Travels in Alaska (1915 original; edició 1998)

Even today Alaska is one of the few unspoilt wildernesses in the world. This vast part of America still has glaciers, bears, eagles and wolves, and still has the capability of filling people with awe at the scenery. In the late nineteenth century, John Muir made a number of trips to Alaska. At this point the land was barely explored, and was relatively untouched. Travelling by boat to a variety of places to camp, from there he climbs high onto the pristine glaciers.

We read of his encounters with the locals as well, Indian clans who forged an existence from this harsh and unforgiving environment. They people welcomed him into their villages and as acted as guides on some of his more adventurous walks too.

The writing is lyrical and elegant, along with his descriptions of the scenery, the long fjords, the forests, the glaciers and the moraines are beautiful making this an enjoyable read. But in lots of ways this is a time capsule, taking us back to a time and a landscape that we are unlikely to see with the way that climate change is going. ( )

“…Out of all the cold darkness and glacial crushing and grinding comes this warm, abounding beauty and life to teach us that what we in our faithless ignorance and fear call destruction is creation finer and finer.” p. 267

Large Paper Edition limited to 450 copies, this is No. 248. Green laid paper boards, dark green buckram shelfback, brown leather chipped label, with gilt-stamped lettering on spine, untrimmed edges, colored photogravure front, with printed tissue, and 16 plates tipped in. Ink inscribed on upper ffep “Amia Louise Poor, Xmas 1918, M.W.P.” Primary illustrator Herbert W. Gleason. Binding tight and square, many unclipped pages.

A chronicle of mountaineering in Alaska in 1879, 1880 and 1890, this work was Muir’s chief pleasure and recreation prior to his passing. Prepared for publication after his death by Marion Randall Parsons and William Frederic Bade, with an introduction by the latter. Contains much edited material from articles Muir had written for the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. Kimes 333

“…Out of all the cold darkness and glacial crushing and grinding comes this warm, abounding beauty and life to teach us that what we in our faithless ignorance and fear call destruction is creation finer and finer.” p. 267

Original light green cloth lettered in white, color paste down picture plate mounted on front board. 12 illustrations/photographs, including frontispiece. Top edge gilt, rough cut side & bottom edges. Primary illustrator Herbert W. Gleason. Pages clean and binding tight and square. No dust jacket. Many unclipped pages, Near Fine condition.

A chronicle of mountaineering in Alaska by the founder of the Sierra Club in 1879, 1880 and 1890, prepared for publication after his death by Marion Randall Parsons and William Frederic Bade, with an introduction by the latter. Contains much edited material from articles Muir had written for the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin

Very readable first person account of travel in Alaska 1879-1890, including comprehensive exploration of Glacier Bay. Muir's ability to endure the hardships of the environment, to the point of insouciance, is remarkable. His delight at the wonder of this magnificent natural setting shines through. Includes description of his encounters with the local native population. ( )

For readers who enjoy reading in the genre of natural history and travel, John Muir is a classic. Muir was a pioneer in traveling the vast expanse of wild nature on the North American continent and write about it, and through his love and religious adoration of nature, he was also one of the first to take the initiative to try to protect nature, and encourage the government to create national parks and reserves.

John Muir had a life-long interest in the rugged wilderness of Alaska, with its large forests and huge glaciers. Through endless observation, Muir discovered and reconstructed many facts about glaciers, then unknown or ill-understood, such as the idea that glaciers once covered a much larger part of the world and helped create the North-American landscape.

Muir's travels were made in the true spirit of exploration, and he was a very couragious adventurer, often exposing himself to risks other travellers would faint dare. His aversion of tackle and equipment, and his preference for the simplest mode of travel, often without much more than a knapsack and a crust of bread, foraging edible fruit and wild-life, enabled him to reach areas other explorers would not go.

Travels in Alaska bring together the reports on three trips John Muir made to Alaska, in 1879, 1880, and a decade later in 1890. Muir who made a living of his travel writing, always carried a note-book, but notes were not as detailed as a diary. His writings, based on the note-books and his memory are written in a fresh and engaging style, making the reader an immediate witness of the spectacle and event. Only, Muir's last trip to Alaska, which disappointed him as, even then, erosion and destruction of the landscape took its visible toll, is much shorter, and was written on and off for many years, a large part in the final year of his life.

So, especially, Muir's description of the first two trips, in 1879 and the following year, 1880, are brimming with his enthusiasm for the wild in the north.

Muir's writing style is always easy to follow. Most plants and trees are described using their English names, and only for some rarer species of herbs and mosses are sometimes Latin names introduced, but sparsely. Muir's language is poetic, but never baroque, making his descriptions as rich and pure as the phenomena he observed. There are some moments of real excitement, as, for instance his encounters with bears.

In all three reports about Alaska, Muir writes about the tribes of Native Americans he met on his travels, describing their culture and customs, making Travels in Alaska also of special interest to anthropologists and readers with an interest in the Native American Indians.

Muir's reports not only describe how civilization encroached upon these last remnants of the wilderness, but also how they corrupted and changed the lifestyle of the Native Americans in those parts. ( )