Skip to content

MAIN STREET

MAIN STREET

Click for full-size.

MAIN STREET

by LEWIS, Sinclair

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
Condition
Some darkening to the spine. Near Fine in a Near Fine slipcase with short splits and lacking a label on the backstrip
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, United States
Item Price
NZ$1,266.90
Or just NZ$1,233.12 with a
Bibliophiles Club Membership
NZ$13.51 Shipping to USA
Standard delivery: 10 to 14 days

More Shipping Options

Payment Methods Accepted

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Discover
  • PayPal

About This Item

Chicago: Limited Editions Club, 1937. Hardcover. Some darkening to the spine. Near Fine in a Near Fine slipcase with short splits and lacking a label on the backstrip. Grant Wood. Small quarto (7-1/2" x 10") bound in flexible gray linen with the spine lettered in blue on a yellow field and the front cover lettered in blue on a tan field. Designed by William Kittredge; printed and bound at the Lakeside Press. With a new introduction by the author. Illustrated with nine tinted plates after drawings by Grant Wood. Copy #887 of 1500 SIGNED by the artist on the colophon page.

Synopsis

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is a satirical novel concerning small town America. The story follows Carol Milford, a liberal and free-spirited woman, as she marries Dr. William Kennicott and settles in his hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Upon arrival, Carol is shocked by the conservatism and general backwardness of Gopher Prairie—which is loosely based on Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The residents of Gopher Prairie seem more interested in gossip than larger cultural or social issues, which frustrates Carol. In various attempts to reform the town, she implements one improvement project after another, all of them ending in failure. In the end, Carol realizes that her frustrations with the individuals of the town should really have been directed towards its institutions and that although she was been beaten, she has kept the faith. Lewis initially seems to be attacking his small town roots in the novel, but his satire is double-edged; Main Street is not only a critique of simple townspeople, but also of the superficial intellectuals who look down on them. Main Street was not expected to be a commercial success. Lewis anticipated selling 10,000 copies; Harcourt, Brace and Howe anticipated 20,000. In the first six months of 1921, Main Street sold over 180,000 copies. Main Street is ranked 68th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was initially awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature that year, but the Board of Trustees overturned the decision and gave the prize to Edith Wharton for The Age of Innocence instead. (In 1925, Lewis rejected the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith because he felt that he had deserved the prize for Main Street.) 

Read More: Identifying first editions of MAIN STREET

Reviews

(Log in or Create an Account first!)

You’re rating the book as a work, not the seller or the specific copy you purchased!

Details

Bookseller
Charles Agvent US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
015660
Title
MAIN STREET
Author
LEWIS, Sinclair
Illustrator
Grant Wood
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Some darkening to the spine. Near Fine in a Near Fine slipcase with short splits and lacking a label on the backstrip
Quantity Available
1
Publisher
Limited Editions Club
Place of Publication
Chicago
Date Published
1937
Keywords
Signed, Sinclair Lewis, Limited Editions, Modern First Editions, Nobel Prize, Grant Wood, Modern Firsts

Terms of Sale

Charles Agvent

All books subject to prior sale. Payment with order; institutions may be billed. Postage additional: $11.00 for the first book, $6.00 each thereafter. Overseas postage billed at approximate cost. Pennsylvania residents must add 6% sales tax. Mastercard, Visa, and American Express accepted. We are also open to reasonable payment terms. A book may be returned within 7 days of receipt for any reason provided it is in the same condition as sent and prior notice is given. Please insure returns for their full value.

About the Seller

Charles Agvent

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2003
Fleetwood, Pennsylvania

About Charles Agvent

We carry a diverse and select stock with major specialties including Modern and 19th Century Literary First Editions, Signed Books & Autographs (especially Presidential and Literary), and Limited Editions Club books. We have been in business since 1987 and are proud to be members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB).

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
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"...
Colophon
The colophon contains information about a book's publisher, the typesetting, printer, and possibly even includes a printer's...
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....
Quarto
The term quarto is used to describe a page or book size. A printed sheet is made with four pages of text on each side, and the...

This Book’s Categories

tracking-