The Last Trumpeters. Illustrated by Lane Gibson.
signed first edition
1941 · Athens
by Ransom, Elmer.
Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1941. First Edition. Signed and inscribed by the author. Octavo, black illus. cloth (hardcover), silver letters and decoration to upper cover, vii + 228 pp. Newspaper review of the book pasted to endpaper; otherwise, Near-Fine; in a Good+, mylar protected dust jacket with edgewear that includes light chipping and a darkened spine. From newspaper review: This is a book of short stories about animals; and it is excellent. The author is a sportsman; but alothough one of his friends has said that he ranks among the best with the shotgun and rifle,” his interest in wild life is far from merely predatory, and his knowledge ranges wide. The “characters” of this colection of tales are for the most part wild creatures --- the trumpeter swans which give the book its title, the strong and wise raccoon, the sailfish in battles with other deep sea swimmers, the cougar, the deer, the fox, even the king snake. But there are human beings in these dramas, too, and sometimes they play important parts. And there are two stories bout dogs, one of which deserves to be widely read and remembered as one of the thoroughly good chronicles of its kind... Most of the book’s incidents have real information to offer -- as of the fox who “is always a good father,” and his enemy the more clumsy wolverine; and of the raccoos who hunt at night, by families... And the illustrations, like the tales, have a real sense of life. (Inventory #: 7251fd)