the john muir exhibit - bibliographic_resources - john_muir_bibliography - photography and gift books
Photography and Gift Books
Note:
Items shown in
boldface
are believed to be available for purchase
at the time this bibliography was last revised.
No attempt has been made to include entries from
encyclopedias or similar reference works.
Adams, Ansel,
Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada
Edited by Charlotte E. Mauk
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948) 132 pp., 64 photographic plates)
This book has two parts; the first with text by John Muir (up to page 115), the second with Photographs by Ansel Adams (with very brief quotes matching each photograph). One of the first books celebrating John Muir with accompanying photographs. Includes a Preface and A Biography of John Muir by Charlotte Mauk; and an Introduction and Photographic Data and Notes by Ansel Adams. A book jacket summary of this book is available.
Adams, Ansel,
America's Wilderness
(Philadelphia: Courage Books (imprint of Running Press), 1997) 128 pp., 100+ photographs.
This large format book incorporates Adams' photographs commissioned by Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior in 1941. All the photographs in this book come from the National Archives. The photographs are accompanied by brief excerpts - usually only a sentence or two - from Muir's writings.
A book jacket summary of this book is available.
Earl, John,
John Muir's Longest Walk: John Earl, a Photographer, Traces
His Journey to Florida
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1975).
An East Woods Press Book. 123 pp.
A beautiful book that promises everything the title indicates. Each section contains a map of Muir's route,
with lush nature photographs of things Muir probably saw along his journey. Includes excerpts from Muir's original
book,
A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
. A book jacket summary of this book is available.
Ehrlich, Gretel,
John Muir: Nature's Visionary
(Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2000)
Illustrated, Index, 240 pp.
This is the second book National Geographic has published about John Muir, the other being the 1976 publication by Tom Melham (see annotation below). In this sumptuous edition, Gretel Ehrlich tells the story of Muir's life not as straight biography, but by showing him as an instrument of nature, as not a passive observer of the mountains but as an Emersonian eye - whole, transparent, curious, and as one whose verbal nimbleness brings forth the divine beauty of nature. Muir quotes accompany stunning modern images of the vistas Muir loved, and historical photos. An Epilogue highlights some of Muir's spiritual descendants, people like David Brower, Carla Cloer, Scott Hoffman Black, and John Olmsted who have fought to preserve wild places just as Muir did. Highly recommended. A book jacket summary of this book is available.
Gisel, Bonnie Johanna, Nature Journal
with John Muir (Madera, CA: Poetic Matrix Press, 2006)
Illustrated, Introduction, Appendix listing Muir quotes, 160pp.
A mostly blank book for writing and sketching. Each blank page
includes an excerpt from one of John Muir's 200 articles, and on one side,
a watermark of Resurrection Fern, Polypodium polypododiodes. Unfortunately,
the lovely fern watermark is a printed a bit dark and may interfere with
your own sketches or writing; however the watermark is only on one side of
the pages. The book also contains an Introduction, and an excellent brief
essay on "How
to Begin Writing and Sketching in Your Nature Journal." Although an
appendix gives the source of each of the Muir quotes used, the book has no
page numbers so it is difficult to identify which quote came from which source.
A publisher's
press release is available, including an image of the cover.
John Muir School (Seattle, Washington),
John Muir : a pictorial biography / compiled by the pupils of the John Muir school, Seattle, Washington, in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Muir, 1838-1938. (Seattle: Lowman and Hanford Co. 1938) 105 pp., ill., portraits.
A limited edition, this is quite a rare book. Half the book is photographs of Muir, his family, and friends, accompanied by a concise biography praising Muir's contributions.
Jones, Dewitt, and Watkins, T.H.
John Muir's America
(New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1976).
Images of America Series
Forty-eight color photographs taken by Dewitt Jones, accompanied by twenty original Muir drawings highlight this
nice book. The text by T.H. Watkins provides note merely a concise biography, but a creative, thoughtful one that relates Muir to some of the philosophical and political issues of our time. Notably, three fictional "dialogues"
put you in Muir's home where the freeway now runs nearby, giving you a direct imaginary conversation with the ghost of John Muir.
A book jacket summary of this book is available.
Kunz, Michael, Muir's Temples: A Natural History of Sequoia Grove Plants (Sequoia Conservancy, 2017), 217 pages. Softcover. 7½" x 10½", includes a Glossary of Botanical Terms, Selected Biography & References, Index of Plants by Common Name, Index of Plants by Scientific Name, and Index of Topics & People.
In this beautiful book, Kunz guides us through the natural history of the Giant Sequoia groves, including not only the largest trees on Earth but also the diverse community of beautiful and fascinating plants that thrive in their understory, including stories of their ecology, evolution, ethnobotany and conservation. Every page has beautiful photographs of the plants and their ecosystem. More than merely "inspired" by Muir in his botanical pursuits, Kunz uses Muir as not only a springboard but a philocophical and scientific means of analysis for this ecosystem. This makes this book about plants become one where we learn through Muir's perspectives - lessons from his encounters with the Sequoia Groves, the subsequent battles to protect them, and how we can learn how to best observe Nature by using Muir's "sauntering" techniques. Kunz shows how Muir was the first great scientific, moral and aesthetic interpreter of the sequoias. After considering Muir's life and his teachings relevant to Sequoia studies, Chapter 2 gives full attention the arc of a Giant Sequoia's life, followed by chapters on their ecology, cultural history, Native American Stewardship, differing perspectives and values, the logging era and efforts at preservation and recognition of sacred spaces that continue to this day, culiminating in Muir's method of study - "listening to plants." The rest of the book goes through each of the associated plants in turn - conifers, flowering trees and shrubs, herbaceous eudicots, monocots, etc. Every facing page incorporates a short Muir quotation at the top, so Muir's insights and quotes accompany the reader in this "saunter" among the plants of these remarkable groves. The author, Michael Kunz, is Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences at Fresno Pacific University. He instructs courses in ecology, field botany, environmental studies, and the history and philosophy of science. We are grateful that the author included the URL to this John Muir Exhibit website.
Melham, Tom, and photography by Grehan, Farrell, John Muir's Wild America (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society 1976).
Splendid National Geographic color photography of the paths Muir followed from Scotland, Wisconsin, Canada, Appalachians, Florida, California, Washington, and Alaska. A beautiful book suitable for all ages. Highly recommended.
Miller, Scot, Emerson, Muir, Thoreau: A Photographic Trilogy of American Wildness. (Levenger Press, 2015) 200 pages; 69 original photographs; large-format 10 1/2 W x 10 1/4 H; 2 Price: $79.00. Not in bookstores, available only from Levenger.
The coffee-table book is an attempt to "visually connect the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir and Henry David Thoreau" and pay homage to their effect on America's open lands and conservation movement. Miller's book includes his photographs of Katahdin, the east branch of the Penobscot River and western mountains such as Yosemite, juxtaposed with passages from Emerson's "Nature," Muir's "American Forests" and Thoreau's "Walking." (The complete essays are also included.) Miller notes how Muir was influenced by both Emerson and Thoreau and channeled their New England-born philosophies "into the political process" as the vast American West was being allocated. Muir's "American Forests" in 1897 was a "steaming rebuke to business interests" and helped support an executive order by Grover Cleveland setting up 13 national forest preserves in western states. The book also includes John Muir's poignant account of meeting Emerson in Yosemite. Watch a YouTube Trailer for the book Emerson, Muir, Thoreau: a Photographic Trilogy of American Wildness (includes a portrayal by Lee Stetson recounting Muir's meeting with Emerson).
Miller, Scot My First Summer in the Sierra: Illustrated Edition, by John Muir. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in collaboration with the Yosemite Conservancy, 2011) Foreword by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. 204 pages. Lists Price: #30.00. ISBN-10: 0618988513 • ISBN-13: 978-0618988518.
Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the book's original publication by Houghton Mifflin Company, "My First Summer in the Sierra" is illustrated with 72 of Miller's stunning photographs, showcasing the dramatic landscape of the High Sierra plus John Muir's illustrations from the original edition and several previously unpublished illustrations from his 1911 journal manuscript. The photographer Scot Miller states: "I tried to stay true to the geographic locations Muir explored in the summer of 1869. I wanted to experience for myself the places Muir wrote about and interpret them in my own way.." Miller's Yosemite images were taken over a 12-year period from 1998-2010. The book was the 2011 National Outdoor Book Awards Winner. A portion of the book's sales support the Yosemite Conservancy. Watch a You Tube Trailer for the book My First Summer in the Sierra: Illustrated Edition by John Muir and Scot Miller.
Muir, John,
All the World Over: Notes from Alaska
(San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996). A Sierra Club Pathstone Edition. 87 pp. $9.00
The first of Sierra Club Books' new "Pathstone Editions," quality
paperbacks "introducing inspirational works by visionary authors who offer explorations into the vast and
varied splendors of the natural world in both its physical and spiritual
dimensions." Consisting of excerpts from Travels in Alaska , the contents include
"Alexander Archipelago," "Wrangell Island," "The Stickeen River," "A Cruise in
the Casssiar," and "The Cassiar Trail." As the publisher's fly-leaf indicates,
"John Muir's account of his journey to southeastern Alaska in 1879 offers an
incomparable view of a magnificent wilderness as well as a rousing adventure
story."
_______________,
The American Wilderness in the words of John Muir
Edited by the Editors of Country Beautiful (Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful 1973). Photography
by Ed Cooper, with additional photographs by David Muench, Kent Dannen and
others.
Color and black and white photographs highlight this coffee-table book, which is
filled with passages from all of Muir's books and other writings, with short
introductions for each chapter.
Muir, John
and Kauffman, Richard,
Gentle Wilderness: The Sierra Nevada
Edited by David Brower
(San Francisco: Sierra Club Books 1968).
Color photography of the Sierra Nevada,
together with a text excerpted from Muir's
My First Summer in the Sierra
.
A superb book in the Sierra Club Exhibit Format series.
Highly recommended.
_______________,
In Nature's Heart: The Wilderness Days of John Muir
Photographs by James Randklev
(San Francisco: Walking Stick Press/The Nature Company, 1991).
Photographs matched by Muir quotations,
arranged on topics of Dawn,
Morning, Midday, and so on.
Comes with colorful storage box.
_______________,
Northwest Passages: From the Pen of John Muir
Introduction by Scott Lankford.
Wood-cut illustrations by Andrea Hendrick.
(Palo Alto, CA: Tioga Publishing Co.,
1988).
A fine but small gift book,
with handsome illustrations combined with Muir quotations selected
from previously published works relating to Muir's travels in California,
Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
_______________,
Range of Light
Photographs, introduction, and preface by Philip Hyde.
(Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 1993).
The master photographer Philip Hyde carefully selected Muir quotations and blended them with his own photographs to portray the majesty of the Sierra Nevada.
11.5 X 10.5;
contains 43 color photos and 20 black and white photos.,
104 pp.
$29.95.
_______________,
Songs and Seeds: A Journal with John Muir
(Sitka, AK: Mountain Meadow Press 1996). Mountain Meadow Press, P.O. Box 318, Sitka, Alaska 99835-0318
A "blank book" for writing your own journal entries, accompanied by inspirational
quotes from John Muir. Lined pages make it easy to write your own journal. Also
includes occasional black and white botanical sketches, a list of books by John
Muir and other books in which Muir's writings appear.
_______________,
The Yosemite
Photographs by Galen Rowell.
(San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books, 1989).
In celebration of the Centennial of the founding of Yosemite National Park,
renowned nature photographer Galen Rowell has assembled
over 100 spectacular photographs of Yosemite
to illustrate the complete text of Muir's classic.
Available in hardcover or paperback. A review of this book
is available.
Rubbisow, Ariel,
John Muir National Historic Site
(Tucson, AZ: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 1990).
15 pp.
A brief,
highly readable biographical sketch of Muir,
with color photographs of his residence in Martinez, California,
now a National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.
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