Twenty-five years ago in Layton, Utah, north of Salt
Lake City, in an old barn owned by his mother-in-law, historian
Gibbs Smith set up shop. He replaced the roof which had blown off
in a storm, agreed to share one half with the cows, then started
turning out books. A quarter of a century later, Smith’s first book
about the California gold rush is still in print and he publishes
more than 50 books a year about Western culture. Smith’s enduring
themes are art, architecture, nature and the environment, but in
the last decade he has embraced the cowboy culture as well. Don’t
Squat With Yer Spurs On!: A Cowboy’s Guide to Life, is one of his
best-selling titles, as are collections of cowboy poetry, recipes
for the range and titles like Open Country and Where the Wind
Lives. Smith sees the West as an isolated “colony within a country”
exporting its culture in the form of trade items, such as his
books. He says he aims to blur these colonial boundaries, while
still preserving the wildness and spirit of the
land.
The Gibbs Smith Books 25th Anniversary Fall
Catalog, with its cover paintings by Gibbs Smith, can be obtained
by writing P.O. Box 667, Layton, UT 84041
(800/421-8714).
* Pam Ostermiller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Utah publisher celebrates 25.
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