Auel, Jean M. — Clan of the Cave Bear

New York, Crown Publishing, 1980. Third Printing. Hardcover. Size: 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Stated Third Printing of the fine, inaugural novel in the six-volume Earth's Children series by the beloved Jean M. Auel, still of Portland, Oregon. Two-tone cloth over boards. Bright and shiny dust jacket, illustrated, little worn, protected by a plastic coat, taped to interior flaps. Previous owner's embossed stamp at title page. The Wikipedia entry devoted to the series notes that they are set 30,000 years before the present day. There are six novels in the series, six novels and with plans for a seventh that never materialized. Set in present-day Europe during the Upper Paleolithic era, "after the date of the first ceramics discovered, but before the last advance of glaciers. The books focus on the period of co-existence between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals," comprising a staggering account of "personal discovery: coming-of-age, invention, cultural complexities, and, beginning with the second book, explicit romantic sex. It tells the story of Ayla, an orphaned Cro-Magnon girl who is adopted and raised by a tribe of Neanderthals and who later embarks on a journey to find the Others (her own kind), meeting along the way her romantic interest and supporting co-protagonist, Jondalar." After Clan of the Cave Bear (1980) came Valley of Horses 1982); The Mammoth Hunters 1985); The Plains of Passage (1990); The Shelters of Stone (2002); and The Land of Painted Caves (2011). 468 pp.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. . . . Near Fine/Near Fine,