Silent Spring.

CARSON, Rachel.

Item Number: 5512

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962.

First edition of Carson’s landmark work. Octavo, original green cloth. Drawings by Lois and Louis Darling. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page one month prior to publication, “To Dr. L.G. Bartholomew, with sincere appreciation Rachel Carson August 19, 1962.” The recipient, Dr. L.G. Bartholomew is cited in the author’s acknowledgements, stating “I could not have completed the book without the generous help of this specialist, L.G. Bartholomew.” Laid in is the original slip with Carson’s return address of Southport, Maine to the recipient’s address at the Mayo Clinic. Also, laid is a letter dated 1993 from the recipients physician, mentioning the assistance that Bartholomew gave Carson during the writing of Silent Spring. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket with some rubbing to the spine. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Association copies of this magnitude rarely enter the market.

In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring, which brought environmental concerns to the American public. "Her book is a cry to the reading public to help curb private and public programs which by use of poisons will end by destroying life on earth. ... Miss Carson, with the fervor of an Ezekiel, is trying to save nature and mankind" (The New York Times). Silent Spring "became a runaway bestseller, with international reverberations It is well crafted, fearless and succinct Even if she had not inspired a generation of activists, Carson would prevail as one of the greatest nature writers in American letters" (Mattheissen, Time). Named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books since 1923.