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Main Street

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Main Street

by Sinclair Lewis

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  • Fine
  • Hardcover
Condition
Fine/No Jacket [as issued]
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About This Item

Franklin Center, PA: The Franklin Library, 1978. Limited Edition . Full-Leather. Fine/No Jacket [as issued]. Hal Ashmead. Black leather binding with gilt decorations, four ribs on spine, all edge gilt, navy blue moire endpapers, sewn-in ribbon marker.

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

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Details

Bookseller
The Book Shelf US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
006143
Title
Main Street
Author
Sinclair Lewis
Illustrator
Hal Ashmead
Format/Binding
Full-Leather
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
No Jacket [as issued]
Quantity Available
1
Edition
Limited Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Publisher
The Franklin Library
Place of Publication
Franklin Center, PA
Date Published
1978

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About the Seller

The Book Shelf

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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Salem, Oregon

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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....
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...

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