California Hills And Other Wood Engravings From the Original Blocks. Foreword by Arthur Millier
Landacre, Paul.
Los Angeles: Bruce McCallister, 1931. First edition, inscribed by Paul Landacre to “Peggy Nichols.” We have been unable to find any information about the recipient. Also signed by Landacre on the colophon. One of five hundred copies A little browning to endpapers, as usual. A fine, clean copy of a fragile book, in custom-made quarter orange morocco clamshell slipcase with chemise. Original patterned boards with printed paper label on front cover. Quarto. [7] pages, fourteen wood (Item ID: 13793)
$6,000.00
One of the most important and influential illustrated California books, this is generally considered to be Landacre’s masterpiece. The wood engravings include views of Berkeley, UCLA, Malibu, Big Sur, Indio, Point Mugu, Monterey Hills, the high desert, and other locales. “Except in occasional engravings of buildings, Paul Landacre has confined all his efforts to hymning the “eternal hills” and especially to searching out those qualities in them that prompt us to use the adjective eternal. He gradually evolved a conception of black lines and white lines -one kind passing easily and unnoticed into the other- which enabled him to cut into wood the erosive flow which has given rhythmic form to hills and mountains” (Arthur Millier in the Preface).
“His very first book... remains his best. California Hills is the cornerstone of any Landacre collection...” (Lehmann p.43).
