Adventure. by LONDON, Jack - 1911

New York: Macmillan Company, 1911. But I do think it is the sweetest spot on earth - Hawaii, I mean" - Lackland First edition, first printing, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Mr W. R. Castle: - I read your Hawaiian book and went and saw some of the places you described. Now, when you read this yarn, do not go to see the Solomons. Sincerely yours, Jack London. Glen Ellen, Calif., Aug 18, 1915". This title is scarce inscribed.
This is an excellent Hawaii association, inscribed to William Richards Castle Jr. (1878-1963), an American diplomat, born in Honolulu when it was the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was the eldest son of William Richards Castle (1849-1935), attorney general to King David Kalakaua and later Hawaiian Minister to the United States. Castle Jr. joined the US State Department in 1919, and took a strong interest in Pacific issues, in great part because of his background. He wrote Hawaii Past and Present (1913), the book London is evidently referencing, and although living and working in Harvard at the time of this inscription, he apparently found himself in London's home-state of California just months prior to the author's final trip to Hawaii in the winter of 1915.
In addition to his travel essays, London wrote 13 stories set in Hawaii, which were collected into two volumes, House of Pride (1912) and the posthumously published On the Makaloa Mat (1919). An ardent voyager, he travelled extensively throughout the Pacific, and visited Hawaii on several occasions. It was a place he had much well-documented affection for, and its people are kindly represented in his work, including the present title; Joan Lackland, the protagonist's partner and foil, maintains a "ceaseless longing for the wild riding and swimming of Hawaii", where she was born. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine and front lettered in white with palm tree scene in pale blue and white. With 6 pp. advertisements at end. Small bookplate of Christian Heuer to front pastedown. Spine toned, spine ends and tips worn, tiny chip to head of spine, front panel a little cockled, top edge a touch dust-soiled else clean, inner hinge just cracked to pp. 230-31. A very good, bright copy.