Heritage Press edition of Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest by W. H. Hudson and illustrated by Miguel Covarrubias tells the fantastic story of the love of Venezuelan Abel Guevez de Argensola for Rima the Bird Girl.
Written by W. H. Hudson. Illustrated by Miguel Covarrubias. Introduction by Carl Van Doren. Deluxe edition, 1944. Heritage Press, New York.
In his time, W. H. Hudson (1841 - 1922) was considered one of Britain's greatest writers. Raised in Argentina, Hudson became a naturalist and author of several well-regarded books on birds and the English countryside, including Hampshire Days and The Shepherd's Life.
In Hudson's best-known novel, Green Mansions, an aristocratic revolutionary flees Caracas after a failed coup and seeks refuge with a group of Indians in Guyana. Abel Guevez de Argensola, known as Mr. Abel, found an idyllic place but was drawn further into it by the story of "a daughter of Didi", or a demon, the beautiful, exotic 17 year-old Rima, who he compares to a hummingbird. She sings like a bird but speaks as a human. His infatuation runs into the realities of the Indians' ancient beliefs, superstitions, and conflicts and he's eventually caught up in a conflagration that consumes Rima and his love for her. The adventure of a lifetime!
Michael Dirda, book critic for The Washington Post, wrote on April, 2018:
"...you should consider picking up “Green Mansions,” if only for its rapturous evocations of a tropical habitat now threatened by modern civilization. Yet the book remains, at heart, an unforgettable depiction of love and suffering, remorse and transcendence. At one time Abel describes his soul and Rima’s as “two raindrops side by side, drawing irresistibly nearer, ever nearer” until they “touched and were not two, but one inseparable drop, crystallized beyond change, not to be disintegrated by time, nor shattered by death’s blow.”"
The book is wonderfully illustrated by the great Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias (1902 - 1957), a painter, illustrator, and caricaturist. His work appeared in Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, galleries and museums around the world, and many illustrated books.
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Condition*: Near Fine/Very Good. Without dust jacket, as issued. The light blue slipcase is sunned along the front ages and has a small black smudge on the spine.
*Based on guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.
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