Edward Abbey:

An Inventory of His Papers, 1968-1989 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library

Biographical Sketch

Edward Abbey wrote fiction and non-fiction based upon the belief that an important link exists between individual freedom and the presence of wilderness areas. He was born in 1927 in Pennsylvania. He attended the University of New Mexico, receiving a BA in philosophy and literature in 1951 and a MA in philosophy in 1956. Abbey worked for the National Park Service at Arches National Monument during the summers of 1956 and 1956; experiences there inspired his early work, Desert Solitaire. He is perhaps best known for The Monkey Wrench Gang, whose characters attempt to halt construction of buildings and dams in wilderness areas. Abbey died in 1989, at the age of 62, in Tucson, Arizona.

A list of his publications includes:

• Abbey, Ed. Jonathan Troy. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1954.
• Abbey, Ed. The Brave Cowboy: An Old Tale in a New Time. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1956.
• Abbey, Ed. Fire on the Mountain. New York: Dial, 1962.
• Abbey, Ed. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.
• Abbey, Ed. Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smokey Mountains. Text by Abbey. New York: Dutton, 1970.
• Abbey, Ed. Black Sun. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1971.
• Abbey, Ed. Slickrock: The Canyon Country of Southeast Utah. Text by Abbey. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1971.
• Abbey, Ed. Cactus Country. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1973.
• Abbey, Ed. The Monkey Wrench Gang. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975.
• Abbey, Ed. The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey. Text by Abbey. New York: Viking, 1977.
• Abbey, Ed. The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West. New York: Dutton, 1977.
• Abbey, Ed. Abbey’s Road. New York: Dutton, 1979.
• Abbey, Ed. Desert Images: An American Landscape. Text by Abbey. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.
• Abbey, Ed. Good News. New York: Dutton, 1980.
• Abbey, Ed. Down the River with Henry David Thoreau and Friends. New York: Dutton, 1982.
• Abbey, Ed. Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1984.
• Abbey, Ed. In Praise of Mountain Lions. Albuquerque: Albuquerque Sierra Club, 1984.
• Abbey, Ed. Confessions of a Barbarian. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1986.
• Abbey, Ed. The Fool’s Progress: An Honest Novel. New York: Holt, 1988.
• Abbey, Ed. One Life at a Time, Please. New York: Holt, 1988.
• Abbey, Ed. Vox Clamantis in Desert: Some Notes from a Secret Journal. Santa Fe: Rydal Press, 1989.
• Abbey, Ed. Hayduke Lives! Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.
• Abbey, Ed. Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.

Scope and Contents

This collection combines separate small collections acquired at different times (between 2000 and 2005). It includes correspondence between Abbey and Ralph Newcomb, Edward Hoagland, and David Petersen, as well as correspondence from other writers who knew Abbey. It also includes two photographs, newspaper clippings, and manuscript material and a Western Wilderness calendar with text by Abbey.

The collection is in good condition and is part of the James Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research. Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by U.S. copyright law.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Edward Abbey Papers, 1968-1989 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Purchase, 2000-2004

Processed by

Diane Warner, 2011

Collection Inventory