The Sierra Club, founded by John Muir in 1892 as an environmental group focused on the western mountains of the United States, claims to be America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organisation. The Club issued publications relating to its activities from its inception. From the 1940s Sierra Club Books achieved a high standard of production in terms of photography, typography and design; from the 1970s the group published fiction, poetry and children's books, but always with an environmental connection.