I Wanted to Write (First Edition with Signed Bookplate) by Kenneth Roberts - 1949

Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Near Fine Condition/Very Good-. Book Signed by Author. Well-preserved copy of Roberts' account of the research for and writing of his novels featuring a signed bookplate pasted on the front paste-down. Roberts was always generous in signing books for his readers, but by the mid- to late-1940s had switched to provided signed bookplates, rather than having the books sent to him for signing. For all of his adult life Roberts kept a small diary with daily entries. He drew from those and his correspondence and research files to provide a detailed description of his process of tracking down details to provide the most accurate accounts he could in his novels. There is a lengthy appendix (90+ pages) that includes: the transcript of the diary of Henry Sewall from the Revolutionary War, the transcript of a letter by Capt. Daniel Merrill from Saratoga in 1777, a complaint about the Pulitzer Prize committee that also apprears in For Authors Only and The Kenneth Roberts Reader, and several others by Roberts. The appendix also includes a couple of negative reviews followed by a concluding positive review by Jay Lewis that is headed "How a Great-Minded Critic Helps an Author Forget Small Ones." Note: I have a large selection of Kenneth Roberts books and related materials. Contact me if you are looking for something in particular. Size: 8"-9" - Octavo (8vo). 471 pages. Item Type: Book. Text block is tight, bright and unmarked. Hardcover bound in beige cloth over boards with a KR device in bright gilt on the front cover and the title in gilt on a red field on the spine. Corners are sharp with no shelf wear. Limited shelf wear at the head and foot of the spine. Unclipped ($3.50) dust jacket. There is a shallow chip at the head of the fold for the front flap and a half-inch tear at the foot of the fold, some loss at the top edge of the spine with tears at the head and foot of the front fold, wear at the top right edge of the rear panel (affecting the corner of the portrait of Roberts) and a small tear at the foot of the fold for the rear flap. The spine is heavily sun-faded with a water spot. The jacket has been protected in a sleeve for some time and now is in a clear archival Brodart sleeve. Previous owner's book-plate glued to the front free end paper. The top page edges are stained a red to match the field on the spine. The side edges are deckled (rough cut). Quantity Available: 1. Category: Biography & Autobiography; Roberts, Kenneth Lewis, -- 1885-1957; Authors, American -- Maine -- 20th century -- Biography; United States; 1940s; Books for Writers. Signed by Author. Main Picture: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Front panel and spine of the dust jacket with inset detail from the signed bookplate. Picture 2: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Rear panel of the dust jacket and page edges. Picture 3: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Front cover and spine. Picture 4: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Rear cover and page edges. Picture 5: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Front end papers with the signed bookplate on the left and bookplate of the previous owner on the right. Picture 6: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Title page with the First Edition notice from the verso of the page. Picture 7: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - First page of the text. Picture 8: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Sample page spread with the description of the historical figures upon whom characters in Arundel were based. Picture 9: Roberts (1949), I Wanted to Write (First edition with signed bookplate) - Sample page spread of appendices to the book. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 1344. .