Trout Fishing in America Brautigan, Richard; Loewinsohn, Ron (Preface); Shea, Edmund (Photographer); Thiebaud, Wayne (Artist) Andrew Hoyem and Arion Press (New),Modern Literature

Quarto, 11 3/4" by 8 3/4", 123 numbered pages. The type is Bookman, in Monotype composition by Mackenzie & Harris, and handset for display. The photographic portrait of the author was printed by Watermark Graphics, using stochastic screening for duotone offset lithography. The paper is Mohawk Superfine. The binding, done in-house, is hand-sewn, with white endpapers on which are printed, in blue and gray inks, an assortmnet of phrases containing the words "Trout Fishing in America". The front board is covered in gray cloth, titled and with a drawing of a fish by the author. The spine and back board are covered in blue cloth, with a fish scale pattern printed where the two cloths meet, and a spine title. Arion Press Bibliography, no. 65. One of 426 copies, this copy with the Thiebaud lithograph and signed by him. Through the close-knit, if often contentious, literary community in the early 1960s, Hoyem and Richard Brautigan (1935-1984) became friends. Born in the same year, they were younger than most of the writers associated with the Beat Generation. In 1967, Grabhorn-Hoyem, the partnership of Hoyem and Robert Grabhorn, designed the first edition of "Trout Fishing in America" for Donald M. Allen's Four Seasons Foundation imprint. It was immediatly recognized as an important invention and became a cult classic, despite being a book that might be shelved under outdoor sporting pursuits but was not really about trout or fishing or a nation indivisible. Brautigan insisted to his publishers that Hoyem design covers and dust jackets for his books. By 1970 Brautigan had become famous and had amassed a huge readership. A decade later his audience was declining and critics were becoming dismissive of his work. He had a propensity toward alcoholism that became serious as he withdrew into isolation in Montana and in the coastal town of Bolinas, California, where he committed suicide in 1984. "Trout Fishing in America" remains his greatest achievement. Thiebaud was the perfect choice of artist to pair with this work. Of the 400 numbered copies, half have bound into the book a signed colour lithograph by Wayne Thiebaud, which this copy has. The color lithograph is an image of a fish, "a ubiquitous fish, certainly not a trout, that lies at the bottom of a slow-moving stream or a still pond or possibly an aquarium. The fish might be alive; it might be dead. It is as enigmatic as the trout in 'Trout Fishing in America' "(quote from Arion Press website). Note that Thiebaud's signature is on p. xxii, with the colour lithograph bound in following. ___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details. ___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.