Books

First edition, first impression, of the author's sole volume of poetry, a meditation on her beloved Cairngorms, and the last of her works published before a 40-year hiatus and the publication of The Living Mountain. Shepherd (1893-1981) has posthumously been recognized as one of Britain's finest writers on the natural world, whose works have influenced Richard Mabey and Robert Macfarlane. She published three novels in a burst of creativity between 1928 and 1933 before the publication of this volume. Growing up and living her entire life in Aberdeenshire, Shepherd came to know her local area and the nearby mountains incredibly well, and her poetry, written in both English and Scots, articulates her great relationship with these mountains. The work ends with a collection of bruised and oblique love sonnets; "very few people understand them", she said, "which makes me feel better". Shepherd's novels are known for their explorations of the inner lives and desires of sidelined, forgotten, and often unmarried women. Herself unmarried, Shepherd's sonnets, addressed to an undisclosed recipient, speak to her own sense of desire and longing; she describes herself as "broken and spent with loving", couching her feelings in terms of physical pain. This work, reflecting some brooding disharmony in her own inner life, offers a stark contrast to her meditations on the often harmonious but also dehumanized world of the Cairngorms, so letting readers in, just as her First edition, first impression, of the author's sole volume of poetry, a meditation on her beloved Cairngorms, and the last of her works published before a 40-year hiatus and the publication of The Living Mountain. Shepherd (1893-1981) has posthumously been recognized as one of Britain's finest writers on the natural world, whose works have influenced Richard Mabey and Robert Macfarlane. She published three novels in a burst of creativity between 1928 and 1933 before the publication of this volume. Growing up and living her entire life in Aberdeenshire, Shepherd came to know her local area and the nearby mountains incredibly well, and her poetry, written in both English and Scots, articulates her great relationship with these mountains. The work ends with a collection of bruised and oblique love sonnets; "very few people understand them", she said, "which makes me feel better". Shepherd's novels are known for their explorations of the inner lives and desires of sidelined, forgotten, and often unmarried women. Herself unmarried, Shepherd's sonnets, addressed to an undisclosed recipient, speak to her own sense of desire and longing; she describes herself as "broken and spent with loving", couching her feelings in terms of physical pain. This work, reflecting some brooding disharmony in her own inner life, offers a stark contrast to her meditations on the often harmonious but also dehumanized world of the Cairngorms, so letting readers in, just as her nature writing encourages them to let themselves out. READ MORE Octavo. Original light brown quarter cloth, spine lettered in gilt, pale brown patterned sides, top edge blue, others untrimmed. With dust jacket. Ownership signature of "K. Hendry, 26.8.41" to front free endpaper. Spine ends a little marked and rubbed, boards slightly bowed; unclipped jacket lightly rubbed, a few small chips to folds: a very good copy in very good jacket. .

In the Cairngorms is a collection of poetry by Nan Shepherd, featuring vivid depictions of the Cairngorm mountains and the natural world. First published in 1934 by Moray Press.