Alice Adams
by Tarkington, Booth
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Fine
- Seller
-
Steelton, Pennsylvania, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1921. This First Edition, First State printing of "Alice Adams" from 1921 is in Very Good condition, and a bonus facsimile movie tie-in dust jacket from a 1935 printing is in New condition. (Click on photo.) The book contains all the necessary points for the extremely rare First State, including the date, 1921, on both title page and copyright page, and more importantly, the uncorrected error on Page 419, Line 14, that states, "I can't see you why don't wear more colour," in which the "why" and "you" are wrongly transposed. In the second state and later printings, this error was corrected. (Potential buyers should email any bookseller who claims to be offering a First Edition, without stating this necessary point.) The book is bound in a reddish brown cloth with black title lettering on front panel and spine. The book has light spine-tip rubbing, one frayed corner, and a slight forward slant. The binding is tight and secure. There is minimal foxing on the endpapers and Half-Title page. There are no signatures from former owners. The pages are mainly clean and bright throughout, with a very small circular stain on the pages' verticle exterior edge. All four original full-page illustrations, including the frontis, by Arthur William Brown, are present. This is an ideal collectible of one of Tarkington's most loved novels. BONUS DUST JACKET: As a special bonus, I am including a facsimile of a dust jacket that was specifically created in 1935 for a Grosset & Dunlap reprint of Alice Adams as a tie-in to the movie version. This beautifully executed painting of Katharine Hepburn as Alice is far more attractive and rare than the original 1921 dust jacket that only shows the Adamses' house. Since both this Doubleday, Page First State Edition is the same size as the later G&D reprint, the jacket fits this First Printing book perfectly. I've placed the facsimile dust jacket into a Brodart protective sleeve. The book measures 5 1/4 by 7 11/16 inches and includes 434 pages. (You will not find this facsimile dust jacket being offered by any other seller online.) . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Fine. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.
Synopsis
This compelling satire details irresistible characteristics of social status in a small Midwestern town. Mr. and Mrs. Adams and their two children are members of the lower middle-class. Their daughter, Alice, wrestles with this economic classification and attempts to make the society folk of the town appreciate her. Because Alice has no social influence nor wealth and her presence is held in disregard by prospective suitors, Mrs. Adams tries to improve the situation by persuading her husband to leave a job he's held all his life and to establish a new career. After much apprehension and in possession of a glue formula stolen from his previous employer, he resigns his mediocre but satisfying employment which puts him in a predicament that leads to his professional downfall. Tarkington's understanding of class rivalries, social condescension, and financial avarice is evident in this tale where his main point indicates that in every joyless moment hope, though unexpected, is attainable. He illustrates how the Adams' laborious efforts are ultimately unsuccessful. Any intrusion by Alice and her mother on the upper class is unlikely and Tarkington's depiction of such is secretly amusing.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Grimalkin Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 001235
- Title
- Alice Adams
- Author
- Tarkington, Booth
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- Doubleday, Page & Co.
- Place of Publication
- Garden City, New York
- Date Published
- 1921
- Keywords
- American Literature
- Bookseller catalogs
- American Literature;
- Size
- 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall
Terms of Sale
Grimalkin Books
Grimalkin Books is located in Steelton, Pennsylvania, the first town south of Harrisburg. We specialize in older, unusual books and sets, often literary, artistic, or historical. "Grimalkin" is old English for an old gray cat, mainly because the owner, Bob Amsel, is a cat lover. All books subject to prior sale. Payment must be received within 10 days of the order or item will be returned to stock. We accept money orders, bank checks, personal checks (allow time to clear), PayPal or MasterCard/Visa through Biblio's credit card processing service. International orders must be paid in US dollars and can be paid via PayPal, credit card (through ABE), or International Postal Money Order. Your purchase will be carefully packaged to protect it during shipping. Books may not be returned just because the buyer has changed his mind. Only books with actual defects that were not mentioned by the seller in the listing may be returned. Please insure returns for their full value.
About the Seller
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Facsimile
- An exact copy of an original work. In books, it refers to a copy or reproduction, as accurate as possible, of an original...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Reprint
- Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Brodart
- Generally used to refer to a clear plastic cover that is sometimes added to the dustjacket or outside covering of a book. The...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
- Second State
- used in book collecting to refer to a first edition, but after some change has been made in the printing, such as a correction,...
- First State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Movie tie-in
- an edition of a book which is produced in conjunction with a movie which is usually based on the book, often with a cover image...
- 12mo
- A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
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