The Snow Leopard - Signed -
Peter Matthiessen
1978 - Viking Press, New York - First Trade Edition
Signed by the author to the title page.
‘All the way to Heaven is heaven’
In 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller travelled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, was also on a spiritual quest to find the Lama of Shey at the ancient shrine on Crystal Mountain. As the climb proceeds, Matthiessen charts his inner path as well as his outer one, with a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence, and beauty.
‘Coming shortly after the death of his wife, it becomes a contemplative and enlightening look at life’ - Outside Magazine (25 best adventure books of the last 100 years). Number 12 in National Geographic’s top 100 adventure books of all time.
Eloquently described in Jeff Tucker’s review - ‘A book which can change your life. A masterpiece of lyrical writing, describing one man's inner journey during an outer journey to study blue sheep in a remote area behind the Himalaya in Western Nepal, with the ever-present hope of finding a rare snow leopard. The snow leopard becomes a symbol for that mystery which each of us, at those rare moments when our minds hold still, may suddenly sense as we stand amid nature, but which, hard as we try, remains unseen. Perhaps, this tale hints, it is our own effort at finding that nameless mystery, as in the tale of Parzival and the Grail, which prevents us from glimpsing it. Only when we let go of trying might the infinite then appear, without being chased away by ego. A profound and moving book on many levels; winner of the National Book Award, and still, in this person's view, despite the success of Matthiessen's fiction, the masterpiece he will most be remembered by.’
Matthiessen is considered to be one of the foremost writers of the twentieth century. Described by The New York Times as ‘one of the most admired and admirable writers of our time’, the author is both a novelist and non-fiction writer as well as a former C.I.A. recruit and American Indian rights advocate, having written the acclaimed In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Matthiessen is also co-founder of the highly influential Paris Review, started in 1953.
The National Book Foundation called his 2008 National Book Award winner, Shadow Country, an ‘epic of American rise and descent – poetic, mythic, devastating’. The book contained Matthiessen’s three famous stand-alone Watson novels, woven together and slimmed down into a modern American epic critics hailed as a ‘masterpiece’. His other works include the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard, which has been called a classic of modern nature writing, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord, a National Book Award nominee.
References: Outside Magazine, 25 Best Adventure Books of the Last 100 Years 4. Jeff Tucker, www.ronwatters.com/BkTucker.htm. National Geographic.
Large octavo (book size 24.1x16.2cm), pp. [12] 338 [2]. In publisher’s blue cloth, spine with silver lettering and metallic blue Buddhist symbol, blue paper maps for endpapers. Dust jacket priced ‘$12.95’ to upper corner of front flap. Condition: Fine but for some toning to outer edge fof cloth, in near fine dust jacket, minor rubbing to spine ends and corners, spine gently faded. Ref: 112400 Price: HK$ 6,000
‘All the way to Heaven is heaven’
In 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller travelled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, was also on a spiritual quest to find the Lama of Shey at the ancient shrine on Crystal Mountain. As the climb proceeds, Matthiessen charts his inner path as well as his outer one, with a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence, and beauty.
‘Coming shortly after the death of his wife, it becomes a contemplative and enlightening look at life’ - Outside Magazine (25 best adventure books of the last 100 years). Number 12 in National Geographic’s top 100 adventure books of all time.
Eloquently described in Jeff Tucker’s review - ‘A book which can change your life. A masterpiece of lyrical writing, describing one man's inner journey during an outer journey to study blue sheep in a remote area behind the Himalaya in Western Nepal, with the ever-present hope of finding a rare snow leopard. The snow leopard becomes a symbol for that mystery which each of us, at those rare moments when our minds hold still, may suddenly sense as we stand amid nature, but which, hard as we try, remains unseen. Perhaps, this tale hints, it is our own effort at finding that nameless mystery, as in the tale of Parzival and the Grail, which prevents us from glimpsing it. Only when we let go of trying might the infinite then appear, without being chased away by ego. A profound and moving book on many levels; winner of the National Book Award, and still, in this person's view, despite the success of Matthiessen's fiction, the masterpiece he will most be remembered by.’
Matthiessen is considered to be one of the foremost writers of the twentieth century. Described by The New York Times as ‘one of the most admired and admirable writers of our time’, the author is both a novelist and non-fiction writer as well as a former C.I.A. recruit and American Indian rights advocate, having written the acclaimed In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Matthiessen is also co-founder of the highly influential Paris Review, started in 1953.
The National Book Foundation called his 2008 National Book Award winner, Shadow Country, an ‘epic of American rise and descent – poetic, mythic, devastating’. The book contained Matthiessen’s three famous stand-alone Watson novels, woven together and slimmed down into a modern American epic critics hailed as a ‘masterpiece’. His other works include the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard, which has been called a classic of modern nature writing, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord, a National Book Award nominee.
References: Outside Magazine, 25 Best Adventure Books of the Last 100 Years 4. Jeff Tucker, www.ronwatters.com/BkTucker.htm. National Geographic.
Large octavo (book size 24.1x16.2cm), pp. [12] 338 [2]. In publisher’s blue cloth, spine with silver lettering and metallic blue Buddhist symbol, blue paper maps for endpapers. Dust jacket priced ‘$12.95’ to upper corner of front flap. Condition: Fine but for some toning to outer edge fof cloth, in near fine dust jacket, minor rubbing to spine ends and corners, spine gently faded. Ref: 112400 Price: HK$ 6,000