To a Young Bird Artist: Letters from Louis Agassiz Fuertes to George Miksch Sutton, with commentary by George Miksch Sutton. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1979 - stated FIRST EDITION on the copyright page. ISBN 0-8061-1589-0. More than merely an edition of Fuertes' letters, this book reflects the gentle, self-effacing genius of both men: Sutton's low-key but moving narrative relates how Fuertes, in his golden years as a busy and successful artist, gave graciously of his time and talent to aid and inspire the young Sutton in his formative years. Sutton published the letters Fuertes wrote him between 1915 and 1927 - the year of Fuertes' tragic death - because "they contain sound advice for aspiring young bird artists, but also because there are in them profoundly philosophical statements that apply to anyone, whatever his talents or field of endeavor." Besides his commentary, Sutton tells of the memorable summer he spent with Fuertes and his family at Sheldrake Point on the shore of Lake Cayuga. Pages from four of the Fuertes letters are reproduced in facsimile, along with four color drawings referred to in the text. George Miksch Sutton was George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus of zoology and curator of birds at Stovall Museum in the University of Oklahoma - a gifted writer, artist, teacher, and noted ornithologist who wrote eleven books and illustrated fifteen others.

Condition: GOOD. Quarter-bound in navy cloth with brown cloth boards and bright spine lettering; binding tight and square. Text clean and unmarked throughout - no underlining, highlighting, or margin writing. In the original dust jacket reproducing Fuertes' handwriting, housed in a removable mylar (Brodart) protector; the jacket flaps carry no printed price and the flap corners are intact and uncut. Honest defects: patches of old tape/adhesive residue on the boards; faint rectangular ghost marks to the endpapers where something was once affixed; light toning to the jacket and to the page edges.

Ships promptly and boxed via USPS Media Mail. Please see photos - they form part of the description.