Arches National Monument of the 1950s was quietly published in the raucous sixties in a first edition of 5,000 copies, and has now gone on to sell almost two million copies taking its rightful place alongside Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, as an environmental and wilderness classic. The late author's reflections transcend the mere genre of the environmental essay. The individual pieces part of a fully realized whole that defined a whole new style of environmental and wilderness writing, inspiring new generations of writers (Barry Lopez and Terry Tempest Williams come to mind) while becoming the author's best known and best loved work in the process, and yes, becoming what Abbey always feared, "a classic"
Seller: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.
Price: US$1825.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: This rare book has been Signed by the author and Dated "12-3-88" on a bookplate attached to the title-page. Mr. Abbey also wrote "Tempe" This signature took place about 3 months before he died. The book was purchased from a profuse Edward Abbey bookseller in Moab Utah, which is where Mr. Abbey worked at one time as a ranger at Arches National Park. It is a Stated "First Edition". Book is tight & square with pushing to the head and tail of the spine as well as rubbing to the board edges including the corners. There are tape marks on the front and back boards as well as one tape mark to the ffep and rfep. Someone had written, in pencil, on the top corner of the half title-page and was then erased leaving slight ghosting and a small wrinkle. There are NO ex-lib markings nor remainder marks. The mylar protected Dj is price-intact ($5.95) and is in very nice condition with the slightest edge wear to the superior edge.
Seller: Herrick Books, Austin, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$1950.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First printing, signed on the lower half of front free endpaper by Abbey in black ink and dated "Tucson '79" . Former owner signature and purchase/read date is noted in the upper right corner of the same page ("Patty Ross, Tucson, Arizona, February 1968"--the year of publication). The half-title page also has a circular embossed ownership stamp in the lower corner. Otherwise very good plus or better with expected toning to edges of the text block and to front free endpaper, gentle bumping to spine ends, and wear to the cloth on the lower corners of boards. In a near fine jacket with only light edge wear and thin sunning/toning to outermost edges of white flaps. A nice copy of a spectacular book. With blurbs by Joseph Wood Krutch, A.B. Gutherie, Jr., and Walter Van Tilburg Clark. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions. WRB8952023E.
Seller: Rural Hours (formerly Wood River Books), La Grande, OR, U.S.A.
Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: SIGNED. 269 pp. [22 cm]; full brown cloth with white and brown stamped spine. Illustrated dust jacket. Signed by the author in blue ink on the half title. The book is tight and square. The spine ends and top fore-edge corners of the covers are gently bumped. In the dust jacket with light chipping and rubbing to the edges. Drawings and jacket design by Peter Parnall. The author's fourth book and first work of nonfiction. Five thousand copies of the first edition were printed. It has now gone on to sell over two million copies taking its rightful place alongside Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" and Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" as a classic of environmental and wilderness literature.
Seller: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.
Price: US$2800.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, first printing. Signed by Edward Abbey on the half title page. Bound in publisher's original brown cloth with spine lettered in white and tan. Near Fine with lean to binding and light foxing to textblock edges. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light toning and edge wear. A great copy of this environmental classic, signed by the author.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.
Price: US$2950.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 269 pages. First edition, first printing. Dust jacket art by Peter Parnall. His fourth book. He describes the desert he loves. He spent several seasons as a park ranger in Arches National Park. Signed by Abbey on the first sheet. Fine book in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy!
Seller: Fireproof Books, MINNETONKA, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$5376.00 + shipping
Condition: As New
Description: not price clipped original price of $5.95; drawings and jacket design by Peter Parnall; Abbey describes the desert he loves and in which he spent several seasons as a park ranger; b/w by Woody Hilbert, Death Valley photographer of author rear dj flap; copy 00025 of 5000 First Edition publications; collectible investment copy; from the private collection of the seller; please contact for pictures; cannot authenticate signature
Seller: Booksdoc, Russell, ON, Canada