Silent Spring
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962.
First edition, first printing. Signed by Rachel Carson on the half title in blue ink, with "Best wishes." Copy of consumer advocate Ruth G. Desmond (1906-1988), founder of Federation of Homemakers in Arlington, Virginia, with her signature on bottom margin of last page and organizational stamp. She was nicknamed "The Peanut Butter Grandma" for her tireless advocacy of food safety measures. x, [xi-xvi], 368 pp. Bound in publisher's original dark green cloth with gilt stamping to spine and front cover. Near Fine with light wear at tips and a little dulling to gilt, in a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with a small scuff to the front panel and light wear. An attractive copy.
Silent Spring is Carson's best-known work in which she describes the harmful effects of pesticides like DDT on the environment. It is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement. Signed copies are scarce as the author died of cancer within two years of its publication, but especially with such a pleasant association between two such noteworthy female consumer advocates.
Price: $9,000