The Sierra Club started its book program in 1952, when David Brower, an
editor with the
University of California Press, became the club's
executive director. In 1954, they published the first of its
climbers’ and
hikers’ guides. In 1960, when the Sierra Club Books began, they published the ‘Exhibit Format Book Series’, a collection of
nature photography and in 1964 they published their first color volume,
Elliot Porter'sIn Wilderness Is the Preservation of the World.[1]
Volumes intended for club members had been
published prior to 1960. In addition,
books under their name had been published before 1960, but done through already established publishers, as was the case with This Is Dinosaur, published by
Alfred A. Knopf.[2]
Their first in-house book, volume 1 in the Exhibit Format series, was This is the American Earth, published in 1960.[3] In 1962, they introduced
color photography to the series with the publication of In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World with
photographs by
Eliot Porter[4] and Island In Time: The Point Reyes Peninsula with photographs by
Philip Hyde.[5] The series won the 1964
Carey–Thomas Award for creative publishing, by
Publishers Weekly.[6] Fifty thousand copies were sold in the first four years,[7] and by 1964 sales exceeded 10,000,000
US dollars.[8] The books were successful in introducing the public to
wilderness preservation and to the Sierra Club.[9]Paperback reprints of many of the Exhibit Format books were published by
Ballantine Books.[10]
After Brower left the Club in 1969,[10] the club came under the leadership of Jon Beckmann from 1979 (1979) to 1991 (1991). During Beckmann's tenure the program expanded and diversified considerably, publishing books by established and emerging
writers such as
Wendell Berry,
Robert Bly,
Galen Rowell, and
David Rains Wallace as well as
field guides,
fiction,
poetry, and books on environmental
activism, such as the Sierra Club Battlebooks.[11] Many Sierra Club books were produced by the Yolla Bolly Press run by Jim and Carolyn Robertson in
Covelo, California.[10] The program continued for two decades after 1994, first under Peter Beren, the former
marketing director,[12] then under Helen Sweetland, the former
children's bookseditor.[13] The
press closed in 2015 with the adult division of the organization being sold to
Counterpoint LLC and the children's books division to
Gibbs Smith.[14]
The Club continues to publish the Sierra Club Wilderness Calendar and the Sierra Club Engagement Calendar annually, which are perennial bestsellers. They are distributed to the book trade by
Publishers Group West.[14]
^Turner, Tom (1990). Wild by Law: The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and the Places It Has Saved. Illustrated by
Carr Clifton,
Philip Hyde Et al.
San Francisco: Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.
The Sierra Club started its book program in 1952, when David Brower, an
editor with the
University of California Press, became the club's
executive director. In 1954, they published the first of its
climbers’ and
hikers’ guides. In 1960, when the Sierra Club Books began, they published the ‘Exhibit Format Book Series’, a collection of
nature photography and in 1964 they published their first color volume,
Elliot Porter'sIn Wilderness Is the Preservation of the World.[1]
Volumes intended for club members had been
published prior to 1960. In addition,
books under their name had been published before 1960, but done through already established publishers, as was the case with This Is Dinosaur, published by
Alfred A. Knopf.[2]
Their first in-house book, volume 1 in the Exhibit Format series, was This is the American Earth, published in 1960.[3] In 1962, they introduced
color photography to the series with the publication of In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World with
photographs by
Eliot Porter[4] and Island In Time: The Point Reyes Peninsula with photographs by
Philip Hyde.[5] The series won the 1964
Carey–Thomas Award for creative publishing, by
Publishers Weekly.[6] Fifty thousand copies were sold in the first four years,[7] and by 1964 sales exceeded 10,000,000
US dollars.[8] The books were successful in introducing the public to
wilderness preservation and to the Sierra Club.[9]Paperback reprints of many of the Exhibit Format books were published by
Ballantine Books.[10]
After Brower left the Club in 1969,[10] the club came under the leadership of Jon Beckmann from 1979 (1979) to 1991 (1991). During Beckmann's tenure the program expanded and diversified considerably, publishing books by established and emerging
writers such as
Wendell Berry,
Robert Bly,
Galen Rowell, and
David Rains Wallace as well as
field guides,
fiction,
poetry, and books on environmental
activism, such as the Sierra Club Battlebooks.[11] Many Sierra Club books were produced by the Yolla Bolly Press run by Jim and Carolyn Robertson in
Covelo, California.[10] The program continued for two decades after 1994, first under Peter Beren, the former
marketing director,[12] then under Helen Sweetland, the former
children's bookseditor.[13] The
press closed in 2015 with the adult division of the organization being sold to
Counterpoint LLC and the children's books division to
Gibbs Smith.[14]
The Club continues to publish the Sierra Club Wilderness Calendar and the Sierra Club Engagement Calendar annually, which are perennial bestsellers. They are distributed to the book trade by
Publishers Group West.[14]
^Turner, Tom (1990). Wild by Law: The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and the Places It Has Saved. Illustrated by
Carr Clifton,
Philip Hyde Et al.
San Francisco: Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.