The Sierra Club Wilderness Handbook (association copy)

Brower, David [Sheridan Anderson]

Published by Ballantine Books, NY, 1967

Second printing four months after first publication. Edited by David Brower, then the Sierra Club's president. A neat association: famed cartoonist-climber-fisher Sheridan Anderson's copy, with his signature written on the front cover ("Property: Sheridan Anderson"). A particularly rare item as such: we can't find another example of Anderson's signature. Anderson is the author of TheCurtis Creek Manifesto (1978), a pioneering cartoon-illustrated guide to flyfishing that is a cult classic and is described by its publisher as "the best-selling flyfishing book of all time," having sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Before that Anderson was for decades the "unofficial artist-in-residence" of the legendary Camp 4 in Yosemite, where climbers assembled in the 50s and 60s to innovate, test their limits, and ultimately revolutionize climbing. He was close friends with folks like climber-clothiers Royal Robbins and Yvon Chouinard; the latter used to fish with Anderson andhas describedThe Curtis Creek Manifesto as "probably the best beginner s treatise on how to fly-fish." Anderson's cartoons were also used as illustrations in many climbing books. Unfortunately he died of emphysema at only 47. His copy ofThe Sierra Club Wilderness Handbookis particularly resonant because one suspects it may have influenced his idea for his guide, TheManifesto, which was published a decade later. Anderson also went on to write and illustrate his own guide to backpacking,Baron Von Mabel's Backpacking. The Sierra Club WildernessHandbookwas itself groundbreaking: a mass market paperback fit for the trail, a guide to backpacking, camping, and ultimately the wilderness ideal that brought the Sierra Club's ethic to the greater public. It built upon the club's earlier bookGoing Light with Backpack or Burro, which was mainly for members. This mass market guide opens with a chapter on "The Story of the Sierra Club" and goes on to chapters such as "Camping Technique," "Mountain Medicine," "Women," "Especially for Men," "Burro Management," and finally "Wilderness Prospect," to name just some. It also provides information about Sierra Club trips and how to join. Says the rear wrap: "Prepared originally for the Sierra Club's own members, this is a proven camping classic." A very good copy with toning to pages, rubbing to wraps, faint cup rings on the front cover, and a little loss to the front wrap's lower corner--pretty nice shape for a guide that was meant to be tossed into a rucksack. The book is still essentially tight with its spine uncreased. Anderson's ball-point pen signature is slightly faint and a touch smudged, but clearly legible and impressed onto the cardstock. Also included is a copy of the bookletLongs Peak: Its Story and a Climbing Guide by Paul W. Nesbit that is inscribed to Anderson on its cover: "Sheridan--I'm strictly a social climber myself. Carlson" Seventh edition, very good in stapled paper covers with bumping to corners, one crease on rear.These items arrived to us together so we include them together. For more on Sheridan Anderson, see this in-depth profile "Searching for Sheridan" inThe Fly-Fish Journal . Seller Inventory # 1511

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Sierra Club Wilderness Handbook (...
Publisher: Ballantine Books, NY
Publication Date: 1967
Binding: Softcover
Condition: Very good
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: First edition.