Search Results: American Literature from Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA

New York: Avon Book Company, 1943. Paperback. Small 8vo. Stiff glazed wrappers. 164pp, (2pp ads). Very good. Bit of minor edgewear; text block lightly, evenly age toned as usual. Tight, attractive copy of No. 11 in the "Avon Modern Short Story Monthly" series.

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1909. Hardcover. Illustrations by Arthur I. Keller. Small 8vo. Burgundy blind-embossed cloth with ivory front board lettering. 402pp. Tissue-guarded frontispiece, full-page plates. Very good. Faint binding edgewear, else tight and internally fine; ownership signature on inner flyleaf; lacks dust jacket. Attractive, bright first edition of the first volume in this trilogy about westward expansion, the title referring to the 1845 slogan regarding the north latitude below which the U.S. should claim all rights from the British. One of the most popular novels from the prolific Iowa-born writer (1857-1923), who dedicates this volume to Theodore Roosevelt.

New York: The Modern Library, n.y.. Hardcover. 12mo. Brown cloth with silver spine lettering, dust jacket. 527pp, (8pp ads). Near fine/very good. Quite mild jacket edgewear; "H" purple inkstamped on half-title page. Tight and attractive later printing of #200 -- first published in 1959, here undated but likely ca. 1970. A superb, bright copy.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950. Hardcover. 8vo. Black cloth with gilt spine lettering, pictorial dust jacket. Near fine/good plus. Jacket mildly edgeworn but with homely 2" X 2" chip to front panel upper right and ½" chip at rear panel upper left. Tight and quite nice first edition, with appropriate points, in a second state dust jacket.

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1938. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth, pictorial dust jacket. 369pp. Very good/very good. Mild jacket edgewear. First edition, a lovely copy in lovely jacket. Noteworthy Civil War fiction from the author of "Anthony Adverse" -- with a fine autograph addition: Tipped to the front flyleaf is a 3" X 1½" heavy stock card boldly signed in black ink by Allen, who adds "Cordially yours," Front pastedown bears the ownership of noted Lincoln and Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93), which he dates April 10, 1952. IN TALL COTTON 2.

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1938. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth with gilt spine lettering. 369pp. Very good. Mildest bit of faint edgewear, but overall bright and sharp, with spine gilt pristine. A tight and attractive first edition of this notable Civil War fiction by the author of "Anthony Adverse." IN TALL COTTON 2.

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1927. Hardcover. Small 8vo. Aqua blue cloth with black and pink pictorial stamping, pictorial dust jacket. 338pp. Near fine/very good. Mild jacket edgewear and single small edge chip. Tight, handsome reprint of this Genesis-based fiction, first published by The Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis. Corny and provocative jacket art notes, "The first 'eternal triangle' took place in the Garden of Eden. It's [sic] principals were ADAM -- LILITH and EVE." The very first "other woman"!

Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1994. Hardcover. Edited by Bernard DeVoto. Illustrations by Thomas Hart Benton. Small 4to. Full brown calf with gilt lettering and decorations, raised bands. lxxvi, 396pp. All edges gilt. Color frontispiece, numerous sepia-tone illustrations, watered silk endpapers. Sewn-in gold silk page marker. Fine. Pristine copy of this handsome modern edition, featuring Benton's outstanding illustrations.

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. Hardcover. 8vo. Modern rebind in dark green cloth (gilt spine lettering) that mimics the remounted original front board cloth (with gilt and black lettering and pictorial stamping). 366pp. Frontispieces, numerous small engravings. Modern rebind and endpapers are fine and pristine, with remounted front board cloth sunned and rubbed; original edgeworn and age toned inner flyleaf bears the proud pencilled ownership signature of Will J. Hommel, a young boy who received it on Christmas 1886 (and signs and notes this thrice); text block is tight and fairly nice, though evidence of the young boy's grubby mitts as he read it appear in the margins throughout. First edition, later state. A super tight and quite handleable rebind, appropriately priced.

New York: The Viking Press, 1964. Hardcover. Small 4to. Tan cloth with gilt and burgundy lettering, glassine dust jacket, slipcase. Fine/very good/near fine. Book tight and pristine, glassine a bit age toned and edgeworn per usual. Sharp and lovely first "Special Edition," with limitation page preceding half-title page noting 500 (unnumbered) copies and boldly signed in blue ink by Miller. This thinly-veiled portrayal of Miller's divorce from wife Marilyn Monroe bears choice, relevant autograph additions: Facing the title page is a 3½" X 5½" black-and white magazine photograph -- a full-length candid shot of she in white dress and he in white suit hand in hand; across her white skirt is a bold but secretarial Monroe signature in blue ballpoint -- secretarial, remember, albeit well done. In addition, the front flyleaf bears three special heavy stock 5" X 3" cards signed by a trio from the original 1964 stage cast -- top to bottom: director ELIA KAZAN (1909-2003, Greek-American director, producer,… Read More

New York: The Dial Press, 1947. Hardcover. 8vo. Brown paper over boards, pictorial dust jacket. 316pp. Very good/good. Edgewear and edge chips (mainly at head of spine and top edge of rear panel) to otherwise-attractive jacket. First edition, a tight and decent copy.

New York: Triangle Books, 1944. Hardcover. Small 8vo. Red cloth, pictorial dust jacket. vii, 294pp. Very good/very good. Text block rather age toned as usual; jacket a bit edgeworn, with some small edge chips -- but still overall wonderfully, cheesily attractive. Tight, nice copy of this reprint edition, bearing a fine autograph addition: a handsome pictorial bookplate boldly signed "Cordially / Faith Baldwin" is tipped to the front flyleaf. "Must a man pay a woman not to live with him," the front jacket panel asks, "even though she prefers another man?" Delightful jacket art. Baldwin (1893-1978) was a popular and prolific novelist and screenwriter.

New York: Doubleday, 1993. Hardcover. Small 4to. Blue cloth spine and green paper over boards, pictorial dust jacket. 387pp. Near fine/near fine. A tight, quite handsome first edition of this novel by the famed Chicago journalist, inscribed and signed by him enormous in black marker on the front flyleaf: "For Terri -- / Good luck & / best wishes, / Bob Greene."

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. Hardcover. Illustrations by the author. Small 4to. Burgundy cloth with yellow lettering and black decoration. xiv, 251pp. Numerous line drawings. Very good. Light binding wear, with spine lettering rather rubbed and endpapers and text block faintly age toned. A tight and handsome second printing (copyright page "B") of this uncommon, folksy short story collection.

Oxford, MS: Yoknapatawpha Press, 1983. Hardcover. Small 4to. Tan cloth, price-clipped dust jacket. x, 116pp. Illustrations. Fine/very good. Jacket ever-so-slightly rubbed. A superbly tight and attractive first edition -- and boldly signed by Morris in black fineline on the front flyleaf. The renowned Mississippi author (1934-99) waxes poetic in these six personal essays about baseball and basketball; the football novella "The Fumble" also appears here.

Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful, 1970. Hardcover. Edited by Michael P. Dineen. 4to. Pale blue cloth with gilt lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 97pp. Numerous illustrations (some color). Near fine/very good. Mild jacket edgewear, with large chip at head of spine. Tight, attractive copy of this volume in this publisher's "America the Beautiful in the Words of" series. Selections from the essayist and poet's writings. This publisher does NOT indicate edition in any verifiable manner.

New York: American Aphrodite, 1953. Hardcover. (Vol. 3, No. 12). Small 4to. Black paper over boards, pictorial dust jacket. Very good/good plus. Jacket a bit edgeworn and rubbed, with several archivally-closed (on verso) edge tears. Tight, attractive first edition.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. Hardcover. 8vo. Green cloth, pictorial dust jacket. xi, 388pp. Very good/very good. Spine very slightly cocked. Reprint of Baldwin's 1934 novel. Tipped to the front flyleaf is Baldwin's personal "from the library of / FAITH / BALDWIN" bookplate, on which she inscribes: "Signed for Ruth / with Love / Faith."

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983. Paperback. Edited by Thomas P. Riggio. 8vo. Stiff glazed pictorial wrappers. xi, 470pp. Frontispiece, illustrations. Very good. Faintest of edgewear only -- almost rates a "Near fine. Tight, attractive second printing of these thick journals.

New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth with gilt lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 337pp. Near fine/very good. Jacket rather edgeworn, with a few small edge chips and lightly sunned spine. A tight, nice first edition. Name/address label on front pastedown of academic and literary critic Joseph J. Waldmeir (1923-2013). Historical fiction about Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld and the Haymarket Riot.