Collectible JOHN HELD, Jr. ILLUSTRATOR OF THE JAZZ AGE First edition HC DJ Color Art plates

by Shelley Armitage

Discover the charm and allure of this carefully preserved gem, steeped in history and rich with knowledge. This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection, offering a unique insight into the era it hails from. Its pages hold more than just words; they are a testimony to the passage of time, holding stories within stories that transport readers back in time. This piece of literary history awaits its new home. Please note, being an antique item, minor signs of age and use are part of its unique charm."

499 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1987

About the author

Shelley Armitage grew up in Vega, Texas, a small ranching and farming community in the northwest Texas Panhandle. The 1200 acre landscape of native grass, wheat and milo originally purchased by her father in 1926 borders both the Canadian River banks and Interstate 40. The vast landscape, which she has crossed many a time on foot, set the tone for Armitage’s memoir Walking the Llano: A Texas Memoir of Place.

Armitage spent a considerable part of her adult life away from her childhood home - living and working in many diverse places around the world. Having spent time on Fulbright Grants in Portugal, Poland, Finland, Hungary, and has also research and serving as a university professor in numerous U.S. states (Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Oregon, Illinois, Missouri, Connecticut), place has taken on special meanings and promoted fresh curiosities. It is the marriage of her unique experience growing up in the Panhandle and her more philosophical connection to the landscape through her studies in photography, environmental literature, cultural and place studies that provide Armitage with a unique perspective on such a special part of the country. “Writing llano,” as she calls the intimately physical and intellectual sensitivity to place, is a restorative act where memories and stories may reconnect people and places through time.
As author of eight books and fifty articles and essays, she has held Fulbright Chairs in Warsaw and Budapest, a Distinguished Senior Professorship in Cincinnati, and the Dorrance Roderick Professorship in El Paso. She also holds three National Endowment for the Humanities grants, as well as a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Today, Armitage continues to operate Armitage Farms - which she inherited when her parents and brother passed. As the land previously offered 360 degree views of earth and sky, that same landscape appears overwhelmed by the massive wind turbines, soaring microwave towers, constant oil pumping rigs, and persistent sand and gravel digs. Restoration and conservation of land for Armitage is both an ecological and aesthetic necessity. She decided to convert the farmland—originally requiring herbicides, fertilizer, and disruptive practices– into conservation grass planted to restore fragmented landscapes by re-creating wildlife corridors and habitat. She says growing up in small town Texas where one can be a basketball star or drum major one night and a contestant in a beauty and talent contest the next offered her many opportunities, but running a farm was one she never expected.
Even as the heartland remains in the Panhandle, the compass foot reaches out. Armitage still resides part of each year in Las Cruces, New Mexico and is an emerita of English and American Studies at the University of Texas El Paso. You may explore all of her publications on her official website, ShelleyArmitage.com