The Mountains of New Mexico

Robert Julyan's "The Mountains of New Mexico" is the definitive field companion to a state most outsiders picture as flat desert but which counts more than a hundred named mountain ranges, from the Sangre de Cristos down to Sierra Blanca, topping out at 13,161-foot Wheeler Peak. Julyan, who also wrote the indispensable "Place Names of New Mexico," gives each range its location, geology, ecology, archaeology, mining and ghost-town lore, and Native American presence, all illustrated with Albuquerque photographer Carl Smith's black-and-white and color views.

This is the 2006 first printing from the University of New Mexico Press, signed by the author on the title page, "To Will, Robert Julyan." The dedication, "To Mike and to the mountains we roamed together as boys," sets the affectionate tone. As both a rigorous reference and a love letter to New Mexico's high country, a signed first printing is an especially appealing copy for collectors of New Mexico natural history.