LONDON, JackBiblio.com
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15534n.p. n.d. Quarto : 119pp. : in half morocco slipcase : Sept. 30 1904; A.L.S. 2 pages : To R.W. Gilder. The original autograph manuscript of London's ground breaking story about boxing. The manuscript is heavily corrected throughout in London's hand showing considerable evidence of re-writing. The first page is rubber stamped August 31 1904 and last page signed by the author and dated Sep. 30 1904 suggesting he took just one month to write the story. <br /> <br /> In the letter accompanying the manuscript London offers the story to Richard Watson Gilder editor of the "Century Magazine". He describes the story as "a transcript from the life of the western end of my own town Oakland. And the fight if nothing else is real." <br /> <br /> Gilder declined the story and it was serialised in Metropolitan Magazine U.S. and The Tatler London both in April 1905 and then published in book form by Macmillan in June 1905 illustrated by Henry Hutt and decorated by T.C. Lawrence. While it did not reach the spectacular success of Call of the Wild 1903 or The Sea-Wolf 1904 The Game 1905 was the first literary treatment of prize fighting and is credited with starting the genre. <br /> <br /> Categorised as a novel in Walker and Sisson 9 in the letter London is adamant that it is not a short story - "This thing somehow just got away with me." - and refers to it twice as a "transcript from life". He is aware that he is breaking ground "The prize ring has never been understandingly done into literature - and when it has been attempted it has been a description of a contest between world champions by a man who didn't know anything about it." <br /> <br /> That Jack London knew something about boxing is well documented. He learned the art of pugilism as a young man and as a sportswriter he covered many fights. He countered charges that the story was "unbelievable" by sending news clippings to his critics to prove that a boxer could smash in the back of his skull by falling to the mat from a hard blow. And he claimed that the lightweight champion of the world Jimmy Britt liked the story "on account of its trueness to life" Book of Jack London II 10-11 as quoted in Walker and Sisson p.13. <br /> <br /> Having closely compared the manuscript to the Metropolitan Magazine and first US editions 91 textual differences have been noted. Most of these are between the manuscript and both print versions. However there are a number of cases where the Metropolitan Magazine version follows the manuscript and a handful of occasions where all three differ. One of the most interesting differences is the last line of the manuscript which was omitted in the print versions.<br /> <br /> Running to 119 pages this is the longest of the few Jack London manuscript remaining in private hands. <br /> <br /> Provenance: Sotheby's - New York April 2004 - The Maurice F. Neville Collection. Included at the sale with a signed association copy see item #15535. <br /> Marjorie Wiggin Prescott sale 6 February 1981 lot 230 all except the 1919 reprint<br /> Unnamed consignor sale American Art Association 11 March 1930 lot 227 manuscript and letter only. unknown
190815538Glen Ellen California 1908. Very good. Double space typed manuscript : ribbon copy on paper watermarked "Saxon Bond" : 13pp. : Jack London's name address and word count 6233 words typed at the top of first page : several pencil corrections and revisions apparently in London's hand 21 words : the setting copy with editorial corrections printer's marking in pencil and "Hampton's Magazine" stamped to head of each page : p. 5 cut in two between lines of text and then pinned together a previous cataloguer posited this might be the result of an editorial change but I see little evidence for that : a strip of brown paper section of a wrapper with "Mauki by Jack London. 6000 words" in his hand : this strip and the leaves stapled at the top : housed in a red half morocco slipcase. Mild soiling and toning the first leaf detached at the top from the rhs staple.<br /> <br /> Provenance: Lazare M. Kaufmann sale Christies 20th May 1988 Lot 206; Sotheby's April 2004 The Maurice F. Neville Collection. “Mauki†holds significant literary and historical importance for the South Pacific particularly in its depiction of colonial labour practices and indigenous resistance during a period of intense imperial activity. The narrative sheds light on the brutal labour trade often referred to as “blackbirding†in which Pacific Islanders were coerced or kidnapped into indentured servitude on plantations in Australia Fiji and elsewhere.<br /> <br /> Written in 1907 during London's cruise of the South Pacific in the Snark "Mauki" was first published by Hampton's Magazine in December 1908 and was collected in South Sea Stories in 1911. This is the setting copy i.e. the manuscript copy sent to publisher from which the publisher's printer sets the type. It is one of a handful of Jack London manuscripts to come onto the market in the past 50 years.<br /> <br /> The plot<br /> Like many of London's South Sea stories "Mauki" paints a brutal and extreme picture of the South Pacific at the turn of the twentieth century. In it the central character is a homesick Malaitan first kidnapped by another tribe and then indentured to the Moongleam Soap Company. He runs away again and again stealing guns and tobacco in one instance killing and eating a San Cristobal boy. With each re-capture his indentured time is increased as a means of punishment until finally considered incorrigible he is sent to remote Lord Howe Atoll under the oversight of a German plantation manager named Bunster who has something "wrong in his head". The brutal and sadistic Bunster pitilessly tortures the now seemingly compliant Mauki burning him with cigarettes knocking him about and flaying him with a mitt made from the skin of a stingray. Bunster's sadism is not only physical but psychological as well. He is the only white man in the story that refuses to acknowledge and respect Mauki's tambos taboos. <br /> <br /> The tables are turned however when Bunster is laid low by fever and just as he begins to recover Mauki exacts his revenge: "The house deserted he entered the sleeping-room where the trader lay in a doze. Mauki first removed the revolvers then placed the ray fish mitten on his hand. Bunster's first warning was a stroke of the mitten that removed the skin the full length of his nose.When Mauki was done he carried the boat compass and all the rifles and ammunition down to the cutter which he proceeded to ballast with cases of tobacco. It was while engaged in this that a hideous skinless thing came out of the house and ran screaming down the beach till it fell in the sand and mowed and gibbered under the scorching sun. Mauki looked toward it and hesitated. Then he went over and removed the head which he wrapped in a mat and stowed in the stern-locker of the cutter."<br /> <br /> The characters derived from life<br /> One of London's gorier tales "Mauki" is also a tale of heroism rough justice and personal meaning. It is also based in reality. In the papers of the Western Pacific High Commission held at the University of Auckland Library in New Zealand there is a forty-three page collection of documents surrounding a Dutch trader called Munster who faced deportation for troublesome behaviour:<br /> <br /> "On January16 1909 the Levers’ vessel Malekula arrived under the command of Charles Butchart to take on copra and deliver supplies. Munster the worse for drink was in Butchart’s words “chasing a Malaita native round the deck saying he would take his life.†Munster fought with members of the crew bit one person’s thumb threatened to shoot some natives and actually fired upon them. Matters escalated with Munster swearing at the crew and “threatening to shoot everyone in the ship.†Eventually he made his way to shore where the fighting continued to such an extent that passenger Joseph Dickinson disabled Munster by shooting him in the foot. Thereafter Munster fled to the bush and the ship departed to file a complaint and record depositions in Tulagi." <br /> Keith Newlin 2022 "Jack London and the Colonial Pacific" p.261<br /> <br /> London scholar Keith Newlin has shown that Munster was nominally the agent in charge at Ugi when the London party visited from 2–4 July 1908. No doubt London invented the specific cruelties that the fictional Bunster levied on the fictional Mauki but the real-life Munster was arguably insane and cruel.<br /> <br /> The inspiration for Mauki was also a real person a cook mentioned in Charmian London's account but how London came to know of his experiences is less clear. One of the compelling features of Mauki's character in the story are his multiple escape attempts due to homesickness. This idea may have originated with the stories told to the London's by their interpreter Bopu. It would seem the fictional Mauki may be a conglomeration of labourers and labour practices that the London's learned about and witnessed on their travels. As Newlin points out "Jack London scholars typically accept his portrayal of Melanesian labor conditions as factual and his descriptions have formed the basis of nearly all discussions of blackbirding and plantation conditions." but it is also wise to remember that Jack London wrote fiction ".and like all fiction writers he exaggerated and otherwise distorted the facts in pursuit of his fictional agenda—in this story to magnify the brutality of the colonial overseer and to portray the inner nobility of the laborer." Newlin p.265-6.<br /> <br /> The inner nobility or heroism of Mauki receives thoughtful treatment in Jeanne Campbell Reesman's 2006 article "Rough Justice in Jack London's 'Mauki'". Reading Mauki through the lens of naturalism she finds personal meaning is the hero's greatest possession and that living and acting according to his personal ethic makes him resemble a romantic or idealistic hero more than the standard naturalistic one p.65-66. Reeseman concludes that the moral of the story is "Respect your tambos no matter what and do what is right—if your desire is to live and not merely to survive." p.68.<br /> <br /> Legacy <br /> The character Mauki’s repeated escapes and ultimate triumph over the German overseer Bunster can be read today through the lens of indigenous resistance to colonial oppression offering a rare for its time narrative that elevates a Pacific Islander’s agency. As Jeanne Campbell Reesman notes London “dwells more upon the savagery of the Melanesians†but also critiques the “moral degradation of the whites with their laxity alcoholism and racist stupidity.†This dual critique underscores the story’s significance as a commentary on the destructive impact of brutal labour practices on both the oppressed and the oppressors.<br /> <br /> “Mauki†also occupies a pivotal place in Jack London’s oeuvre as a bridge between his adventure-driven narratives and his socially conscious critiques of injustice. It geographically expands his exploration of survival and individualism to the South Pacific region where the story is significant for its historical grounding its critique of colonial labour practices and its contribution to a literary tradition that amplifies Pacific Islander voices. Despite its limitations “Mauki†remains a powerful testament to London’s ability to engage with global issues making it a vital part of his legacy and a meaningful contribution to the literature of the South Pacific<br /> The popularity of London’s storytelling with its elements of action and conflict waned with the rise of the high modernist aesthetic in the early twentieth century. For a long time the modernists with their focus on narrative experimentation and psychological interiority dominated the literary landscape and were considered more ‘artful’ than naturalists like London. Despite this London scholarship has grown considerably over the past few decades and he is now held as one of the great American writers of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. The upcoming 30-volume Oxford University Press Collected Works of Jack London is sure to cement London’s place in the canon of English language literature.<br /> <br /> <br /> References<br /> Jeanne Campbell Reesman 2006 "Rough justice in Jack London's 'Mauki'" Studies in American Naturalism Summer & Winter 2006 Vol. 1 Nos. 1 & 2<br /> Keith Newlin 2022 "Jack London and the Colonial Pacific" American Literary Realism Volume 54 Number 3 Spring 2022 pp.255-274 Article<br /> With thanks to Kenneth K. Brandt Editor 2006–present The Call: The Magazine of the Jack London Society Boston MA and Executive coordinator 2014–present Jack London Society Boston MA. unknown
1903375544New York: Macmillan 1903. First edition first issue July 1903. Color frontispiece with bound tissue guard; two-color illustrated title page; illustrated endpapers. 231 3pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Green cloth decoratively stamped in black red and gilt. Fine copy in fine pictorial dust jacket. First edition first issue July 1903. Color frontispiece with bound tissue guard; two-color illustrated title page; illustrated endpapers. 231 3pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Along with White Fang one of the two great novels for which the author seems destined to be remembered. His empathy for animals combined with his appreciation of the Darwinian lessons of life here overcome London's occasionally simplistic political agenda resulting in a classic tale for both children and adults. BAL 11876; Sisson & Martens p. 13 Macmillan unknown
191515817Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company 1915. First Edition. PRESENTATION & ASSOCIATION COPY<br /> <br /> Octavo : 891pp. : photo image frontispiece The Heavy Sledge sculpture by Mahonri Young : illustrated : inscruibed by Sinclair to London at first free endpaper. Original red cloth lettered in gilt with blind stamped border. Below Sinclairs inscription is the calling card of Charmian London's Jack's widow presenting this copy inscibed in pencil on both sides"With my compliments Mrs Jack London I found two! Over! / See Jack London preface. Writing soon. C.K. L." " and Jack London's signature in pencil pasted in at the foot of p.5 at the end of his introduction. <br /> <br /> "It was.in Hawaii of all places that Jack produced his most moving call to arms the introduction to The Cry for Justice.Sinclair.considered it one of the finest things Jack ever did and said that some paragraphs'might be carved upon his monumnet'" Kershaw Jack London: A Life p.180 Oddly or from Charmian's note perhaps not a copy of this book with an identical Sinclair inscription was sold at Swann Galleries on 12 November 1987 lot 209 BAL 11961<br /> <br /> Provenance: Willard S. Morse bookplateSotheby's - New York April 2004 - The Maurice F Neville Collection; Private collection Sydney Australia. The John C. Winston Company unknown
195300524461Upton Sinclair 1953. First Edition. Unknown. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Believed to be the last of Upton Sinclair's unpublished book-length manuscripts in private hands AMERICAN FABLES is a uniquely important piece of American literary history. Sinclair's body of work dealt with numerous issues and trends in American life society and politics during this era but often as part of a larger character-driven narrative. AMERICAN FABLES was his signal attempt to synthesize these key threads by combining sections of his work with that of other authors. The work takes the form of 30 'Fables' seventeen of which are Sinclair thirteen by others including such prominent American authors and friends Jack London Sinclair Lewis Lincoln Steffens and John Reed. Also included are contributions by Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr the noted anarchist Prince Kropotkin E. W. Scripps Harry Price Prynce Hopkins and others. Sinclair's own seventeen 'Fables' are taken from or based on previously published works authored 1923-48 with new unpublished material composed in 1952. The thirteen 'Fables' of the other authors Jack London Sinclair Lewis et al. are mostly from between the wars but range from 1899 Kropotkin - a bit of an outlier to 1951. This work has been much discussed for decades among Sinclair scholars. It has been described as Sinclair's attempt to create a politically-layered fictionalized history of America between the wars told through key stories taken from his own work and that of others. From what Sinclair told Ron Gottesman it was intended as a domestic 'prequel' of sorts to the Lanny Budd series. It was an outgrowth of several earlier drafts conceived of it is said as an American equivalent to the 'Arabian Nights' or 'One Thousand and One Nights'. Gottesman indicated that after Sinclair worked through a number of drafts for the better part of a decade under a different title see below finishing and sending this 'final' draft to Sinclair's literary agent Bertha Klausner right around the time of the publication of THE RETURN OF LANNY BUDD in 1953 which was the culmination of the enormous series of eleven volumes begun with WORLD'S END in 1940. Sinclair had expected Viking to publish the work or to easily find another publisher. But this was not to be as Senator Joseph McCarthy's incendiary attacks against the Left created such a hostile environment that it intimidated all potential publishers of this new work by the avowed Socialist and one-time Democratic nominee to be Governor of California. After that first flurry of submissions and what Sinclair described to Gottesman as somewhat panicked rejections the work sat forgotten for years in the files of Sinclair's literary agent Bertha Klausner until it was returned to Sinclair in the 1960's. FORMAT: The work is 400 pages typed on white watermarked paper 8.5 x 11 inches with 350 of the 400 leaves bearing holograph additions corrections and excisions mainly by Upton Sinclair but some in the hand of his wife author Mary Craig Sinclair 1 page entirely in holograph. The vast majority of typed leaves are ribbon copies. Pagination is almost entirely supplied by hand correcting the prior typed pagination. The COLLATION is 1-2 17-54 54a 55-189 190-1 192 193a-193b 194-215 261-17 218-263 263a 264-267 267a 268-284 285-99 300-425. PROVENANCE: The estate of Upton Sinclair; by inheritance to his son David by inheritance to David's wife Jean Sinclair. Ink stamp of Sinclair's literary agent Bertha Klausner on title/index leaf. Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. 1878-1968 pioneering muckraker American novelist winner of the Pulitzer Prize author of the influential novel THE JUNGLE which created such public controversy about the meat packing industry that it is in large part credited with the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act and ultimately to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration FDA. Outside his literary work Sinclair was notable in many fields. He was in some ways a precursor to Bernie Sanders an avowed Socialist who was the Democratic nominee for Governor of California in 1934 running on the EPIC platform End Poverty in California. He and Mary Craig produced Sergei Eisenstein's landmark 'Que Viva Mexico' in 1930-32. He was a pioneer in such diverse fields as nutrition and health cooperative living investigative journalism self-publishing free speech and civil liberties etc. etc. Sinclair's relationships with the authors of the other work included here were often of long-standing. As examples: Jack London had been President of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society with Upton Sinclair as his Vice President and he and Sinclair were lifelong friends. In fact London's futuristic novel THE IRON HEEL 1908 was written in response to Sinclair's THE INDUSTRIAL REPUBLIC 1906 and provided the introduction to Sinclair's pioneering anthology of literature on social protest THE CRY FOR JUSTICE 1915. London also was one of the subjects of Sinclair's anti-alcohol book THE CUP OF FURY 1956. Sinclair Lewis served for two months as janitor of Upton Sinclair's abortive co-operative colony Helicon Hall in Englewood Cliffs NJ which Sinclair established win 1906 with profits from THE JUNGLE it burned down in 1907. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: For discussion of this item and its earlier unfinished incarnations from the prior decade see Gottesman and Silet 'The Literary Manuscripts of Upton Sinclair' #A26. See also G&S A26a-f describing six earlier drafts dating from the 1940's of what became this work under the working titles 'American Nights' Entertainments'. Upton Sinclair unknown
190315815New York: The Macmillan Company 1903. Proof Copy. PROOF COPY IN WRAPPERS FOR THE FRIST EDITION INSCRIBED BY LONDON AND WITH HIS CORRECTIONS/REVISIONS.<br /> <br /> Softcover : pp. x 280 : original printed tan wrappers : red half morocco slipcase. Wrapper s little worn ; head of spine chipped foot of top joint separating 35mm; some creasing; bookplate to verso of upper wrapper. With a presentation insciption by London incorporating the printed half title: "Dear Madeline. With best love Respectfully yours The Person of the Abyss Jack London" crossing out the printed"people" and writing in "Person". This pre-publication copy printed six months before the first edition does not yet have the illustrations from photographs nor a list of illustrations; page numbers in the the two page table of contents are represented by zeros; and some chapters do not have the beginning quotations as in the published version of October 1903. There are markings corrections deletions and other revisions by London in pencil on 13 pages 16 words in his hand most notably a 13-word insertion on p.273.<br /> <br /> In the summer of 1902 London was given the chance to go to South Africa to report on the post war situation there. Arriving in England he found the assignment cancelled. Instead he disappeared into London's East End to investigate and "expose the underside of capitalism." "In late September just seven weeks after arriving in England Jack finished The People of the Abyss H.G. Well's term for the urban poor. It was a triumph of impassioned reporting. Outrage underscored every one of itssixty-three thousand words. 'Of all my books ' he would later write 'I love most The People of the Abyss. No other book of mine took so much of my young heart and tears as that study of the economic degradation of the poor.'" Alec Kershaw Jack London: A Life p.119 BAL 11877; Sisson & Martens p.16<br /> <br /> Provenance: Frederick W Skiff bookplate; Sotheby's - New York April 2004 - The Maurice F. Neville Collection; Private collection Sydney Australia. The Macmillan Company unknown
190819461London: London Transport 1908-1915. 1030 by 1550mm 40.5 by 61 inches. Next stop Westminster Enamel tube sign with wooden frame. Rare pre-First World War station sign for Westminster tube station. This large enamel sign can be dated to between 1908 to 1915 when the bull's-eye design a solid red disk with a horizontal bar containing the text was adopted by all the various separate underground railway companies. It would be the first time that a coherent graphic design was adopted for the whole of the disparately owned and run network. The bull's-eye design would be superseded when in 1915 the then Underground's publicity manager Frank Pick commissioned the calligrapher Edward Johnston to design a company typeface. His subsequent design: the red circle and blue bar. It is still in use to this day and has rightly become synonymous with London and its famous transport system. London Transport, unknown
1891186281London: S. Guiterman and Co. 1891. Insight into the capital's history An exceptional display catalogue of large-format albumen photos. Numerous Victorian London locations are shown populated with smartly dressed pedestrians horse-drawn carriages and smoky steamboats going about their daily business. The album was produced by Guiterman and Co. a wholesaler for importing photographic paper and cameras printed textiles steam toy models and other technological devices. Guiterman and Co. likely made this volume to allow customers to create their own selection of photographs. Several images are annotated with their dimensions and the other sizes in which they were available. The images themselves were copyrighted as is clearly stated at the front of the volume. That such services were popular is evidenced in the photographs themselves which show multiple "photographic publishers". The particularities of Victorian city living abound in the photographs. Horse-drawn omnibuses with advertisements on their sides are present in many images each with a top-hatted conductor on the rear staircase. Flower-sellers line the streets of Holborn and human billboards parade down Regent Street. Several buildings including Westminster Abbey are darkened with soot from coal fires. Tower Bridge is shown in its early stages of being built. In King William Street two small boys appear to be in the process of robbing a parcel van. Details from the photographs date them to around 1891. An image showing the Bank of England includes an omnibus displaying an advert for the "German Exhibition" a showcase of electrical technology held that year in Frankfurt. In the Strand a poster advertises the double-bill of Ellen Terry's Nance Oldfield and The Corsican Brothers which opened at the Lyceum in May 1891. The weather conditions and foliage in the photographs suggest that they were taken over several months; Greenwich Park and Observatory are shown both in the sunshine and covered in snow. Folio album 418 x 318 mm. 159 half plate sepia-toned albumen photographs 150 x 200 mm numbered and captioned in pencil some annotated in red ink; 5 photographs grouped on final leaf ranging from full plate to snapshot 286 x 228 mm to 94 x 92 mm. Original black morocco-grain cloth recently rebacked and recornered to style using black leatherette gilt lettering to front cover. Housed in black cloth archival box. Occasional spots of wear to edges faint damp stain to front cover edges and endpapers foxed some photographs peripherally toned and creased. In very good condition. hardcover
19031704203MacMillan 1903. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. A fine first edition in a near fine dust jacket with a check signed by Jack London laid in. Some soiling on some pages. Housed in a custom-made collector's slipcase. MacMillan hardcover
0148351903 Book. Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Incredible Fine Copy In Like Jacket First Edition July 1903 Without Wear.Original Advertisement laid In. Amazing Condition.New Movie Remake with Harrison Ford.Book Housed in Beautiful Solander Case. 1903 Hardcover
19031808030MacMillan 1903. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. A near fine first edition in a near fine unrestored dust jacket. Housed in a custom-made collector's slipcase. MacMillan hardcover
192188954Paris 1921. Fine. The exceptionally rare first French edition of Jack London's masterpiece Paris s. d. 1921 13.5 x 20.3 cm Relié First edition of the French translation one of 25 numbered copies on pur fil the only copies printed on deluxe paper. Blood red morocco binding gilt title lengthwise gold stingray boards framed in morocco gilt decorative paper endleaves original wrappers preserved top edge gilt an elegant binding signed Boichot. Front free endpaper slightly toned otherwise a handsome untrimmed copy. Illustrated with original woodcuts by Jean-Gabriel Daragnès. hardcover
40808London The Horticultural Society 1820-1848. Ten volumes in ten. 4to 28.5 x 22.5 cm. Engraved titles with woodcut vignettes; more than 3000 pp.; 175 engraved plates several larger folded of which 91 finely hand-coloured; three folding tables several text figures. Contemporary uniform half calf over marbled boards. Spines with five gilt-ornamented bands; compartments with gilt title and volume number. Speckled edges. = A very rare set with all plates published of the most important British botanical journal of its day and a showcase for the talents of some of the greatest botanical artists then at work. As is often the case this set is a mixed edition: the first three volumes are second and third editions the remaining volumes first editions. The present work includes a good selection of plates taken from the fruit paintings William Hooker no relation to Sir William. Hooker served as botanical artist to the Horticultural Society now the Royal Horticultural Society from 1812 until he retired due to ill-health in 1820. According to Blunt and Stearn 1990 a study of the originals in the Lindley Library at the RHS reveal him to have been "one of the greatest pomological artists of all time". There are also fine examples of the work of a Miss Drake and Mrs Withers. Several uncoloured plates and title pages cleaned. Some few plates a bit trimmed. Provenance: Armorial bookplate "Murus aeneus concientia sana" of the British plant collector and breeder Edmund Giles Loder 1849-1920 mounted on the front pastedowns. "He developed hybrid rhododendrons from crosses between R. fortunei and R. griffithianum. The plants were named the Loderi hybrids and group in his honour. Three Loderi King George Loderi Pink Diamond and Loder's White have received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. He developed the garden at his home at Leonardslee extensively" Wikipedia. Some foxing and offsetting restricted to several plain plates only. A few plates shaved as usual. A few bindings skilfully restored. An excellent set rarely seen complete. Blunt and Stearn 1990: The Art of Botanical Illustration p. 233; Nissen BBI 2387. hardcover
190815816London: Everatt & Co 1908. First U.K. Edition First Printing. PRESENTATION COPY Octavo : pp. viii 374 : original dark blue cloth with decoration in blind and lettered in gilt : inscribed by London on the front free endpaper : affixed inside fron cover a small news clipping photograph of London captioned in pencil incorporating his printed name : "Jack London as her looked Sep 6 1910." Endpapers tanned; cracked at hinges; light wear to extremities. The inscription reads " Dear Comrade sweet:- Please remember this is fiction - a warning to all socialists to guard against such a thing happening. Yours for the Revolution Jack London."<br /> <br /> "An apocalyptic vision of the future The Iron Heel is the story of an oligarchy of American capitalists who seize power at the very moment when a socialist voctory seems inevitable at the polls. The Iron Heel's enduring power comes from its prohecy rather than its prose. As a prediction of how organised labour wouild be crushed by those wose interests it endangered it was chillingly accurate. It was not to be an oligarchy of capitalist bosses however against whom the European ledft would be pitted in the coming decades but the forces of fascism" Kershaw Jack London pp. 164-65. BAL 11908; Hanna 2225; Rideout p. 293; Sargent p.71; Beliler 1978 p. 126.<br /> <br /> Provenance: Sotheby's - New Yprk April 2004 - The Maurice F. Neville Collection; Private collection Sydney Australia. Everatt & Co unknown
190380129New York:: The Macmillan Company 1903. First edition. publisher's olive decorated cloth t.e.g in pictorial dust jacket. Preserved in a custom quarter morocco slipcase and chemise. About a fine copy in what is asserted to be the earliest dust jacket which has minor restoration at the extremities and some interior tissue strengthening at the folds. 8vo. Illustrated by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull. BAL 11876. The Macmillan Company, hardcover
19037986New York: The Macmillan Company 1903. First edition. Fine/Very Good . First printing with "July 1903" on the copyright page. A Fine copy in Very Good dust jacket. Complete with the frontispiece and ten color plates. Publisher's pictorial green cloth stamped in color. Pinpoint burn mark to p. 135. A clean fresh copy throughout. Dust jacket with subtle tissue reinforcement to verso at folds. Some faint white paint spatters to front panel. A very attractive example of London's beloved novel.<br /> <br /> A Klondike Gold Rush adventure novel told from the point of view of the dog Buck The Call of the Wild is also a consideration of the thin line that separates "civilized" creatures from their primal origins. Though he begins life as the pampered and much-loved pet of a California gentleman Buck is stolen and forced into service as a sled dog in the Alaska Yukon. The lowest-ranking member of his pack Buck faces abuse from his incompetent human owners as well as violence within his team as the dogs jockey for higher positions that aide their survival. Ultimately Buck must relinquish his individualistic tameness to find his place as a trustworthy team leader and he must tap into the most primitive tendencies that lay dormant inside him. Fine in Very Good dust jacket. The Macmillan Company unknown
1844215132London: John Murray 1844. Hardcover. Covers worn to the boards at the corners top edges darkened paper tanning but with very little foxing overall most volumes have unopened pages a sturdy very good set. Photographs upon request. 14 volumes. Each volume has several fold out maps and plates Tightly rebound in green cloth with sturdy dark green buckram spines John Murray hardcover
1903007 - 944 - 980<p><strong>Publisher and Year</strong>: New York: The Macmillan Company 1903</p><p><strong>Edition</strong>: First edition first printing with the copyright page stating "Set up electrotyped and published July 1903" and lacking any statement of reprinting. In the original dust jacket entirely unrestored. BAL 11876</p><p><strong>Condition and Description</strong>: Octavo; publisher's forest-green cloth; front cover stamped in white black red and gilt; top edge gilt; illustrated endpapers; 231 pp. 2 pp. advertisements. All plates and illustrations are present. Modest wear to the boards. Gilt bright. Tips lightly pushed. Tight hinges and binding. Toning to the endpapers from the jacket flaps. Contemporary owner's name and date in ink to the front free endpaper "F.L. Beatty / 1903". Else free of prior owner markings. Clean pages with occasional imperfections including unfolded corners to pages 79 135 139 and to the plate facing page 169; a small stain to the lower edge of the plate facing 215; and light offsetting from a bookmark to the gutter of page 18. The dust jacket has tanning to the spine as usual with the dark green ink faded to brown; small losses to the edges tips and spine ends without affecting the printed design or lettering; a short closed tear to the upper rear panel; and transfer of the "snow" from the front board and spine to the blindside reflecting the long union of book and jacket. More pictures available upon request.</p><p><em>"He was mastered by the sheer surging of life the tidal wave of being the perfect joy of each separate muscle joint and sinew in that it was everything that was not death that it was aglow and rampant expressing itself in movement flying exultantly under the stars."</em></p><p>Inventory ID: 007 - 944 - 980</p> The Macmillan Company hardcover
19037143New York: The Macmillan Company 1903. First Edition Sixth Printing Signed. First edition sixth printing from January 1904. Signed by the author Jack London on the front endpaper: "With best wishes / Jack London / Xmas 1905". Measures approximately 7.75" x 5" with 231 numbered pages. In a custom half leather and folding chemise slipcase.<br /> <br /> This book is in very good minus condition. Moderate wear and staining to the original cloth boards. Hinges are cracked but holding strong. Dampstaining visible on the front board front pastedown and front endpaper but nowhere else on the book or textblock. Interior pages are otherwise clean and well preserved. <br /> <br /> "The Call of the Wild" is a novel set in Yukon Canada during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The main character of the story is a dog named Buck.<br /> <br /> Please view the many other rare titles available for purchase at our store. We are always interested in purchasing individual or collections of fine books.<br /> <br /> Inventory number P6-8. The Macmillan Company unknown
190344499New York and London: The Macmillan Company 1903. Near fine in near fine dust jacket. First edition first issue of one of the best-loved works of American literature in scarce original dust jacket. Jack London's animal fiction has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations of Americans. A socialist animal activist and eugenicist London was a complex man who participated in unemployment protests and the Alaskan Gold Rush. The working dogs of Alaska clearly left an impression on him leading to several pieces of canine literature the most famous of which is CALL OF THE WILD. <br /> <br /> Published in 1903 CALL OF THE WILD hit the shelves in the second year of Teddy Roosevelt's presidency; Americans were hungry for the outdoors and red-blooded adventure stories. With its narrative of civilization pitted against instinct the title was enthusiastically received by critics and was an immediate hit. A BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE reviewer notes that London "does not make the mistake of endowing his dog hero with superhuman qualities of intelligence and cunning" praising his handling of the plot as "strikingly novel." <br /> <br /> A true classic in remarkable condition. 7.75'' x 5''. Original decorated green cloth binding with gilt lettering. Original pictorial dust jacket. Top edge gilt other edges uncut. Illustrated endpapers of a dog team and mountain scene. Pictorial title page printed in black and blue. Full-page color frontispiece 10 full-page color plates and a number of full-page landscapes in printed blue; smaller blue and color illustrations throughout. "Set up electrotyped and published July 1903" on copyright page BAL. 232 pages with one leaf of ads to rear. With folded leaflet from Macmillan advertising this and other titles laid in. Housed in custom cloth clamshell box. Dust jacket with a bit of chipping to spine head not affecting title; two small spots of soil to front panel. Binding with mild edgewear corners and spine ends lightly bumped; leaves with occasional tiny spots of soil. Vibrant. The Macmillan Company unknown
190515535New York: Macmillan 1905. First Edition second printing. Near fine/very good. Henry Hutt. PRESENTATION copy INSCRIBED to one of the book's illustrators Octavo : pp. 14 15-182 6 publisher's advertisements : illustrated by Henry Hutt and decorated by T.C. Lawrence : t.e.g. : green publisher's cloth lettered in red with vignette of shrouded Death snipping a thread : image repeated on scarce pictorial dust jacket in blue against orange and white background lettering also in blue : inscribed by the author at the half title to "Henry Hutt - with grateful appreciation and hearty best wishes Jack London Glen Ellen California August 8 1905." In blue chemise and blue half morocco slipcase.<br /> <br /> A chipped and slightly soiled jacket from another copy previous cataloguer's admission; corners of top board lightly bumped. First edition second printing with the Metropolitan Magazine rubber stamp to the copyright page. <br /> <br /> Provenance: Sotheby's - New York April 2024 - The Maurice F. Neville Collection. Included at the sale with the Autograph manuscript see item #15534. Macmillan unknown
19032210103MacMillan 1903. first. hardcover. very good/very good. First edition published in July 1903 stated on copyright page. Book very good faint water stains along top of pastedowns and end papers and rear cover. rubbing along edges some foxing on page after half-title page. Dust jacket very good to good minor soiling some pieces missing. Housed in custom-made slipcase. More photos available upon request. MacMillan unknown
19069347London 1906. Edwardian station map approx 40 x 60 inches this example 101 x 150.5 cm printed in colours some restoration with small areas of loss along the folds made good blank verso. Un-titled undated and without a printer this exceptionally scarce early poster was created for display in stations but establishing which ones presents a challenge. We can date it with reasonable confidence to 1906 or perhaps a fraction earlier. Our map predates the western extension of the Central London Railway to Wood Lane which opened for the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908. Angel is still shown as the terminus of the City & South London Railway but the western extension to Euston which opened in May 1907 is under construction. The use of a green border appears to be a nod to the successful series of green-bordered UERL Underground Group maps but as those were introduced in 1907 it might be the other way around. Another unusual design feature is the two tone shading in line colours of the names of interchange stations such as The Bank. The Bakerloo Line which opened in March 1906 appears to be shown as a thin dotted black line but as it was owned by the rival UERL its use for dating purposes cannot be guaranteed: this is most emphatically not a UERL map. Just three underground lines are highlighted none of which was under the UERL umbrella in 1906: The Central London Railway the City & South London Railway and the Great Northern & City Railway the first two purchased by the UERL and the latter by the Metropolitan Railway all in 1913. Two mainline companies are featured: the Great Northern Railway with its terminus at Finsbury Park and the Great Western Railway which served Paddington. Of these two the GWR is far more prominent with an inset showing the route to Reading. The map promotes travel across London using the highlighted routes at the expense of all others including the UERL: all are razor thin black and unobtrusive with no further differentiation between underground mainline and suburban services and seemingly haphazard naming of stations. It seems likely that our map was a joint response by three of the independent underground railway companies to the growing power of the UERL possibly in co-operation with the GWR and was created for display in any of their stations. We have been unable to locate another example. Map unknown
19031508068MacMillan Company 1903. 1st Edition. Hardcover. near fine/Very Good. A near fine first edition correct statement on copyright page in a very good original dust jacket that is unrestored. Dust jacket shows chipping to some corners and spine ends 3" tear to front spine hinge at bottom and 1/2" tear to top. Housed in a custom-made collector's slipcase. MacMillan Company hardcover
1907Bv1406<p>SIGNED First edition of Jack London's Before Adam 1907. lengthily inscribed by London in the year of publication in the publisher's ORIGINAL DUST JACKET the only copy of this London best seller in jacket we've seen! Color illustration on frontispiece illustrations in text by Charles Livingston Bull. Publisher's original light-brown buckram with wraparound footprints illustration and tan topstain. Tan dust jacket printed in red. Chipping to top edge of jacket especially to spine with loss of text browning to endpapers. Before Adam tells its story in the words of a narrator who proclaims himself a "freak of heredity" with direct biological access through his nightmares to the memories of a prehistoric ancestor "Big Tooth." The narrator has assembled these memories into a chronological account of Big Tooth's life which occurred at a stage of prehistory in which humans existed simultaneously at three evolutionary levels. Before Adam has much in common with Stanley Waterloo's The Story of Ab published in 1897. Waterloo eventually accused London of plagiarism though the latter denied the charges and insisted he was merely inspired by it. Before Adam employs a common currency with The Story of Ab of course in its elements of primeval hordes brutes subhumans striving to enter the human state atavisms shamanistic racial memories and so on but the most probable direct source for London's characters is Darwin's notion of the Primal Horde in which a powerful male terrorizes the younger males of the group in order to monopolize the females. Remarkably Before Adam both foreshadows Freud's depiction of the origins of civilization in Totem and Taboo 1913 and obliges Darwin's The Descent of Man 1871. A Very Good copy signed inscribed and dated by London in Oakland CA. in its original dust jacket preserved in a custom clamshell box. Book #Bv1407. $8800. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand and other Legends and Landmarks.</p> Macmillan hardcover
