In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin first edition 1977

London: Jonathan Cape, 1977
 
8vo., navy publisher’s boards, lettered and decorated in gilt to spine with publisher’s device to foot; together in the original unclipped photographic dustwrapper (£4.95 net) with wraparound image of the Moreno Glacier in Argentina; map endpapers; pp. [v], 2-204; with numerous black and white photographs interspersed throughout; a near-fine copy, slight compression to spine ends and a little spotting to the upper edge the only defects; in near-fine dust jacket, perhaps lightly creased to the edges but with none of the usual sunning to the spine.  A lovely copy. 
 
First edition. 
 
Chatwin traces his first interest in the wilds of South America to his paternal grandparents. He recalled his grandmother having in her possession a "piece of brontosaurus", which was sent to her by a cousin, and was originally found in a cave in Chilean Patagonia. Chatwin spent his early career at Sothebys where, in time, he ran the auction house's Antiquities and Impressionist Art departments. He left in 1966 to study Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, but abandoned his studies to concentrate on his writing. It was not until 1972, when he was hired by the Sunday Times as an advisor on Art and Architecture, that his attention returned to travel. He later recalled an interview with the Irish Architect Eileen Gray in which he noticed a painting of hers showing Patagonia. "I've always wanted to go there," Bruce told her. "So have I," she replied. "Go there for me." He left for Lima two years later. 
 
Chatwin’s experiences in South America would establish him as one of the late 20th century’s best-known travel writers. His route took him from Buenos Aires to the very tip of the continent, Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego. Experimental in structure, the work is divided into 97 sections, some just as long as a paragraph, and altogether the author combines fact and storytelling in "a spoof of Wonder Voyage: the narrator goes to a far country in search of a strange animal: on his way he lands in strange situations, people or other books tell him strange stories which add up to form a message."
 
While copies of this book can often be found, this example is scarce in such superior condition.