Faulkner was an avid hunter, as well as one of America's greatest writers. The Big Woods is a collection of Faulkner's best hunting stories. Included is his most famous hunting story, "The Bear", together with "The Old People," "A Bear Hunt," and "Race at Morning." Together, these four stories are considered to be some of the finest hunting stories ever written. Each is introduced with a prelude that weaves these tales together into a modern American classic. In Big Woods, the author creates a variety of unforgetable figures: Sam Feathers the Indian guide, his bear dog Old Ben and the young boy. These unique characters and the tragic intensity of these narratives are magically melded in stories that are without equal. Brett Smith has created six original etchings especially for this edition. Each book will be printed on acid free paper, bound in fine cloth with a silk ribbon placeholder, and slipcased. The first printing will be limited to only 1,500 copies.
Born in 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, William Faulkner was the son of a family proud of their prominent role in the history of the south. He grew up in Oxford, Mississippi, and left high school at fifteen to work in his grandfather's bank.
Rejected by the US military in 1915, he joined the Canadian flyers with the RAF, but was still in training when the war ended. Returning home, he studied at the University of Mississippi and visited Europe briefly in 1925.
His first poem was published in The New Republic in 1919. His first book of verse and early novels followed, but his major work began with the publication of The Sound and the Fury in 1929. As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and The Wild Palms (1939) are the key works of his great creative period leading up to Intruder in the Dust (1948). During the 1930s, he worked in Hollywood on film scripts, notably The Blue Lamp, co-written with Raymond Chandler.
William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 and the Pulitzer Prize for The Reivers just before his death in July 1962.
