1906 THE CALL OF THE WILD Jack London Hardcover
This is a 1906 hardcover edition of Call of the Wild by Jack London (originally published 1903). It has bumped corners and is slightly cocked. The spine is cracking at the middle and back--all of the pages are intact. The pages are deckled and it has advertisements at the back of the book. Shows some foxing.
Jack London wrote Call of the Wild to share some of what he saw while living for a year in the Yukon Territory. I enjoyed this book because I visited Yosemite National Park while my brother and his wife were working there as enviromental educators. It was early spring and the snow was several feet deep and we tried unsucessfully to hike through it to see the Sequoia trees. I like to imagine the Yukon Territy was similar to Yosemite. London wrote "Call of the Wild" to convey the theme of transformation. How, over a period of time, one's entire life and intentions can change. Buck transformed from a pet to a wild dog through the course of the story. Americans have criticized the book for its vicious dog fights and animal abuse. Jack London witnessed the realities of the Klondike gold rush himself, and history doesn't always paint a pretty picture. "The Call of the Wild" was banned in Italy and Yugoslavia in 1929 and burned by the Nazi Party in 1933. The bans and burning were attributed to to London's theme of transformation being representative of his socialist ideologies. Whether or not London was purposefully promoting a political view, my brother and his wife can attest to the profound power of raw nature like what is found in Yosemite. They named their first born after the River that runs through it.
