A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
London: Doubleday, 1997. 1st UK Edition. 8vo. Near Fine / Very Good+. Item #19464
A handsome 1st UK Edition of one of the funniest adventures ever written, signed without inscription by Bryson on the title page.
"Walk" was hugely influential in spurring an increase in backpacking and long-distance hiking after its publication. CNN called it the funniest travel book ever written, while the New York Times also praised the work.
"Bryson admitted that he found the book hard to write, remarking in an interview that "the thing about walking is that it's not eventful. It doesn't generate material. A long walk, a really long walk, is an exceedingly repetitious experience...when I finally got a book out of it, I was kind of astounded." He described himself as "wretchedly homesick" during his hike and that he had had to fictionalize some of Angerer's behavior, as "he was quite depressed at this time...he just felt like life had kicked him in the balls and he wasn’t doing very well. And I portrayed all of that. And it was just depressing...my revelation with that was, instead of making him just depressed, I just made him angry, which he also was. I made it much more that he was angry with the trail rather than angry with life...so it really became the two of us against the trail. And then it started to work much better, I think, as a narrative."
"Whilst pleased with his accomplishments on the Trail, Bryson expressed regret that he and Angerer had not completed the 100-Mile Wilderness section. He also identified the Berkshires as the part of the Trail that he would most like to re-hike." - wiki
Publisher's cloth. Titling in gilt to spine. Square tight binding. Clean interior. Illustrated endpapers. Dust jacket price clipped, with a mildly sunned spine. Presents handsomely in archival mylar.
Price: $125.00