Basin and Range (1981) Signed First Edition Reference

Basin and Range (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1981) is the first of McPhee’s four geology books that would eventually be assembled as Annals of the Former World. Following geologist Kenneth Deffeyes along Interstate 80 across Nevada, McPhee makes plate tectonics vivid and deep time comprehensible. The famous opening — “The poles of the earth have wandered” — announces a subject that would occupy McPhee for nearly two decades.

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed first in jacket: $75–$175
• Unsigned first in jacket: $20–$45

The first building block of McPhee’s Pulitzer-winning geological epic. Collectors assembling the complete geology sequence prize this volume.