THE GALAX - IN 'FRESHMAN WRITING: ESSAYS BY STUDENTS IN ENGLISH 1 AND 2 AT DUKE UNIVERSITY, 1958-1959' by Tyler, Anne - 1959

[Durham, NC: Duke University, 1959. First Edition. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author's first appearance in print, a 3pp autobiographical essay titled "The Galax." "...it describes an event from Anne's childhood when she and her three brothers lived with their idealistic parents in a quasi-pacifist community called Celo deep in the North Carolina mountains. In the short piece Anne joins a group of mountain women for a foray through the woods to gather wild galax, an evergreen vine which they'll sell for Christmas decoration" (Price, Reynolds. "Ardent Spirits." The New York Times, May 12, 2009). The inclusion in Freshman Writing precedes her first published book by five years, and as a student publication, one can presume these were produced in very small numbers. Scarce; we can recall one other copy offered in the trade over the last decade; OCLC shows 5 holdings (Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, Indiana Univ., Johns Hopkins, UVA). An important debut, and a stopper for Tyler collectors. Slim octavo (22.75cm);… Read More