Sentence:  Besides showing no inclination , apparently , to absent himself from his native region even for short periods , and in addition writing a <WSD>shelf</WSD> of books set in the region , he has handled in those books an astonishingly complete list of matters which have been important in the South during the past hundred years . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a support that consists of a horizontal surface for holding objects