The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 96, July 1992 - April, 1993 Page: 142

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

no. 8 is the first Encino Press book, Bob More, Man and Bard Man by J. Frank
Dobie published in 1965 with an introduction and illustrations by Wittliff. The
last Encino Press book is no. i61, Houston: A Historical Portrait by John L. Davis,
produced in 1983.
So many bibliographies are just technical listings of the titles of books and
periodicals. Gratefully, this is not the case here. An annotation with nearly
every book entry provides some background or anecdote regarding the book.
The reader will learn why, for example, the first printing of Larry McMurtry's
In A Narrow Grave is so expensive, which titles became rare overnight because
of a 1968 fire, or how Wittliff came into conflict with President Johnson's office
over one early publication.
Undoubtedly Gould Whaley, Jr., produced this book as a labor of love-both
for the subject and for fine printing. He certainly didn't do it for profit. The
printing was limited to 500 copies. The book is worthy of standing with the
books of the Encino Press for quality and appearance. The only criticism that
can be made of the bibliography is that in all instances it does not explain how
to identify later printings of a title. The book is certainly recommended for any
reference shelf. As Texana the book provides a glimpse into the life and work
of one of Texas's most talented people.
Austin TOM MUNNERLYN
The Texas Legacy of Katherine Anne Porter. By James T. F. Tanner. (Denton: Uni-
versity of North Texas Press, 1990o. Pp. 237. Foreword, conclusion, se-
lected bibliography, index. $19.95.)
Although she does not write about cowboys and cows like Elmer Kelton, nor
employ a redneck vocabulary like Larry L. King, Katherine Anne Porter is a
Texas writer. She reflects the southern, agrarian strain in Texas, and she is un-
deniably the best writer Texas gave to the world in the first half of this century.
Her high standing among serious readers worldwide remains unsurpassed by
any Texan even now, with the twenty-first century looming just below the east-
ern horizon. It is entirely fitting that James T. F. Tanner's study of Miss Porter
be published early in the Texas Writers Series, and if logic prevailed rather
than deadlines and other vagaries of publishing, this neat little volume would
be number one instead of three.
Tanner has given us a first-rate companion, no-nonsense and readable, to
Porter's work. He begins with a discussion of Porter's standing among critics at
large, and among Texas critics in particular. Next comes a biographical chapter
taking her from Callie Russell Porter the barefoot farm child at Indian Creek,
Texas, to Katherine Anne Porter the literary doyenne, winner of a National
Book Award and two Pulitzers. He touches on two incidents that long embit-
tered Porter toward Texas: the decision of the Texas Institute of Letters to give
an award to a J. Frank Dobie book rather than her Pale Horse, Pale Rzder; and
the failure of the University of Texas to name a building for her. Tanner fol-
lows with four chapters discussing Porter's stories of "Texas, the South, and
Southwest," of "Mexico," of "New York and New England," and of "Germany."

142