OP: Last House

Pantheon Books, 1995. Hardcover. Fine. First printing.

Named after the Glen Ellen, California home where she lived out the latter 20 years of her life, Last House (1995) is M.F.K. Fisher’s (1908–1992) final work.

Though this “secret project” began in the 1980s, the book became increasingly, literally, difficult to write and changed form over time. Fisher struggled with both arthritis and Parkinson’s, which eventually took her motor function and, thus, her ability to pen her own words. She then dictated the work until the disease took her voice as well. Eventually, Last House came to be filled out with previously unpublished work, including journals, letters, and essays from 1943 to 1991.

A touching and, often, sorrowful chronicle of aging, loss, and a life well-lived.

Ours is a Fine first printing, unused.