[Boxing] The Abysmal Brute

New York: The Century Company, 1913. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very Near Fine/At Least Very Good. Publisher's green cloth with title and decorations stamped in black and dark green onto upper board and spine, 16mo (6-5/8 inches tall), pp. (iv), 169, (1) ads, tissue-guarded frontis, copyright page with "Published, May, 1913" and "1913" printed at foot of title page. Volume with light touch of wear to spine ends and tips, faint pencil erasure ffep. Unclipped price intact [$1.00 net] DJ with small closed tears, shallow chips to spine ends and flap folds, a single tape repair verso and one half inch V shaped chip at top of rear panel, light creases to rear flap and lower half of spine panel. The colors of the DJ front panel remain particularly strong. This first edition copy of The Abysmal Brute is in the "Variant binding...stamped in black and green", Ahearn, 054b. A prizefighting story likely inspired by the great Johnson-Jeffries boxing match (his June 27th, 1910 New York Herald article states "Fighter with the quality of the 'Abysmal brute' will win the great battle...") where London reported on the buildup to and championship fight between, Johnson and Jeffries for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in Reno, Nevada. Johnson was the first black man to win the coveted title and on this challenge, knocked Jefferies down three times in the fourteenth round before his corner threw in the towel. The outcome of the fight triggered race riots that evening - the Fourth of July - all across the United States. The 1936 film "Conflict" is an American film based on The Abysmal Brute, staring John Wayne. Ref. Johnson p. 319; Sisson & Martens p. 70; Woodbridge, 109, 1000 & 1004; Wikipedia.