[INSCRIBED] John Reed: The Making of a Revolutionary

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936. First Edition.

Small Quarto (9 3/8 x 6 1/4 inches; 237 x 160 mm), 445, [1] pages, gray cloth, in an unclipped, supplied dust jacket.

INSCRIBED on the front end paper: "For Walter Lippmann / from / Granville Hicks." An interesting association here, as Walter Lippmann and John Reed were classmates at Harvard (1910) and embraced many of the same left-wing causes. In addition, Lippmann, a founder of The New Republic, published Reed's reporting on the Mexican Revolution. But their friendship broke down over American involvement in World War I, which Reed strongly opposed and Lippmann favored. In an exchange of letters in 1916, they criticized one another in the most bitter of terms, with Reed accusing Lippmann of abandoning his radical beliefs and Lippmann saying Reed was a dilettante and fake radical. They also clashed publicly.

Hicks, a Marxist literary critic, has written a generally evenhanded biography of John Reed, known today largely for his book, "Ten Days That Shook the World," his eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution. And Lippmann, who became a towering figure in American journalism, makes numerous appearances in this biography. So there are interesting associations here on a number of levels.

One other interesting point: the front flap of the dust jacket contains four different prices. At one time Macmillan, the publisher, printed dust jackets before the final price was determined. Once the price was established, the other prices could be clipped off. But that never happened with this jacket, making it a rare example of a jacket with all four prices. The jacket comes from another first edition of the book; that copy is unsigned.

A fascinating look at John Reed, a gift from the author to Reed's one-time friend and later antagonist Walter Lippmann.

CONDITION: Rubbing to cloth, scattered stains to page edges, toning to end papers. The dust jacket has a bit of wear and a couple short tears. About Very Good overall in a supplied dust jacket.