Horn of the Hunter
New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., 1955.
Signed by Robert Ruark on the front free endpaper, inscribed to his good friends Nancy and Jake Hamon. Early printing, not the first. 315 pp., illustrated with author's line drawings and 32 pages of black and white photos. Bound in publisher's black cloth with pictorial stamping in brown and gilt. Near Fine with slight lean to spine, light wear. In a Very Good+ unclipped dust jacket with light rubbing and faint foxing, and a little worming to spine panel and front flap fold.
The Southern novelist and sports writer Robert "Bob" Ruark first published this humorous account of his first African safari in 1953. It was an instant bestseller, making his reputation and that of his Anglo-Kenyan guide Harry Selby. This copy is inscribed to Nancy and Jake Hamon, a legendary Dallas power couple. Jake was a successful oil wildcatter, and his wife Nancy's extravagant parties drew attendees from all over the world. A card laid in indicates that Nancy gave this book to John L. Roach after Jake died in 1985. Ruark himself had died prematurely two decades previously, but he left behind some of the finest outdoor sporting literature ever written.
Price: $3,000