HARD SCRABBLE: OBSERVATIONS ON A PATCH OF LAND.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974. xi,267pp. Yellow cloth, title in gilt on the spine. The jacket photograph is by Bill Wittliff. First edition, first printing. Externally, the book shows faint foxing to the covers and heavier on the page edges. Internally, there is off-setting to front fly and paste down from a newspaper article that was laid-in. The price clipped dust jacket shows edgewear and light chipping to the back panel. Overall, the jacket and book are considered good-. In 1960, Graves bought 400 acres of worn-out land in Somervell County. He recounts with wry humor and superb “word pictures” his efforts to reclaim and rebuild the land. As with his first novel, Goodbye to a River, Graves blends in the history of the Indian tribes which once lived on the land as well as the early settlers who knew nothing of land stewardship and cared less.
