A Stroll By My Western Bookshelves

About the Book

“Much experience and action, much thought and reminiscence, fill the pages of this volume. Here are books about explorers, frontiersmen, mountaineers, hunters, rangers, gold-finders, cowboys, and tenderfeet; novels and narratives by pioneer women; books by friends and also fighters of Native Americans. Often generously quoted, they pulse with the life of the old West.” – Albert R. Vogeler, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Fullerton “You have the mantle of Henry Wagner, Carl Wheat, and Francis Farquhar on your shoulders. You are to be commended for bringing to life so many of the books that are key to our heritage.” – Gary F. Kurutz, Curator of Special Collections, California State Library

About the Author

Gordon J. Van De Water has long collected books dealing with California and the West, including many first editions of the eighty titles known as The Zamorano 80, which were selected in 1945 by the Zamorano Club of Los Angeles. These titles, dating from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries, are distinguished works of exploration and travel, history, politics, fiction, and poetry that are cornerstone volumes for any significant library of Californiana. Van De Water is a member of several book clubs and a Reader at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Currently he is serving on a Zamorano Club committee preparing a new list of significant California titles dating from 1870 to the later 20th century. His A Stroll by My Western Bookshelves: A Selection of Books from the Collection of Gordon J. Van De Water was published in 2009.