Still More on the Book Auction

On 3/15/2013 12:08 AM, Francis A. Miniter wrote:
One of the lots I put together and managed to win at the auction had in
the group of books a thick trade paperback entitled _3 by Eastlake_ , a
compilation of three early novels by Eastlake (Simon & Schuster 1970),
who, aside from his marvelous _Castle Keep_ , about which I have posted
before, was a western writer and these three novels are set in Western
New Mexico.

Eastlake's works are near impossible to find, and the only hardcover of
Castle Keep that I have found in the Hartford area is going for $60. So
I was pleased enough to find this book. But when I examined it this
evening I found it carried an inscription "for Mitch from Abbey -
Tucson" on the front free end paper, and again "Abbey - 72" on the title
page. Now were it not for very particular circumstances of the auction,
I would not have paid this any mind. But, there was a lot in the first
round that contained a first edition of _At Play in the Fields of the
Lord_ by Peter Matthiessen that I wanted to bid on. I noticed that the
rest of the lot were books by Edward Abbey, a writer that I was
unfamiliar with. When the lot was reached, the bidding quickly moved
beyond my limit before I had a chance to bid and ended up at $350. I
decided to learn about Edward Abbey.

Abbey was born in Pennsylvania in 1927 but became a southwesterner in
the late 1940s. He took a BA and MA in philosophy from the University
of New Mexico in 1951 and 1956, respectively, and went to work as a
ranger for the US National Park Service. An environmentalist, his
writings caused Larry McMurtry to describe him as the "Thoreau of the
American West". He bought a home outside Tucson in 1968. He died in
Tucson in 1989.

It turns out that he probably knew Eastlake. At least in 1983 he
published an article on Eastlake "William Eastlake: Para mi Amigo" in
The Review of Contemporary Fiction 3:1 (Spring 1983) pp. 18 - 20. The
title would certainly indicate they knew each other.

That association would explain why Edward Abbey might be the Abbey who
signed this Eastlake book, along with the facts that (1) that Abbey
lived in Tuscon in 1972, and (2) Edward Abbey books seemed to be bound
up in this auction with the Eastlake book. So I started to look up
signature exemplars for Abbey and for the words and letters used in the
inscription. While I am not 100% sure, it seems that I have found
several that match those in the book.

By the way, the only "Mitch" I came across that might be the addressee
of the inscription was John G. Mitchell, an environmentalist and editor
of National Geographic with whom Abbey corresponded (I checked out his
papers which are archived with the University of Arizona.)


Francis A. Miniter


Today I spoke with the woman who won the auction on the Edward Abbey
lot. She confirmed that he inscribed other books to "Mitch" and that
this was John G. Mitchell, so my analysis was correct.


Francis A. Miniter