Arizona Sketches

“Arizona is a land that is full of history as well as mystery and invites investigation. It has a fascination that every one feels who crosses its boarder. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is both the oldest and newest portion of our country – the oldest in ancient occupation and civilization and the newest in modern progress.” So states Joseph A. Munk in A Romantic Land, the first chapter, or sketch, in this, his first book about Arizona. Munk became an Arizona enthusiast after visiting the territory for the first time in 1884, and began a life-long obsession with the literature of the place. He first purchased Richard J. Hinton’s 1878 The hand-book to Arizona, and went on to amass a large and renowned collection of books. His book collection and many of his writings and ephemera have been maintained as the Munk Library of Arizoniana, which today makes up part of the collections of the Historic Southwest Museum at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, CA.