Description

Franklin Library leather edition of Zane Grey's "The Ranger and Other Stories," a limited edition, Illustrated by Charles Hamrick, one of the COLLECTED STORIES OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST WRITERS series, published in 1979. Bound in hunter green leather, the book has moire silk end leaves, satin book marker, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, gold gilding on top edge only---in near FINE condition. Pearl Zane Grey, who was born in 1872 in Ohio , was the fourth of five children. As a child, Grey frequently engaged in violent brawls, probably related to his father's punishing him with severe beatings. Though irascible and antisocial like his father, Grey was supported by a loving mother and found a father substitute. Muddy Miser was an old man who approved of Grey's love of fishing and writing, and who talked about the advantages of an unconventional life. Grey was an avid reader of adventure stories and dime novels. Zane wrote his first story, " Jim of the Cave ," when he was fifteen. His father tore it to shreds and beat him. Grey also worked as a part-time usher in a theater and played summer baseball for the Columbus Capitols, with aspirations of becoming a major leaguer. Grey attended the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship where he studied dentistry. Grey struggled with the idea of becoming a writer or baseball player for his career, but unhappily concluded that dentistry was the practical choice. After graduating, Grey established his practice in New York City in 1896. He began to write in the evening to offset the tedium of his dental practice. He struggled financially and emotionally. Grey was a natural writer but his early efforts were stiff and grammatically weak. When canoeing in 1900, Grey met seventeen-year-old Lina Roth, better known as "Dolly." Grey and Dolly married five years later in 1905. Grey suffered bouts of depression, anger, and mood swings , which affected him most of his life. As he described it, "A hyena lying in ambush—that is my black spell! I conquered one mood only to fall prey to the next ... I wandered about like a lost soul or a man who was conscious of imminent death." During his courtship of Dolly, Grey still saw previous girlfriends and warned her frankly, that he would always have a "roving eye." While Dolly managed Grey's career and raised their three children, including son Romer Zane Grey , over the next two decades Grey often spent months away from the family. He fished, wrote, and spent time with his many mistresses. While Dolly knew of his behavior, she seemed to view it as his handicap rather than a choice. Throughout their life together, he highly valued her management of his career and their family, and her solid emotional support. Their considerable correspondence shows evidence of his lasting love for her despite his infidelities and personal emotional turmoil. The Greys moved to California in 1918, settling in Altadena . In writing, Grey found temporary escape from the harshness of his life and his demons. From the beginning, vivid description was the strongest aspect of his writing. He also began the habit of taking copious notes, not only of scenery and activities but of dialogue. He gained the confidence to write convincingly about the American West, its characters, and its landscape. Treacherous river crossings, unpredictable beasts, bone-chilling cold, searing heat, parching thirst, bad water, irascible tempers, and heroic cooperation all became real to him. Stories include: "The Ranger," "Canyon Walls," "Avalache," and "From Missouri." 223 pages----a RARE title. I offer Combined shipping.