Monster Cable [Signed] The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western (association copy) Brautigan, Richard [Russell Chatham] [Fine] [Hardcover]

Description

Signed by Brautigan at the top of the title page. This copy belonged to his friend the painter Russell Chatham and is from his estate. With the embossed stamp of John R. Firestone, a previous owner at the base of the title page. We speculate that Chatham may have purchased it signed after Brautigan's death for sentimental reasons, as the book is dedicated ""for the Montana Gang"" which Chatham catalyzed. Chatham spent the majority of his career outside of Livingston, MT, and recruited/inspired others in the ""Montana Gang"" to the area including Brautigan, Thomas McGuane, and his good friend Jim Harrison, who used Chatham's paintings on the covers of most of his books. Chatham was extraordinarily successful at the height of his career (his largest paintings sold for $1 million to celebrities), and his paintings remain iconic images of the Montana landscape and perhaps the Interior West at large. See this great and wandering tribute from Rick Bassin Angler's Journal. Chatham was also a talented writer, best known for his iconic workThe Angler's Coast, and he was the publisher of Clark City Press, which published more than three dozen books including some of his own as well as books by Jim Harrison, Rick Bass, and others. The Hawkline Monster is Brautigan's fifth novel. Set in Eastern Oregon, it's about two gunmen hired out of a brothel to kill a monster that lives in the ice caves of a basement. Much mystery and quirkiness ensues. A fine copy in a very good plus jacket with a little rubbing to edges and a bit of creasing to the spine crown. Housed in a custom wine-red cloth clamshell box with leather title plate on spine that came with the book from Chatham; the box has a few bumps to upper corners. A moving copy in light of their shared history.