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My Pops has lately gotten into Aldo Leopold, with the help of a local reading group focusing on Sand County Almanac. I told him I certainly hoped he’d gotten a hold of the large-format, glossy-pictured edition that I read, because it was so beautiful; and he said that he had. But then he discovered something I never realized: that beautiful photo-edition is missing several essay originally included! The horror! I will have to return to a fuller version of the book; and Pops has taken care of that by gifting me a more complete copy. (It is waiting my arrival in our new home in the north. I am busy and therefore can be in no hurry…)

Pops further comments:

The Sand County reading group was last night. Only two new people showed up, which is not a big deal; though most are Aldo fans, it was nice discussion but mostly insignificant; except, a couple of people had seen this film and highly recommend it. Have you heard of it? Green Fire – more here.

No, of course I had not, but now it’s on the list…

And… do you remember reading this anywhere?

“Lead by Luna Leopold, Aldo’s son, a group of Leopold’s family and colleagues collaborated on the final editing of the book, reluctantly agreeing to one significant change: renaming the book from Leopold’s working title Great Possessions to A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here & There.”

One of our group commented on the ingenious selection and sequence of pieces in the book, unaware that the editing was not Leopold’s own work. In fact, there are not dates on any of the essays; I think it would be very interesting to see that, because the edited result is surely not sequential in time.

I also see misleading references to the works: even the film page linked above cites A Sand County Almanac (without the suffix “And Sketches Here & There”) as the source for the famous “fierce green eyes” quote – whereas it actually appears in one of the sketches (“Thinking Like a Mountain”) – which was not included in the photo-edition you read, titled… A Sand County Almanac: With Essays On Conservation.

“with essays on conservation from round river”

And… I took a further look at the selections in different editions (a friend brought a fourth edition besides the three I had). The newish paperback I bought for you (“With Essays on Conservation from Round River”) actually has a whole section of essays (not included elsewhere) besides the original sketches, so it is the “fullest” yet; what an adventure!

Wow! Great job, Pops! I can’t wait to find the time!

Words of caution, kids: watch your editions. I’ve certainly learned something. Thanks Pops for the lesson as well as the new & complete paperback!

Filed under: musings | Tagged: nature, Pops |