The Story of My Boyhood and Youth

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company [The Riverside Press], 1913. First Edition, 2nd Printing. Very Good. [8.25x5.75in]; [viii]; [296 pp.], photogravure frontispiece of John Muir, nine plates of illustrations by Muir, index; Dark olive green cloth with gilt lettering on spine, black ink lettering and illustration of sequoia tree in black border design on front and spine, all edges trimmed; Minimal shelf wear to corners and edges of minor rubbing, age-toning to text and edges. [Kimes 315, BAL 14768] MW. John Muir (1838-1914) was a well-known naturalist, preservationist, author, advocate, and founder of the Sierra Club. His writings were poetic in the beauty of nature and compelling in preserving for the enjoyment of future generations. In the 1890's, the exploitation of the West's resources and use of Federal lands was a concern for conservationists (currently called environmentalist). Muir's many articles, and this book, had a significant impact on the public and policy makers to expand protection, conservation, and preservation of forests and public lands. Along with Muir's second book, Our National Parks, 1901, his efforts to influence Presidents and generate public support have created National park system the United States and other countries have today.

The greatest challenge was his advocacy Congress to establish Yosemite as a National Park in 1890, however, unlike Yellowstone, under California State control. Over the next decade, Muir founded the Sierra Club to promote environmental protection to wilderness areas, authored several books on his travels and developed influence with government and business leaders. In 1903, on a trip to Yosemite with President Theodore Roosevelt, he described the State's mismanagement and exploitation of the National Park and pressed for Federal control. In 1905 Yosemite was expanded and placed under the control of the Department of Interior.

This book is a biography of Muir's early years and provides a better understanding of the adult John Muir. In 1908, Muir was encouraged to write his biography by Edward Harriman (1848-1909) who provided Muir his personal secretary to assist in his dictation of the book while visiting Harriman at his family lodge in Klamath Lake, Oregon. Muir was good friends with Harriman, an American Financier that controlled several railroad companies, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the Wells Fargo Express Company. He was also interested in exploration and sponsored the Harriman Expedition to Alaska in 1899. This expedition included scientist and naturalists, including Muir, and produced a large body of new information about the flora and fauna of Alaska.

This is a second printing, due to a change by Muir in a sentence on page 217. An abridged version of the book was published serially in the Atlantic Monthly prior to the book being issued. The last issue had a story about the blacksmith's inhuman treatment of his disabled brother, which was objected to by the son of the blacksmith. Muir apologized and directed the publisher to change the sentence in the book. It was too late to make the change in the first printing and was changes in the second printing. The offending sentence was "But, strange to say, in all that excessively law-abiding neighborhood none was bold enough or kind enough to break the blacksmith's jaw." In the second printing, the sentence was changed to "But, strange to say, the brother who had faithfully cared for him controlled and concealed all his natural affection as incompatible with sound faith.