The Call of the Wild (Puffin Classics) Paperback - 2008
by London, Jack
- Used
Description
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Details
- Title The Call of the Wild (Puffin Classics)
- Author London, Jack
- Binding Paperback
- Edition Reprint
- Condition UsedAcceptable
- Pages 160
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Puffin Books
- Date 2008-04-01
- Illustrated Yes
- Features Glossary, Illustrated, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents, Unabridged
- Bookseller's Inventory # 31UIGP00589F_ns
- ISBN 9780141321059 / 0141321059
- Weight 0.25 lbs (0.11 kg)
- Dimensions 6.9 x 5 x 0.5 in (17.53 x 12.70 x 1.27 cm)
- Ages 08 to 12 years
- Grade levels 3 - 7
- Reading level 530
-
Themes
- Chronological Period: 1851-1899
- Catalog Heading: Classics
- Cultural Region: Canadian
- Cultural Region: Western U.S.
- Curriculum Strand: Language Arts/Literature
- Geographic Orientation: California
- Geographic Orientation: Yukon
- Library of Congress subjects Dogs, Wolves
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
About this book
Jack London’s The Call of the Wild is an anthropomorphic canine’s unforgettable tale of survival. Set during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, the novel’s main character, Buck, a large and powerful St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd, is stolen from his ranch home in Santa Clara Valley, California, and sold into service as a sled dog. At first, Buck experiences violence and struggles for survival, becoming progressively feral in the harsh environment. By the end, Buck relies on his instinct and learned experience to emerge as the proven leader of the pack.
In The Call of the Wild, author Jack London blends his experience as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness with his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, influenced by the work of Darwin and Nietzsche. Thus, although the novel is first and foremost a story about a dog, it displays a philosophical depth absent in most animal adventures.
In the summer of 1903, the story was first serialized in four installments in The Saturday Evening Post, which paid $750 for it. Soon after, London sold all rights to The Call of the Wild to Macmillan, which published the story in book format in August of that same year. As the first printing of 10,000 copies sold out immediately, it is safe to say the novel was enormously popular from the moment it was published. It has since secured its place in the canon of American literature. Today, The Call of the Wild is still one of the best-known stories written by an American author and has been published in almost 50 languages. The Call of the Wild is ranked 35th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels and 88th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century.
Summary
From the publisher
First Edition Identification
Macmillan first published The Call of the Wild in August 1903. Produced in a print run of 10,000 copies, first editions state "Set up electrotyped, and published July, 1903" on the copyright page and contain 10 tipped-in color plates by illustrators Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull as well as a color frontispiece by Charles Edward Hooper. The first printing of The Call of the Wild sold for $1.50. Nowadays, signed copies have sold for upwards of $20,000.
