“Encounter with an Interviewer.” In: LOTOS LEAVES
Original Stories, Essays, and Poems. Edited by John Brougham and John Elderkin. Illustrated. Boston: William F. Gill and Company, 1875. Original brown cloth elaborately decorated in black and gilt, beveled edges, all page edges gilt. First Edition, first printing (with the proper issue points on both sides of the title leaf) -- of this oversize compendium of "stories, essays, and poems," published (actually in November 1874) to benefit the American Dramatic Fund, via the Lotos Club in New York City (a literary society founded in 1870, still active today). This is the first appearance of Twain's humorous parody, primarily in dialogue; it would later (1878) be collected in his PUNCH, BROTHERS, PUNCH! (in one edition of which, Twain would add this post script: "I thought I could make this interview as unreliable and incoherent as the average newspaper interview. But that was another of my mistakes"). Other contributors include Wilkie Collins ("A Fatal Fortune" -- which appeared as "A Mad Marriage" in All The Year Round the month before, and was later collected in the 1875 edition of MISS OR MRS?) -- and the dedicatee of this volume, Alfred Tennyson ("The Lotos-Eaters"). This is a hefty (4-pound, 410-page) book, in very good-plus condition (quite minor edge-wear) -- which is remarkable, given its size. Blanck 3363.
More from Sumner & Stillman
THE WRONG BOX
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889. 4 pp undated ads. Original light coffee-brown cloth with front cover labels. First Edition (American) -- precedence uncertain between this and the English. The first of three collaborations between Stevenson and his stepson, this is a dark farce (and detective tale) concerning a decomposing corpse and a "tontine" -- wherein numerous people put money into a pot and the longest-surviving one takes all (which becomes rather dodgy when the last two are squabbling brothers). The 1966 British film of this book starred the major comic actors Peter Sellers, Michael Caine and Dudley Moore. Fearing lackluster sales, the American publisher came up with the idea of affixing to the front cover a facsimile scrap of newspaper (bearing a classified ad that enters into the tale); this was so realistic that on some copies (not this one) the scrap was considered a flaw and hence was scraped off by the original purchasor (or even by the original bookseller!). The book appears in several colors of cloth, each with its matching color of title label (no priority); this copy is in light coffee-brown cloth, with a blue-on-white title label. Condition is near-fine, with scarcely any wear and with less cover soil than usual. Beinecke 500; Princeton 42A (copy 5). DAVID BALFOUR. Being Memoirs of his Adventures at Home and Abroad
Written by Himself. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893. 4 pp undated ads. Original light brown cloth decorated in darker brown and silver. First Edition (American), published on the same day as the English edition titled CATRIONA. Stevenson wrote this sequel to KIDNAPPED with the title DAVID BALFOUR (the protagonist of both tales), but during serialization in England, the public was confused, thinking that this might be merely a reprint of KIDNAPPED; therefore the English edition was published with the title CATRIONA (Balfour's daughter's name, pronounced "Ka-TREE-a-na"), and to this day the tale has a different title on each side of the Atlantic. This is a near-fine copy, with minor cover soil and a slightly darkened spine; the binding design is by Margaret Armstrong (unsigned). Beinecke 590; Princeton 54A; Gullans & Espey (Armstrong) 206. Provenance: the rear paste-down bears the relatively-recent book-label of "Tusitala Bookshop | Hawaiian Islands" ("Tusitala," Samoan for "teller of tales," was RLS's nickname there). SHADOWS ON THE ROCK. [1/619 signed]
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931. Original marbled linen with leather spine label printed in gilt, edges beveled, in original plain rose paperboard box. First Edition, this being copy #365 of the limited issue of 619 copies on handmade paper signed by Cather -- of her historical novel sited in Quebec. (There was also a 199-copy signed issue, plus the trade issue.) This copy has the original plain rose paperboard box, bearing the same number 365. Some copies of both limited issues are seen in a French-fold dust jacket, but none is present here. The volume is in fine condition, still with its intact red silk ribbon; the box is very good-plus with minor edge-wear and fading. Crane A17.a.1. SHADOWS ON THE ROCK. [1/199 on Japan vellum, signed]
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931. Original orange vellum stamped in gilt, edges beveled, with original French-fold cream printed dust jacket. First Edition, limited issue, being #135 of 199 copies signed by Cather, printed on Shidzuoka Japan vellum and bound in orange vellum -- of her historical novel sited in Quebec. (There was also a 619-copy signed issue on handmade paper, plus the trade issue.) With this copy, the limitation leaf and the foot of the dust jacket's spine bear the inked number 135 (some copies of this vellum limited issue are seen in green paperboard boxes, but this copy does not have one). The volume is in fine condition, still with its intact red silk ribbon; the jacket is very good (spine tanned as usual, French-fold panels a bit rumpled as is often the case). Crane A17.a.1. BALLADS
London: Chatto & Windus, 1890. Original very dark blue cloth, beveled. First English Edition (published five days after the American) of Stevenson's third volume of verse -- consisting of two long ballads about RLS's former home of Scotland, two about his new home of Samoa, plus "Christmas at Sea" in between. The theme of all the poems is, essentially, "ye maun dree your weird" (you have to accept destiny): for these are all tales of revenge, sacrifice and fate. "Christmas at Sea" lends the whole collection a psychological twist, with its narrator aboard a storm-tossed ship on Christmas Day imagining his parents at home sitting by the fire: 'But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold, Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old'." [RLS Website]. This is a near-fine copy (just a bit of rubbing). Beinecke 532; Princeton 46A. KIDNAPPED: being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751
[London:] Cassell & Company, 1886. 1 page undated ads plus 16 pp ads dated July 1886 (final page of text also dated July 1886). Original red cloth. First Edition, second issue. In mid-18th Century Scotland, 17-year-old David Balfour is cheated out of his inheritance by a greedy uncle, who has him kidnapped and shipped to the Carolinas; overcoming numerous challenges, Balfour manages to get back to Scotland to fight to regain his property and his name. Stevenson began KIDNAPPED early in 1885 "partly as a lark, partly as a pot-boiler" (according to himself); he finished it in Spring 1886, having interrupted it part way through to write DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. He had accepted Sidney Colvin's suggestion to cut short the novel and leave the rest for a sequel (which, titled DAVID BALFOUR in the U.S. and CATRIONA in the U.K., would come out in 1893). This is a copy of the second issue (with "name his pleasure" on p. 40, "twelve o'clock" on p. 64, and "Long Island" on p. 101). It is in red cloth, one of several colors used without priority. Condition is very good-plus (minor fading and soil but very little wear, volume a little askew as usual); the frontispiece eight-panel foldout map is in fine shape. The first issue (same date, same binding, etc.) in this condition would cost several times this price. Beinecke 381; Princeton 31 (copies 6-8). Provenance: Doncaster Hall Gate School 1889 prize-label on the front paste-down. WEIR OF HERMISTON. An Unfinished Romance
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1896. 4 pp undated ads. Original olive green cloth decorated in gilt. First (American) Trade Edition, published on the same day as the London one. Stevenson began writing this book in 1892 (he called it THE JUSTICE-CLERK), but kept putting it aside to write others -- notably THE EBB-TIDE. The New York edition is much scarcer than the London one (which admittedly is rather common); the American edition also has the attraction of being bound in an initialed Margaret Armstrong binding. This is a near-fine copy with scarcely any wear (spine sunned to light brown, as always with this color cloth). Beinecke 630; Princeton 62B; Gullans & Espey (Armstrong) 243. Old bookseller label of Brentano's at 31 Union Square, relatively-recent label of "Tusitala Bookshop | Hawaiian Islands" ("Tusitala," Samoan for "teller of tales," was RLS's nickname there). GRANITE AND RAINBOW: Essays
[with wraparound band] London: The Hogarth Press, 1958. Original blue cloth, with dust jacket and "Book Society" wraparound band. First Edition of this collection of 27 essays -- 13 on "The Art of Fiction" and 14 on "The Art of Biography" -- most of which had appeared as unsigned reviews, now brought to light by VW's biographer and by her bibliographer (as noted by Leonard Woolf in his "Editorial Note"). Authors covered include Sterne, Raleigh, Johnson, Burney, Walpole, Austen, the Brontës, Poe, Holmes, Whitman, James, Mansfield -- even Hemingway ("Men Without Women"). This volume is in fine condition except for some faint darkening and foxing in the page margins. The jacket (designed by Vanessa Bell) is lightly browned on the spine and has a few short closed edge-tears; there is a "British Book Centre" sticker covering the price on the front flap. Included is the scarce red "Recommended by The Book Society" wraparound band (which recommendation is also noted on the front flap of the jacket) -- likewise faded at the spine. The front paste-down bears a lightly-penciled signature dated 15 September 1958, three months after publication. Kirkpatrick A34a. POEMS
[the Brontes' first book] By Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1846. Original blind-stamped olive green cloth. First Edition, second (and usual) issue. This first book by any of the Brontë sisters was published by Aylott & Jones in May 1846 -- with the 31 10s cost (two years' wages for a governess) paid by the sisters themselves, thanks to a legacy left by their Aunt Branwell. The edition consisted of 1000 copies: only two copies sold that year, and by mid-1848 (two years later!), only 39 had been distributed -- mostly as gifts. At that time Smith Elder, publisher of Charlotte's very successful JANE EYRE that year, bought the 961 remaining mostly unbound copies, and equipped them with (1846-dated) Smith Elder title pages -- hoping to capitalize on Charlotte's sudden fame. However, even then POEMS sold poorly, with no more than about fifty copies a year being sold. In 1857, anticipating big sales due to the publicity of Mrs. Gaskell's LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, Smith Elder bound up most of the remaining ones, but the 1000 initial copies were not fully exhausted until 1860. Since Smith Elder bound and issued copies over a span of twelve years, there are many minor variations in binding and in collation of non-textual leaves. This copy is in the usual SE&Co binding (with a harp design surrounded by a floral border); it does have the Contents leaf (though inserted backwards); it has no errata slip; it does have the ad leaf advertising each sister's novel (but at the rear -- it is more typically seen facing the title page); it does not have an additional SE&Co ad catalogue; and it does have the "Westley's & Co." binder's ticket on the rear endpaper. (Each of these items appears in some but not all copies.) It is in very good-plus condition, perhaps near-fine -- with very light wear at the corners of the spine, and with a few faint droplet-marks on each cover. The original pale-yellow endpapers are present, clean and intact. The rare first issue by Aylott & Jones, when obtainable, is priced well into five figures, and now even these Smith Elder copies have become uncommon. Smith pp 6-14. Housed in a handsome cloth clamshell case with leather label. Provenance: armorial bookplate of Gerard T[homas]. Noel (1782-1851): second son of a baronet and of a baroness in her own right, he became a Church of England cleric, known as a writer of hymns; his death in February 1851 presumably provides an end-date for when this copy was bound up. THE NAULAHKA: A Story of West and East
London: William Heinemann, 1892. 8 pp undated ads. Original salmon cloth decorated in brown. First Edition of Kipling's only serious attempt at literary collaboration. A Vermonter, Wolcott Balestier was an American author and publisher's agent in London; in fact in 1890 he and Heinemann had founded the Heinemann & Balestier publishing house in Leipzig (books in English for the Continental market). He had written about the American "Wild West," and Kipling of course had written about India. THE NAULAHKA (a misspelling of "naulakha," which in Hindu means nine lakhs, i.e. 900,000 rupees) is an odd tale that combines these two environments into "A Story of East and West" -- a man from a Western boom-town attempts to get possession of a fabulous jewel in India. In December 1891, six months before this was published, Balestier suddenly died (at age 29) of typhoid fever in Dresden. Kipling had met Wolcott's sister Carrie and just a month after Wolcott died, she became Kipling's wife; the Kiplings built their first home in Vermont and, in memory of her brother, named it "Naulakha" -- spelled correctly. (The newlywed Kiplings lived in Vermont for four years, toward the end of which Kipling wrote CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS about the Massachusetts fishing fleet; but it all came crashing down when Wolcott's brother Beatty was arrested for assaulting Kipling -- there was an altercation after Kipling had created a little garden on land he owned but had allowed Beatty to hay: the Kiplings fled to England.) This is an unusually clean copy, just about fine (a hint of rubbing at the spine ends); such condition is scarce for this book, in view of its soil-prone salmon-colored binding. Richards A66; Stewart 105; Livingston 85.
BAYOU FOLK
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1894. 2 pp undated ads. Original olive green cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of Kate Chopin's second (but first obtainable) book, a collection of 23 stories and anecdotes of Louisiana local color. A native of St. Louis, Katherine O'Flaherty (1850-1904) married a successful Louisiana Creole named Oscar Chopin, and lived in New Orleans and on a nearby cotton plantation until his death of swamp fever in 1882, when she was 31; after two years of trying to manage the indebted plantation herself, she returned with her children to St. Louis where, suffering from depression, she was encouraged to write as a form of therapy. Her writing career began with the now-exceedingly-rare AT FAULT (St. Louis 1890, in wrappers) -- and it ended due to the public shock over her fourth book, THE AWAKENING (1899). (She died at age 54, of a brain hemorrhage suffered at the St. Louis World's Fair.) As an example of the BAYOU FOLK tales, "Désirée's Baby" (just twelve pages long) tells of Armand, an antebellum Louisiana aristocrat who, over the objections of friends and family, marries an adopted girl of unknown ancestry. Their newborn baby boy is definitely "dark" -- so Armand turns Désirée and the child out of his house. She did not take the broad, beaten road to the far-off plantation of Valmondé. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds. She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grow thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again. Some weeks later, burning old letters, Armand discovers one from his mother to his father; the story ends with this quote from that letter: "I thank the good God for having arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery." This copy is very good-plus, perhaps near-fine: there is scarcely any wear other than a cracked rear endpaper, though as always with this olive-green cloth, the spine has aged to a honey-brown. Blanck 3244.
THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS
Or The Roly-Poly Pudding. London: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., n.d. [1926]. Original light red paper-covered boards with front cover pictorial onlay. First Edition so titled (THE ROLY-POLY PUDDING, in a format larger than this, had first come out in 1908). This is Beatrix Potter's sequel to THE TALE OF TOM KITTEN, and is based on an invasion of rats into her Hill Top Farm soon after she purchased it. Tom Kitten disobeys his mother and runs off to the house's attic, where he is captured by the rat Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria, who cover him with butter and dough as the first step toward making him into a delicious pudding. The book is dedicated to the actual Samuel Whiskers, "In Remembrance of 'Sammy,' The Intelligent pink-eyed Representative of a Persecuted (but Irrepressible) race, An Affectionate Little Friend, and most accomplished Thief!" It was with this edition, undated but from 1926, that the title of the book was changed to honor the rat; the American editions continued to use the old title, however. (Also, per the notice on the free endpaper verso, buyers could still buy THE ROLY-POLY PUDDING "with the illustrations on a larger scale".) This is a near-fine copy of this very fragile book (minor erosion at one corner of the spine); the color-pictorial front paste-down bears an "Xmas 1931" inscription. Being almost two decades after the first edition, this newly-titled edition is MUCH scarcer -- since the publishers were not "launching" a new story with a big printing. Quinby 15B ("not seen"); see Linder p. 427. Loosely inserted in this copy is a four-panel (eight-page) foldout booklet advertising all things Beatrix -- her books (including both versions of this tale), Peter Rabbit's Race Game, Peter Rabbit's Bookshelf, Peter Rabbit's Tea Set and other China Ware, lantern slides, greeting cards, wallpaper nursery frieze, and more than twenty bronze models of characters. WOODSTOCK; or, The Cavalier. In Three Volumes
A Tale of the Year Sixteen Hundred and Fifty-One. By the Author of "Waverley, Tales of the Crusaders," &c. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. | London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1826. 4 pp preliminary Vol I ads dated May 1826. Original olive-brown paper-covered boards with printed spine labels. First Edition, published in both cities on 28 April 1826. Set during the tumultuous period of the English Civil War, [WOODSTOCK] centers around the historical events and supernatural occurrences at Woodstock Manor in 1649, while incorporating fictional characters and elements. The narrative appears to explore themes of loyalty, the supernatural, and the societal upheaval of the time, as it provides a vivid picture of the conflict between the supporters of King Charles I and the Parliamentarians. The opening portions depict curious and alarming encounters in the haunted manor, marked by mysterious noises and frightening disturbances that . add a layer of tension and intrigue as the characters grapple with both their political duties and the eerie phenomena surrounding them [PGutenberg]. WOODSTOCK does not have "issues" of precedence, but there are minor variations due to concurrent settings of type. For example, this copy has the printer's name misprinted "Ballantine" on the Vol I half-title verso, and the line above the date on the Vol I title page measures 14mm (some measure 13mm or 15mm). Condition is very good-plus, with minor wear at the spine ends and along the outer joints (but the volumes are tight); the Vol I spine label is rather rubbed (only about half is legible), and the Vol II label has an edge-chip affecting two letters. Inside, the leaves are clean and uncut, and the original endpapers are intact. The May 1826 ad leaflet is earlier than that found in many copies. Quite remarkable condition for three paper-covered volumes approaching 200 years of age. Todd & Bowden 190A. 