The Octopus: A Story of California

New York, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901 Doubleday, Page & Company, New York. 1901. Hardcover. First Edition/First Printing/2nd State with the J.J. Little device on the copyright page/publisher's name on the spine in sans serif type. Title page and spine also list The Epic of the Wheat as this book was the first part of an uncompleted trilogy. Book is tight, square, and unmarked but for a F/O name on the FFFP. Book Condition: Very Good; slight bumping to head and tail; slight wear to head, tail, and tips; light soiling to boards and textblock edges; 2.5" tear to the bottom of page 283. No DJ. Red cloth boards and spine with bright gilt lettering and decorations on the spine and front board. Clean internals/internal hinges are sound and not split. 652 pp 8vo. This book meets the criteria of BAL15036 first printing and has all other textual variants that occur only in this printing. According to McElrath A6.1.a page 525-526 was canceled due to a misprint early in the print run and a corrected page inserted, thus a 2nd state. This book was a propaganda piece in the same vein as Sinclair Lewis in which Norris dramatized the conflict between California ranchers and wheat growers on one side and the railroads and their political machines on the other. This the Octopus was intended to be the tentacles of steel of the railroads. A clean very presentable copy.