A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. 1976 First Printing, With All Points by Maclean, Norman - 1976

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. First Edition . Cloth. Near Fine/Very Good Plus. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Fine book, with inscription as noted, in About Near Fine jacket. Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 1976. First Edition (and first printing), with all first printing points, including incorrect ISBN on copyright page and "adways" (for "always") on page 27. Octavo, xiv+217 pp. Light blue cloth with silver spine lettering, light blue pictorial jacket. Contrary to other reports of the first print run being limited to only 1155 or 1577 copies, there were, in fact, 5,000 copies of the first printing of Maclean's serendipitous masterpiece, 3,000 in one run and 2,000 more after those were sold, with no discovered differences at this time between those runs. Near fine book, Fine but for a previous owner's presentation inscription (dated in 1976, the year of publication, and an inscription I rather like, being from kids Rose and Paul to Daddy - of course having no idea at that time what they were giving him). Jacket is better than Very Good plus, about near fine, with modest toning, left front flap, corners touched and one small closed tear, and is not price-clipped. See scans. Maclean's masterpiece, certainly from the soul, and almost meta-Taoist in its ability to convey the unspoken through words. "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs........ I am haunted by waters. " A testament that the best poetry is native and unconscious, and couched in specific experience. Translated to the screen in a better-than-reasonable arrangement by Robert Redford, in one of his more successful attempts at deep sensitivity, with Tom Skerritt, Craig Sheffer, and Brad Pitt. L13n