The Barn at the End of the World : The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

Milkweed Editions, 2000. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Association copy, inscribed on the title page: "For Mary Oliver, in abiding gratitude, Mary Rose O'Reilley, 2-3-06." A wonderful association, Mary to Mary, considering that same year (2006) Oliver selected O'Reilley as the winner of the prestigious Walt Whitman Award for 'Half Wild'--thus the abiding gratitude. Oliver said of 'Half Wild': "[O'Reilley's is] a style that celebrates life and dignifies sorrow, that includes the drifter; the Japanese print; deer in the woods; herons in the wetland grass; a lost child recovered but, it could be, forever half wild; and especially, for it is a continuing presence in this book, that mystery we call the soul. That part of us that is of another world, come perhaps to instruct us in this one." This book, 'The Barn at the End of the World,' was O'Reilley's previous, and seems this copy amounts to a rare stray from Oliver's library. A nice blurb by Temple Grandin on the back. A very near fine volume, first printing, with only very faint foxing perceptible on the lower outer text block face; in a near fine jacket with just one quarter-inch tear to rear lower corner, now under mylar. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in nature writing and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions.