Book Description
Combining the dramatic and meticulous work of printmaker Tom Killion--accented by quotes from John Muir--and the journal writings of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder, The High Sierra of California is a tribute to the bold, jagged peaks that have inspired generations of naturalists, artists, and writers. For over thirty years, Tom Killion has been backpacking the High Sierra, making sketches of the region stretching from Yosemite south to Whitney and Kaweah Crest, which he calls "California's backbone." Using traditional Japanese and European woodcut techniques, Killion has created stunning visual images of the Sierra that focus on the backcountry above nine thousand feet, accessible only on foot. Accompanying these riveting images are the journals of Gary Snyder, chronicling more than forty years of foot travels through the High Sierra backcountry. "Athens and Rome, good-bye!" writes Snyder, as he takes us deep into the mountains on his daily journeys around Yosemite and beyond. Originally printed in a limited, handmade, letterpress edition, The High Sierra of California is now available in an affordable, full-color trade edition.

From the Inside Flap
This edition of *The High Sierra of California* was adapted from the handprinted book that Tom Killion produced during the period from 1997-2000 at his Quail Press studio in Santa Cruz. The original edition was limited to 129 copies, printed on handmade Japanese papers in a folio format measuring about fifteen by twenty inches, with illustrations printed from Killion's hand-carved wood and linoleum blocks. Each section opened with a decorative Japanese paper to evoke the season and closed with a full-page woodcut image. Collectors immediately acquuired all available copies, and Killionhas since decided to make the book available to the general public. Artfully designed and adapted to the new format, and enhanced with additional excerpts from the backpacking journals of Gary Snyder, *The High Sierra of California* is, in Killion's words, "a richer book, both visually and textually, and very pleasing to the bookmaker in me." *The High Sierra of California* also features excerpts from Gary Snyder's backpacking journals, covering nearly forty years of exploration--personal and spiritual as well as geographic--in the high country.

About the Author
GARY SNYDER has published sixteen books of poetry and prose, including The Gary Snyder Reader (1952-1998) and Turtle Island, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974. Among his many awards are the Bollingen Prize and the Shelley Memorial Award. He is a professor of English at the University of California, Davis. TOM KILLION, founder of The Quail Press, is a California-born woodcut and letterpress artist. Along with publishing fine art letterpress books, Killion is a professor of history at several Bay Area universities. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.