Under the Sea-Wind : A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Life
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1941. Eight illustrations by Howard Frech. First edition, first printing. Publisher's blue-green cloth, decorated with gilt bird, spine titled in gilt over dark blue stamped label. Lacking scarce original dust jacket. 314pp. 8.5" x 6.5" Mild foxing endpapers, boards heavily soiled, small tide mark upper corner of text block, abrasive erasure of previous owner's mark top edge, a few spots of soiling throughout, though text and margins remain overwhelmingly clean and sharp, binding tight, overall not quite a very good copy, lacking scarce original dust jacket. Item #239632
THE OFT FORGOTTEN START TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
Overshadowed and eclipsed, the making of Under the Sea-Wind began in 1937 as an article for the Atlantic on government fisheries. What grew from that early work would become the marine biologist's first––and favorite––of her book-length environmental explorations. Published in November 1941, just weeks before Pearl Harbor and the United States' entrance into WWII, Under the Sea-Wind was admired by its early readership, but sold poorly. It was not until 1951, with the publication of her National Book Award-winning sequel, The Sea Around Us, that Under the Sea-Wind received its long-overdue recognition and republication by Oxford University Press. What followed would help catalyze the modern environmental movement and solidify Carson as one of the most important environmental voices of the twentieth century.
An extremely scarce signed first edition of Carson's first book. Signed by Carson on the ffep.
Price: $3,250.00