When God Laughs and Other Stories
by London, Jack (1876-1916)
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Better than very good
- Seller
-
Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
ix+319+[1]+[4 ad] pages with frontispiece and five plates. Small octavo (& 1/2" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's olive green cloth decorated in red and light green and lettered in gilt. (BAL 11926; Sissons & Martens, p 51) First edition with 3,758 copies printed.
Named after the first story — about a couple that tries in vain to uphold an intensely idealistic romance against the erosions of time and the inconstancy of human nature — the collection explores themes for which London became famous: the struggle for survival in the midst of hostile environments, human nature's most elemental drives, and worker abuse in industrialized society. In The Apostate his concerns with the working poor and his dislike of pre-union-era capitalism are evident in a grim story about a young man who is brutalized by the subhuman working conditions in a textile mill, yet achieves a kind of liberation in the end. London's fascination with primitive male characters is evident in Just Meat, a story of two thieves who plot each other's demise in a selfish grab for a hoard of recently stolen jewelry. Like his famous novel The Sea Wolf, the stories Make Westing and The 'Francis Spaight' (described as "A True Tale Retold") portray corrupt sea captains abusing and terrorizing their crews during nightmarish voyages. In the concluding story, A Piece of Steak London starkly portrays the desperate struggles of an aging boxer as he grapples with a younger contender through most of a grueling twenty-round fight. As all of these stories vividly reveal, many of them brilliantly, no one had a more dispassionate and uncompromising view of human nature at its worst or could express it more forcefully than Jack London.
Condition:
Green stamping to spine faded, minor edge wear, tape residue on end papers, foxing to half title else a better than very good copy.
Named after the first story — about a couple that tries in vain to uphold an intensely idealistic romance against the erosions of time and the inconstancy of human nature — the collection explores themes for which London became famous: the struggle for survival in the midst of hostile environments, human nature's most elemental drives, and worker abuse in industrialized society. In The Apostate his concerns with the working poor and his dislike of pre-union-era capitalism are evident in a grim story about a young man who is brutalized by the subhuman working conditions in a textile mill, yet achieves a kind of liberation in the end. London's fascination with primitive male characters is evident in Just Meat, a story of two thieves who plot each other's demise in a selfish grab for a hoard of recently stolen jewelry. Like his famous novel The Sea Wolf, the stories Make Westing and The 'Francis Spaight' (described as "A True Tale Retold") portray corrupt sea captains abusing and terrorizing their crews during nightmarish voyages. In the concluding story, A Piece of Steak London starkly portrays the desperate struggles of an aging boxer as he grapples with a younger contender through most of a grueling twenty-round fight. As all of these stories vividly reveal, many of them brilliantly, no one had a more dispassionate and uncompromising view of human nature at its worst or could express it more forcefully than Jack London.
Condition:
Green stamping to spine faded, minor edge wear, tape residue on end papers, foxing to half title else a better than very good copy.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- L0916
- Title
- When God Laughs and Other Stories
- Author
- London, Jack (1876-1916)
- Book Condition
- Used - Better than very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- MacMillan and Company
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1911
- Pages
- ix+319+[1]+[4 ad] pages with frontispiece and five plates
- Size
- Small octavo
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Short Stories
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature;
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About the Seller
The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA
Biblio member since 2005
Fort Worth, Texas
About The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA
The Book Collector specializes in the finest collections of Chess, Anthropology, Americana and American Literature. Visit our website at www.bookcollectorshop.com
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- 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....
- Half Title
- The blank front page which appears just prior to the title page, and typically contains only the title of the book, although, at...
- Poor
- A book with significant wear and faults. A poor condition book is still a reading copy with the full text still readable. Any...
- 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...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...